1. Sappho
Bust inscribed Sappho of Eressos,
Roman copy of a Greek original of the 5th century BC.
- Steven Barnes

2. Who?
Sappho was born between 630 and 612 B.C.
Born of the island of Lesbos
( off the coast of modern day Greece )
Little is known about her actual life; it seems that her poems were
more important that the person writing them
The vast majority of her poems have been admired throughout history
even though only mostly fragments of her poetry exist.
She was lyrist - her poems were meant to be preformed with the
accompany from a lyre
Plato elevated her status from great poet to a muse
Sappho reading to her companions on an Attic vase of c. 435 BC.

3. Fragments
For as popular as Sappho was her work did not survive that well
9 possible volumes of poetry were created.
Changing styles of poetry, being a woman, censorship of scholars,
language issues, neglect
Fragments were found as wrapping for mummies and coffins as well
as stuffing for sacred animals in ancient Egyptian times
Most of her work was written on papyrus strips
Saphhos' poem "An Old Age" (lines 9-20). Papyrus from 3 cent. B.C

4. Translations
Many unique translations are available today but only one or
two were studied and anthologized
Main problem with the translations
Do you trail off in to oblivion when you reach a
fragmented part?
Do you speculate on what should be there to keep the
flow of the poem?
Very few people are around today that understand / can read
the ancient languages of the poems to help translate
Portrait of Sappho at Pompei

5. Sappho and Sexuality
Sappho's poetry centers on passion and love for various people and
both genders
The narrators of many of her poems speak of infatuations and love for
various females, but descriptions of physical acts between women
are few and subject to debate.
The word lesbian derives from the name of the island of her birth,
Lesbos, also her name is also the origin of the word sapphic; both
words were only recently applied to female homosexuality beginning
in the 19th century by sexologists
1881 Lawrence Alma-Tadema - Sappho and Alcaeus oil on canvas.

6. Works Cited
"Isle of Lesbos: Poetry of Sappho." Isle of Lesbos: Historical Poetry, Classical Art, and Vintage Images for Lesbians.
2007. Web. 24 Mar. 2010. <http://www.sappho.com/poetry/sappho.html>.
"Sappho." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2010. Web.
24 Mar. 2010 <http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9065707>.
"Sappho." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 24 Mar. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sappho>.