Sappho was a lesbian poet who lived on the island of Lesbos in Greece. Both of the terms "Sapphic" and "lesbian" were inspired by her. Sappho was born around 620 BC and died around 570 BC. She was know as 'Sappho of Lesbos' by the Greeks. Also she was called the tenth muse throughout Greek history which was a name started by Plato. She was the person who innovated first person poetry in Ancient Greece when most poems were written in the perspective of a god. Sappho spent most of her life in Mytilene which the only exception being a brief amount of time where her family was exiled to Sicily. She was well known for her poems about women and her love for them. She wrote a hymn for Aphrodite and the entire hymn was about Aphrodite easing the pain of the women who reverted her. In their bid to cover up the lesbian poetry historians claim that Sappho jumped off a cliff for a man named Phaon who was a ferry man. It's very widely agreed that this was likely never actually mentioned and instead was either just a bid to make her seem straight or it was just a metaphor. In all reality the only time Sappho has ever mentioned a husband was most likely a joke. He was supposedly known as Kerkylas of Andros. His name literally translates to "dick allcocks of man island". Sappho comprised over 10,000 words of poetry but most were destroyed either by a church or because of the type of Greek she used. Her poetry was written in Aeolic Greek which was relatively rare. What Sappho role in history was is widely debated. Some claim that she was a school mistress and a noble while others claim that she was just a poet writing about women.
The first claim that she was just a school mistress could very well be true. However if she was a school mistress she would have been singing about her students. While it is debated, the poems were very clearly not platonic so it's possible that she was romantic with some of her female students. The other theory is that she was singing for men at drinking parties. This also could be true but she very much was not writing from just the perspective of men. The reason it couldn't possibly always be from the perspective of men is because the oldest of Greeks like to shame women. Unlike later parts of Ancient Greece, the oldest parts of ancients Greece were a lot less supportive of women. If she were to be singing in the perspective of a man, she would have most likely been shaming women. The lack of shaming women and comparing them to boys seems to prove that she wrote in a female's perspective majority of the time. Also she leaves many implications that she is the narrator through her poems. Whether it's describing the narrator as a female or literally having characters call her Sappho in the poems, she did write in a female perspective. Once she became popular women started expressing themselves more freely. The started rebelling against the social norms and eventually Ancient Greece started to accept them more.
Even with the claims of modern ideas of sexuality not existing back then it's abundantly clear that she is not straight. Historians tend to cover up as much as they can about queer people. Then claiming that she jumped off a cliff for Phaon was most likely a ploy to try and make people believe that she was straight. Another claim is that she was using her queer poetry to try and prepare her students for a husband then she was very clearly failing at her job. Another claim is that of modern identity not existing. That people in ancient times tended to blend together and not have any personality. This is very easy to disprove as individuality was very important to many ancient cultures. The ancient Greeks had many stories of individuality and how important it was. Sappho makes many mentions of this belief in her poetry. Her poems would create a world of femininity and love. Her entire world was built upon her love for women. Sappho never explicitly tells us of any love for any man besides her supposed 'husband' who, as mentioned before, was probably not real. She expresses her love for both women and people of no gender. Her poetry has never been shown to align with the ideals of the men she would have been writing about. If it was truly from a man's perspective then Sappho did a very poor job a capturing their beliefs. The historians who try to cover up all queer people in history are stripping these people of their individuality, which is likely the reason as to why so many ancient civilizations seem to lack individuality. They were built on queer foundations and when taking away the queerness it just leave to many blanks.
Sappho's poems (only about 650 lines of poems were saved out of the 10,000 she had written)
Ode to Aphrodite (the only fully put together poem)
Immortal Aphrodite, on your intricately brocaded throne,[1]
child of Zeus, weaver of wiles, this I pray:
Dear Lady, don't crush my heart
5 But come here, if ever before,
when you heard my far-off cry,
you listened. And you came,
leaving your father's house,
yoking your chariot of gold.
10 Then beautiful swift sparrows led you over the black earth
from the sky through the middle air,
whirling their wings into a blur.
Rapidly they came. And you, O Blessed Goddess,
a smile on your immortal face,
15 asked what had happened this time,
and what did I especially desire
for myself in my frenzied heart:
"Who this time am I to persuade
20 to your love? Sappho, who is doing you wrong?
For even if she flees, soon she shall pursue.
And if she refuses gifts, soon she shall give them.
If she doesn't love you, soon she shall love
even if she's unwilling."
25 Come to me now once again and release me
All that my heart longs for,
fulfill. And be yourself my ally in love's battle.
Some say an army of horsemen,
some of footsoldiers, some of ships,
is the fairest thing on the black earth,
but I say it is what one loves.
5 It's very easy to make this clear
by far surpassing mortals in beauty,
left the best of all husbands
10 mindful of neither her child
nor her dear parents, but
with one glimpse she was seduced by
Aphrodite. For easily bent...
and nimbly...[missing text]...
of Anactoria who is not here;
I would much prefer to see the lovely
way she walks and the radiant glance of her face
than the war-chariots of the Lydians or
20 their footsoldiers in arms.
That man to me seems equal to the gods,
the man who sits opposite you
5 and your enticing laughter—
that indeed has stirred up the heart in my breast.
For whenever I look at you even briefly
I can no longer say a single thing,
but my tongue is frozen in silence;
10 instantly a delicate flame runs beneath my skin;
with my eyes I see nothing;
my ears make a whirring noise.
trembling seizes my body,
15 and I am greener than grass.
Lacking but little of death do I seem.
Segments of poems (unable to be finished)
Come now, luxuriant Graces, and beautiful-haired Muses.
Now, I shall sing these songs
And when the maidens stood around the altar...
luxuriant Adonis is dying.
"Beat your breasts, young maidens.
But come, dear companions,
The moon is set. And the Pleiades.
It's the middle of the night.
has a share in brilliance and beauty
Again love, the limb-loosener, rattles me
As a wind in the mountains
I loved you, Atthis, long ago
even when you seemed to me
But you hate the very thought of me, Atthis,
And you flutter after Andromeda.
Honestly, I wish I were dead.
Weeping many tears, she left me and said,
"Alas, how terribly we suffer, Sappho.
I really leave you against my will."
And I answered: "Farewell, go and remember me.
You know how we cared for you.
If not, I would remind you
...of our wonderful times.
For by my side you put on
And with precious and royal perfume
On soft beds you satisfied your passion.
from which we were absent."
They say that Leda once found
Where will you go when you've left me?"
"I'll never come back to you , bride,
I'll never come back to you."
Sweet mother, I can't do my weaving—
Aphrodite has crushed me with desire
that shepherds crush underfoot.
To what shall I compare you, dear bridegroom?
To a slender shoot, I most liken you.
[Sappho compared the girl to an apple....she compared the bridegroom to Achilles, and likened the young man's deeds to the hero's.]
Himerius (4th cent. A.D.), Or. 1.16
Raise high the roofbeams, carpenters!
Hymenaon, Sing the wedding song!
Hymenaon, Sing the wedding song!
A bridegroom taller than Ares!
Hymenaon, Sing the wedding song!
Hymenaon, Sing the wedding song!
Superior as the singer of Lesbos—
Hymenaon, Sing the wedding song!
—to poets of other lands.
The Marriage of Hektor and Andromakhe
...The herald Idaios came...a swift messenger
...and the rest of Asia...unwilting glory (kleos aphthiton).
Hektor and his companions led the dark-eyed
luxuriant Andromakhe from holy Thebes and...Plakia
in ships upon the salty sea. Many golden bracelets and purple
robes..., intricately-worked ornaments,
countless silver cups and ivory.
Thus he spoke. And his dear father quickly leapt up.
And the story went to his friends through the broad city.
And the Trojans joined mules to smooth-running carriages.
And the whole band of women and...maidens got on.
Separately, the daughters of Priam...
And the unmarried men led horses beneath the chariots
and greatly...charioteers...
And the sweet song of the flute mixed...
And the sound of the cymbals, and then the maidens
sang in clear tones a sacred song
and a divinely-sweet echo reached the sky...
And everywhere through the streets...
And myrrh and cassia and frankincense were mingled.
And the older women wailed aloud.
And all the men gave forth a high-pitched song,
calling on Apollo, the far-shooter, skilled in the lyre.
And they sang of Hektor and Andromakhe like to the gods.
The marriage is accomplished as you prayed.
You have the maiden you prayed for.
I don't know what to do: I am of two minds.
I have a beautiful daughter
I would not trade her for all Lydia nor lovely...
When you lie dead, no one will remember you
For you have no share in the Muses' roses.
No, flitting aimlessly about,
a shade amidst the shadowy dead.
That's what the gods think.
Because you are dear to me
I don't dare live with a young man—
(If you would like to look at any other sources look up Sappho the lesbian. If you don't then you'll just get a bunch of bullshit from historians trying to cover up the fact that she was lesbian. Please be careful and do tell me any other facts you know about Sappho.)
