Nossis

Nossis (Ancient Greek: Νοσσίς, fl. c. 300 BC) was a Hellenistic poet from Epizephyrian Locris in Magna Graecia. Probably well-educated and from a noble family, Nossis was influenced by and claimed to rival Sappho. Eleven or twelve of her epigrams, mostly religious dedications and epitaphs, survive in the Greek Anthology. Her work is known for its focus on women, their lives and world; modern scholars such as Marilyn B. Skinner have argued that Nossis consciously positioned herself as part of a female literary tradition, in contrast to that of male poets such as Pindar. Though she is one of the best-preserved ancient Greek women poets, her work does not seem to have entered the Greek literary canon. In the twentieth century, the imagist poet H. D. was influenced by Nossis, as was Renée Vivien in her French translation of the ancient Greek women poets.