Kalpis painting of Sappho by the Sappho Painter (c. 510BC), currently held in the National Museum, Warsaw
Sappho (/ˈsæfoʊ/; Greek: ΣαπφώSapphṓ[sap.pʰɔ̌ː]; Aeolic Greek ΨάπφωPsápphō; c. 630 – c. 570BC) was an Archaic Greek poet from Eresos or Mytilene on the island of Lesbos.[a] Sappho is known for her lyric poetry, written to be sung while accompanied by music. In ancient times, Sappho was widely regarded as one of the greatest lyric poets and was given names such as the "Tenth Muse" and "The Poetess". Most of Sappho's poetry is now lost, and what is extant has mostly survived in fragmentary form; only the Ode to Aphrodite is certainly complete. As well as lyric poetry, ancient commentators claimed that Sappho wrote elegiac and iambic poetry. Three epigrams formerly attributed to Sappho are extant, but these are actually Hellenistic imitations of Sappho's style.
Little is known of Sappho's life. She was from a wealthy family from Lesbos, though her parents' names are uncertain. Ancient sources say that she had three brothers: Charaxos, Larichos and Eurygios. Two of them, Charaxos and Larichos, are mentioned in the Brothers Poem discovered in 2014. She was exiled to Sicily around 600BC, and may have continued to work until around 570BC. According to legend, she killed herself by leaping from the Leucadian cliffs due to her unrequited love for the ferryman Phaon.
Sappho was a prolific poet, probably composing around 10,000 lines. She was best-known in antiquity for her love poetry; other themes in the surviving fragments of her work include family and religion. She probably wrote poetry for both individual and choral performance. Most of her best-known and best-preserved fragments explore personal emotions and were probably composed for solo performance. Her works are known for their clarity of language, vivid images, and immediacy. The context in which she composed her poems has long been the subject of scholarly debate; the most influential suggestions have been that she had some sort of educational or religious role, or wrote for the symposium.
Sappho's poetry was well-known and greatly admired through much of antiquity, and she was among the canon of Nine Lyric Poets most highly esteemed by scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria. Sappho's poetry is still considered extraordinary and her works continue to influence other writers. Beyond her poetry, she is well known as a symbol of love and desire between women,[1] with the English words sapphic and lesbian deriving from her name and that of her home island, respectively.
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Sappho (/ˈsæfoʊ/; Greek: Σαπφώ Sapphṓ [sap.pʰɔ̌ː]; Aeolic Greek Ψάπφω Psápphō; c. 630 – c. 570 BC) was an Archaic Greek poet from Eresos or Mytilene on...
Sappho 31 is an archaic Greek lyric poem by the ancient Greek poet Sappho of the island of Lesbos. The poem is also known as phainetai moi (φαίνεταί μοι)...
Sappho was an ancient Greek lyric poet from the island of Lesbos. She wrote around 10,000 lines of poetry, only a small fraction of which survives. Only...
The Ode to Aphrodite (or Sappho fragment 1) is a lyric poem by the archaic Greek poet Sappho, who wrote in the late seventh and early sixth centuries...
Sappho and Erinna in a Garden at Mytilene is an 1864 watercolour painting on paper by Simeon Solomon. The painting measures 33 cm × 38.1 cm (13.0 in × 15...
Sappho Painter was an Attic black-figure vase painter, active c. 510–490 BCE. The artist's name vase is a kalpis depicting the poet Sappho, currently held...
Sapphic or sapphic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Sapphic may refer to: Sappho, Greek poet of the 7th century BC who wrote about her attraction to women...
Sappho (minor planet designation: 80 Sappho) is a large, S-type (stony) main-belt asteroid. It was discovered by English astronomer Norman Pogson on May...
Sapfo Notara (Greek: Σαπφώ Νοταρά; c. 1907 – June 11, 1985), born Sapfo Chandanou (Greek: Σαπφώ Χανδάνου), was a Greek actress, known for supporting capabilities...
Sappho 16 is a fragment of a poem by the archaic Greek lyric poet Sappho. It is from Book I of the Alexandrian edition of Sappho's poetry, and is known...
USS Sappho has been the name of more than one United States Navy ship, and may refer to: USS Sappho (SP-1427), a transport in commission from 1918 to...
Five ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Sappho, after the Ancient Greek lyric poet Sappho. Two more were planned but one was cancelled and one...
distinct verse forms characteristic of the two great poets of Archaic Lesbos, Sappho and Alcaeus, who composed in their native Aeolic dialect. These verse forms...
Sappho 94, sometimes known as Sappho's Confession, is a fragment of a poem by the archaic Greek poet Sappho. The poem is written as a conversation between...
fragments of another poem by Sappho discovered at the same time) the New Sappho, is a poem by the archaic Greek poet Sappho. It is part of fragment 58 in...
Constantinople, 1900) was a Cypriot writer, feminist, and educator. Sappho was born as Sappho Clerides (Σαπφώ Κληρίδη) in 1830 Constantinople or according to...
Sappho and Alcaeus is an 1881 oil-on-canvas painting by the English artist Lawrence Alma-Tadema. It is held by the Walters Art Museum, in Baltimore. The...
Catocala sappho, the Sappho underwing, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Ferdinand Heinrich Hermann Strecker in 1874...
works in support of freedom of expression. It presents an annual award, the Sappho Award. The organisation has a publishing house, Trykkefrihedsselskabets...
Neptis sappho, the Pallas' sailer or common glider, is a nymphalid butterfly found in Central Europe, Russia, India and other parts of temperate Asia and...
Sappho at Leucate, also known as The Death of Sappho, is an oil-on-canvas painting executed by the French painter Antoine-Jean Gros in 1801. It has the...
widely known as the language of Sappho and of Alcaeus of Mytilene. Aeolic poetry, which is exemplified in the works of Sappho, mostly uses four classical...
Sappho 44 is a fragment of a poem by the archaic Greek poet Sappho, which describes the wedding of Hector and Andromache. Preserved on a piece of papyrus...
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