9: Sappho

This episode is about:

Sappho – her fame as a poet has survived for centuries. She was well known for her talent in the ancient world and remains a source of fascination for the modern reader.

Fun Fact: The manner of Sappho’s death is unknown, it is widely accepted that she lived into the old age. A recently discovered 2004 poem indicates she was able to reach old age and seems to support this hypostasis:
– My skin was [delicate] before, but now old age
[claims it]; my hair turned from black [to white].
My spirit has grown heavy; knees bucklethat once could dance light as fawns.

Sources:

– Kivilo, Maarit. “SAPPHO.” In Early Greek Poets’ Lives: The Shaping of the Tradition, 167-200. LEIDEN; BOSTON: Brill, 2010.
– Klinck, Anne L. “Sappho’s Company of Friends.” Hermes 136, no. 1 (2008): 15-29.
– MOST, GLENN W. “REFLECTING SAPPHO.” Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies 40 (1995): 15-38.
– https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/03/16/girl-interrupted
– https://www.ancient.eu/Sappho_of_Lesbos/

1. Sappho holding a lyre, 470 BCE
2. Roman sculpture of Sappho based on a Greek model
3. Fragment of Sappho’s Brothers Poem
4. Sappho by Charles Mengin, 1877
5. Sappho and Erinna in a Garden at Mytilene by Simeon Solomon, 1864