Sappho was an ancient Greek poet from Lesbos, born around 612-630 BC and known for her lyric poetry. Her work is now mostly lost, but she is celebrated as one of the earliest known female writers. Sappho was likely bisexual and gave rise to the modern definition of the word lesbian. Not much is known about her life, but she came from an aristocratic family and was exiled to Sicily. There is a romantic story about her death, but it is unverifiable.
Sappho is an ancient poet from the Greek island of Lesbos. He was born between 612 BC and 630 BC and died around 570 BC His poetry of him was heralded even by the great masters, drawing praise from such figures as Plato and Horace. She is one of the earliest female writers we know of, and although her work now exists only in fragments, with only one truly complete poem surviving, her reputation continues.
Sappho was a lyric poet and wrote in the arcane Aeolian dialect, which is thought to be one reason why study of her work was abandoned in Byzantine times: her language had become obsolete by Roman times. This disappearance of her work from the academic canon of the time resulted in fewer and fewer poems being produced by scribes, which explains, at least in part, why so much of her work has been lost to antiquity. At present, we can only read snippets of her work and have to fill in the blanks with allusions to her work from other sources.
Aside from surviving ancient documents, not much is known about Sappho. Reading his life into his work by treating his poetry as a sort of autobiography is now discouraged as the context of his writing is unknown. The Victorian era thought of her as something of a girls’ academy teacher, but this was actually more an effort by her admirers to make her more palatable to the genteel classes than a fact. After all, the consensus among scholars has posited that Sappho was probably bisexual, which is obviously not in keeping with the conservative standard of the Victorian period.
In fact, her perceived and unproven homosexual tendencies are one of the few things Sappho is now known for. She seemed to be attracted to beauty in all forms in her and she wrote love poems to people of both genders. Indeed, it was she who gave rise to the modern definition of the word lesbian; Sappho was often referred to as the lesbian or the woman of Lesbos. The word Sapphic, which also has homosexual connotations, is also taken from her.
We may not know much about Sappho, but we do know a few things. We know that Sappho came from an aristocratic family, as evidenced by his observations of certain circles, as well as his travels. We also know that she was forced from her home on Lesbos during a rebellion led by Pittacus, and she was exiled to Syracuse, Sicily, where the locals erected a statue of her in her honor as a welcome to her.
There is also a rather romantic story about her death which tells us that Sappho threw herself off the cliffs of Lefkada for the sake of a ferryman named Phaon. This account dates back to Menander, who lived from 342 to 291 BC, but is unverifiable.
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