8.16.2010

Snapple Real "Fact" #816: Greek Apples

Alright, I am breaking the rules of the blog by posting on something I read which is only a trivial label but I couldn't let this rest. According to Snapple (Real Fact #816), "In Ancient Greece throwing an apple to a woman was considered a marriage proposal". So where did they get this? There is always the myth of Atalanta (cf. above picture). Or there is Catullus 2b:
tam gratum est mihi quam ferunt puellae
pernici aureolum fuisse malum,
quod zonam soluit diu ligatam.
In Idyll 5 of Theocritus a girl coyly throws apples, in Idyll 6 Galatea throws apples at Polyphemos' flock. Also in Idyll 11, Theocritus mentions apples among roses and locks of hair as gifts in courtship that Polyphemos didn't use.

I am not about to dig into my Greek law books (packed and waiting to be moved in the trunk of my car at present), so does anyone else know where Snapple may have gotten this "fact"?
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3 comments:

  1. Sherry20.8.10

    Don't have a direct correlation but there's also the myth story of the judgement of Paris which won him Helen as a bride and the story of Mother Earth gifting Hera with a tree of golden apples upon her marriage to Zeus.

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  2. PRC24.8.10

    Thanks for the suggestion. A friend came up with about five other associations in 12 centuries of Greek literature. My own conclusion is that, if there is an equivalent, it is less like giving a girl an engagement ring and more like Valentine's Day chocolates.

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  3. Knight of Sapphires13.6.11

    Or, it could be one of those attributed to Snapple Fact #0; Half of Snapple's 'Real Facts' are false.~

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