Sappho

File:Sappho-bust.png

Ancient Greek bust of Sappho the Eresian.

Sappho (Attic Greek Σαπφώ Sapphô, Aeolic Greek Ψάπφα Psappha) was an Ancient Greek poet, from the city of Eressos on the island of Lesbos, which was a cultural centre in the 7th century BC. She was born sometime between 630 BC and 612 BC.

Life

Sappho, daughter of Scamander and Cleïs, was married (Attic comedy says to a wealthy merchant, but that is apocryphal) and had a daughter also named Cleïs. She became very famous in her day for her poetry—so much so that the city of Syracuse built a statue to honor her when she visited. Her family was politically active, which caused Sappho to travel a great deal. She was also noted during her life as the headmistress of a sort of Greek finishing school for girls. Most likely the objects of her poetry were her students. Sappho had three brothers, married and had at least one daughter, was exiled to Syracuse for political reasons, returned in 581 BC, and died in old age.

She was a lyric poet who developed her own particular meter, known as sapphic meter, and she was credited for leading an aesthetic movement away from typical themes of gods, to the themes of individual human experiences and emotions. Prior to Sappho the theme of poetry was confined to heroic deeds of mythical warriors.

Some of her love poems were addressed to women. The word lesbian itself is derived from the name of the island of Lesbos from which she came. (Her name is also the origin of its much rarer synonym sapphic.)

Because of its explicit eroticism, and in particular its homosexual eroticism, her work was disapproved of by the Christian church; this is arguably the main reason why most of it has not survived, due to a combination of neglecting to copy it and actively destroying it.

Romantic representation of Sappho

While in the modern period this content is well known, in ancient and medieval times she was more famous for (according to legend) throwing herself off a cliff due to unrequited love for a male sailor named Phaon. This legend dates to Ovid and Lucian in Ancient Rome and certainly is not a Christian overlay. (Of particular note is that a purported consort of hers was named Cercglas of Andros, literally "Penis, from the town of Man").

The philosopher Maximus of Tyre writes that Sappho was "small and dark" and that her relationships to her female friends were similar to those of Socrates:

What else was the love of the Lesbian woman except Socrates' art of love? For they seem to me to have practiced love each in their own way, she that of women, he that of men. For they say that both loved many and were captivated by all things beautiful. What Alcibiades and Charmides and Phaedrus were to him, Gyrinna and Atthis and Anactoria were to the Lesbian.

An epigram in the Anthologia Palatina ascribed to Plato states:

Some say of nine Muses, how neglected!

Behold, Sappho, from Lesbos, is the tenth

Aelianus Claudius wrote in Assorted History (Ποικίλη ιστορία) that Plato called Sappho wise.

Horace writes in his Odes that Sappho's lyrics are worthy of sacred admiration.

Works

Sappho wrote mainly love poems, of which only fragments survive, save a single complete poem, Fragment 1, Hymn to Aphrodite, and three more virtually complete. Given her reputation in the ancient world, the fact that only fragments of her work remain today indicates that the bulk of her work has been lost to the world.

Fragment 1

Hymn to Aphrodite

πο]ικιλόθρο[ν' ἀθανάτἈφρόδιτα, 
παῖ] Δ[ί]ος δολ[όπλοκε, λίσσομαί σε, 
μή μ'] ἄσαισι [μηδ' ὀνίαισι δάμνα, 
[ ]πότν]ια, θῦ[μον, 
ἀλλ]ὰ τυίδ' ἔλ[θ', αἴ ποτα κἀτέρωτα 
τὰ]ς ἔμας αὔ[δας ἀίοισα πήλοι 
ἔκ]λυες, πάτρο[ς δὲ δόμον λίποισα 
[ ]χ]ρύσιον ἦλθ[ες 
ἄρ]μ' ὐπασδε[ύξαισα· κάλοι δέ σ' ἆγον 
ὤ]κεες στροῦ[θοι περὶ γᾶς μελαίνας 
πύ]κνα δίν[νεντες πτέρ' ἀπ' ὠράνωἴθε-
[ ]ρο]ς διὰ μέσσω· 
αἶ]ψα δ' ἐξίκο[ντο· σὺ δ', ὦ μάκαιρα, 
μειδιαί[σαισ' ἀθανάτωι προσώπωι 
ἤ]ρε' ὄττ[ι δηὖτε πέπονθα κὤττι 
[ ]δη]ὖτε κ[άλ]η[μμι 
κ]ὤττι [μοι μάλιστα θέλω γένεσθαι 
μ]αινόλαι [θύμωι· τίνα δηὖτε πείθω 
.].σάγην [ἐς σὰν φιλότατα; τίς σ', ὦ 
[ ]Ψά]πφ', [ἀδικήει; 
κα]ὶ γ[ὰρ αἰ φεύγει, ταχέως διώξει, 
<αἰ δὲ δῶρα μὴ δέκετ', ἀλλὰ δώσει,> 
<αἰ δὲ μὴ φίλει, ταχέως φιλήσει> 
[ ]<κωὐκ ἐθέλοισα.> 
<ἔλθε μοι καὶ νῦν, χαλέπαν δὲ λῦσον> 
<ἐκ μερίμναν, ὄσσα δέ μοι τέλεσσαι> 
<θῦμος ἰμέρρει, τέλεσον, σὺ δ' αὔτα> 

Fragment 16

ο]ἰ μὲν ἰππήων στρότον οἰ δὲ πέσδων 
οἰ δὲ νάων φαῖσ' ἐπ[ὶ] γᾶν μέλαι[ν]αν 
ἔ]μμεναι κάλλιστον, ἔγω δὲ κῆν' ὄτ-
[ ]τω τις ἔραται· 
πά]γχυ δ' εὔμαρες σύνετον πόησαι 
π]άντι τ[ο]ῦ̣τ', ἀ γὰρ πόλυ περσκέ̣θ̣ο̣ι̣ς̣α 
κ̣άλ̣λο̣ς̣ [ἀνθ]ρ̣ώπων Ἐλένα [τὸ]ν ἄνδρα 
[ ]τ̣ὸν̣ [     ].στον 
κ̣αλλ[ίποι]ς̣' ἔβα 'ς Τροΐαν πλέοι̣[σα 
κωὐδ[ὲ πα]ῖδος οὐδὲ φίλων το[κ]ήων 
π̣ά[μπαν] ἐμνάσθη, ἀλλὰ παράγ̣α̣γ̣' α̣ὔταν 
[        ]σαν 
[      ]αμπτον γὰρ [ 
[     ]...κούφως τ[         ]οη.[.]ν̣ 
..]μ̣ε̣ νῦν Ἀνακτορί[ας ὀ]ν̣έ̣μναισ' οὐ ] παρεοίσας, 
τᾶ]ς <κ>ε βολλοίμαν ἔρατόν τε βᾶμα 
κἀμάρυχμα λάμπρον ἴδην προσώπω 
ἢ τὰ Λύδων ἄρματα †κανοπλοισι 
[       μ]άχεντας. 
[       ].μεν οὐ δύνατον γένεσθαι 
[       ].ν ἀνθρωπ[..(.)π]εδέχην δ' ἄρασθαι 
[                                        ] 
[                                        ] 
[                                        ] 
[                                        ] 
[                                        ] 
προς[ 
ὠ̣σδ[ 
..].[ 
.].[.]ω̣λ̣.[

These — cavalry, others — infantry

others yet, navies, upon the black earth

hold most beautiful. But I, whatever

you desire.

To make this clear to anyone

is most easy.

Helen, surpassing all men

in beauty, forsaking

the best of men

left and sailed away to Troy.

not thinking of her child or her dear parents

led away

[three missing lines]

now I think of Anaktoria, who is far away

I desire to see her lovely gait

the shining sparkle of her face

more than the Lydian chariots, and armoured

foot soldiers.

Fragment 31

φαίνεταί μοι κῆνος ἴσος θέοισιν 
ἔμμεν' ὤνηρ, ὄττις ἐνάντιός τοι 
ἰσδάνει καὶ πλάσιον ἆδυ φωνεί-
σας ὐπακούει 
καὶ γελαίσας ἰμέροεν, τό μ' ἦ μὰν 
καρδίαν ἐν στήθεσιν ἐπτόαισεν, 
ὠς γὰρ ἔς σ' ἴδω βρόχε' ὤς με φώναι-
σ' οὐδ' ἒν ἔτ' εἴκει, 
ἀλλ' ἄκαν μὲν γλῶσσα †ἔαγε λέπτον 
δ' αὔτικα χρῶι πῦρ ὐπαδεδρόμηκεν, 
ὀππάτεσσι δ' οὐδ' ἒν ὄρημμ', ἐπιρρόμ-
βεισι δ' ἄκουαι, 
†έκαδε μ' ἴδρως ψῦχρος κακχέεται† τρόμος δὲ 
παῖσαν ἄγρει, χλωροτέρα δὲ ποίας 
ἔμμι, τεθνάκην δ' ὀλίγω 'πιδεύης 
φαίνομ' ἔμ' αὔται· 
ἀλλὰ πὰν τόλματον ἐπεὶ †καὶ πένητα†    
αἴ με τιμίαν ἐπόησαν ἔργα 
τὰ σφὰ δοῖσαι 
αἴθ' ἔγω, χρυσοστέφαν' Ἀφρόδιτα, 
τόνδε τὸν πάλον λαχοίην 
ἄστερες μὲν ἀμφὶ κάλαν σελάνναν 
ἂψ ἀπυκρύπτοισι φάεννον εἶδος, 
ὄπποτα πλήθοισα μάλιστα λάμπηι 
γᾶν ... 
ἀργυρία 
ἤ σε Κύπρος καὶ Πάφος ἢ Πάνορμος    
καὶ ποθήω καὶ μάομαι ... 
... κὰτ ἔμον στάλαχμον ... 
τὸν δ' ἐπιπλάζοντ' ἄνεμοι φέροιεν 
καὶ μελέδωναι. 
ὄπταις ἄμμε 
... πόδας δὲ 
ποίκιλος μάσλης ἐκάλυπτε, Λύδι-
ον κάλον ἔργον. 
σοὶ δ' ἔγω λεύκας †επιδωμον† αἶγος    
ταὶς κάλαισιν ὔμμι νόημμα τὦμον 
οὐ διάμειπτον 
ταῖσι ... ψῦχρος μὲν ἔγεντ' ὀ θῦμος 
πὰρ δ' ἴεισι τὰ πτέρα 

Fragment 58

A virtually complete poem about old age. The line-endings were first published in 1922 from an Oxyrhynchus papyrus, no. 1787 (fragment 1: images available from this site). Most of the rest of the poem was published in 2004 from a 3rd century BC papyrus in the Cologne University collection (images available from this page). The latest reconstruction, by M. L. West, appeared in the Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 151 (2005), 1-9, and in the Times Literary Supplement on 21 June, 2005 [1]).

References in modern literature

Lord Byron wrote the following lines about her in Childe Harold:

And onward viewed the mount, not yet forgot,

The lover's refuge and the Lesbian's grave.

Dark Sappho! could not verse immortal save

That breast imbued with such immortal fire?

Charles Baudelaire writes about Sappho in Les Fleurs du Mal.

The Greek poet Odysseas Elytis (20th century AD from Lesbos) admired her in one of his Mikra Epsilon: Such a being, both sensitive and courageous, is not often presented by life. A small-built deep-dark-skinned girl, that did prove to be equally capable of subjugating a rose-flower, interpreting a wave or a nightingale, and saying 'I love you', to fill the globe with emotion.

References

• Poetarum Lesbiorum fragmenta, E. Lobel, D. L. Page (eds.), Oxford, Clarendon Press, (1955).

External links

• "The Poems of Sappho"
• "The Divine Sappho"
• Wiki Classical Dictionary
• The sound of Sappho?
• SAPPHO: The World of Lesbian Poetry
• Sappho from Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1867)
• Sappho and Hellenistic poetry scholarly bibliography by Martin Cuyper
• John Ezard, The Guardian, June 24, 2005, "After 2,600 years, the world gains a fourth poem by Sappho"
• Martin West, Times Literary Supplement, 21 June 2005, A new Sappho poem