Sappho of Lesbos was considered one of the greatest poets of her time. Ancient scholars included her among the illustrious Nine Lyric Poets – a list of the most important and influential poets of the age who mirrored the Nine Muses. Sappho was born on the Greek island of Lesbos and is known to have been both a musician and a poet. She invented many things, including lyric poetry, the plectron which is used to pick a lyre, a pektis which is a particular type of lyre, and the Mixolydian mode.
Sappho’s poetry survives to us mostly in fragments, with only one of her poems surviving in full. What has survived is incredibly emotive, and displays her understanding of enduring human emotion that still resonates with readers in the modern-day. Sappho of Lesbos, the Female Greek Poet of Ancient Greece so renowned in her time that she was often referred to as simply ‘the Poetess,’ has created works that have survived for over two thousand years, and is still revered today.
— WANT TO KNOW MORE? —
Sappho of Lesbos https://worldhistory.org/Sappho_of_Lesbos/
Ancient Greek Literature https://worldhistory.org/Greek_Literature/
Lesbos https://worldhistory.org/lesbos/
Women in Ancient Greece https://worldhistory.org/article/927/women-in-ancient-greece/
The Lyre https://worldhistory.org/Lyre/
— WATCH NEXT —
The History of Valentines Day: From the Lupercalia to Cupid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHMQslQ5pYk
The World’s Oldest Love Poem: The Love Song of Shu-Sin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8_lsvLAb60
The Legend of Hercules (Herakles): Greatest Hero in Greek Mythology https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBUr9MHXsvc&t=576s
— CHAPTERS —
0:00 Introduction
0:40 Who was Sappho?
1:16 Sappho’s remaining works and inventions
2:05 What do we know of Sappho’s life?
3:14 Sappho’s Legacy
4:15 Death of Sappho
5:49 Question and outro
— ATTRIBUTIONS —
You can find all attribution and credits for images, animations, graphics and music here – https://worldhistory.typehut.com/sappho-of-lesbos-the-female-poet-of-ancient-greece-attributions-and-credits-3347
The music used in this recording is the intellectual copyright of Michael Levy, a prolific composer for the recreated lyres of antiquity, and used with the creator’s permission. Michael Levy’s music is available to stream at all the major digital music platforms. Find out more on:
https://www.ancientlyre.com
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ1X6F7lGMEadnNETSzTv8A
Thumbnail Images
http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/691/john-william-godward-reverie-british-1904/?dz=0.5264,0.5719,3.14
John William Godward (British, 1861 – 1922)
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Public Domain
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sappho_and_Erinna_in_a_Garden_at_Mytilene.jpg
Photographer Tate Britain
Painter Simeon Solomon
Public Domain
Free Clean Transitions from LenoFX
https://lenofx.com/products/10-clean-transitions-free
Free Logo Reveal Graphics by Zhoomart
https://motionarray.com/browse/producer/zhoomart
https://motionarray.com/final-cut-pro-templates/simple-logo-reveal-280924
— BUY OUR MERCH —
https://www.worldhistory.store/
— SUPPORT US VIA OUR PATREON—
https://www.worldhistory.org/patreon/
World History Encyclopedia
https://www.worldhistory.org/
#sappho #sapphooflesbos #greekpoetsappho
source
Do you know of another poet whose works have been lost to time? Who is it and what do their works mean to you? Let us know!
She had a husband, you know. His name was Dick. Dick Allcock from Man Island.
I appreciate the unbiased and informative video
Isn't her name actually Sapfo?
"Her s*xuality isn't important 🤓" proceeds to spend more time on telling us about how she might not be a lesbian than on the actual poetry 💀💀💀
Sexuality in Ancient Greek world was different from now, it was more free and without labels that are modern
If she was born and lived on Lesbos, why is it debatable that she was a Lesbian? 😂
💚
😮You would think her poetry deserves to be heard instead of hearing about her history alone.
Simonides, the Lyric and Dithyrambic poet from Ceos.
Ω ξείν', αγγέλλειν Λακεδαιμονίοις ότι τήδε
κείμεθα, τοις κείνων ρήμασι πειθόμενοι.
O xein', angellein Lakedaimoniois hoti tede
keimetha tois keinon rhemasi peithomenoi.
Tell them in Lakedaemon, passerby, that here, according to their laws we lie.
Anybody ever thought… she may have been bi….
Comedy of a theme for the degenerated society
Um there are 3 remaining poems of hers i think
I love her already
Well, simply all of ancient Atlantean poets and poetesses.
The whole "it's unknown if Sappho was a lesbian" thing is wildly insensitive to Sappho's own sexuality as well as the impact that has had on queer people throughout history and to this day. Fr. 1 has Aphrodite address the speaker directly as Sappho and in that same poem she speaks of the one she loves with feminine participles. Stop trying to please people uncomfortable with queer sexuality because claiming Sappho's sexuality is "unknown" is not the neutral statement you think you're making. Nothing about the ancient world and its sources is 100% known, but it's widely accepted and heavily implied that Sappho had romantic and sexual encounters with women.
FREE Sappho : Poems at my channel. A beautiful book created by two great-hearted women!
Auroral immortal Aphrodite,
child of God, artful weaver, I beg you,
O my Queen, neither with ache nor anguish
conquer my spirit!
But come to me—come to me now!
Once, long ago, you heard my cry from afar,
and from the golden house of your father
you came to me,
swift and beautiful astride your chariot
down to our dark world, escorted by sparrows
with fast-fluttering wings whirling round
in the heaven-heat of summer.
Swiftly they came; and you, o blessed one,
your undying face smiling,
asked me : ‘Why yet again are you suffering?
Why yet again have you called me?’
What most of all did I desire for myself
in my passion-heated heart?
‘Who, this time, am I to persuade
to love you? Who wrongs you, Sappho?
If she flees, soon she shall pursue you.
If she refuses your gifts, soon she shall
give them. And if she does not love you,
soon she shall love you even if she resists.’
Come to me now and free me
from my delirious agony.
Fulfil what my heart desires
and be my ally in the wrestle of love.
One of famous line of her poem is
O Zeus why is it so that i m granted body of a woman and soul of a man
Ancoent greeks did not distinguish between soul and mind
Thanks for great sharing!!
Ancient poets I recommend include: Enheduanna, Ono no Komachi, Ō no Yasumaro, Matsuo Basho and Charles d'Orleans. I have modern English translations of their poems if you're interested. If so, please leave me a note here and I can provide some examples.
"Whether Sapho herself was a lesbian is unknown."
It is not possible to express fiery emotion without keenly feeling it.
The "man" she died for translates to "dick from men island" and was a later account by the Bizatine empire. She was absolutely a lesbian.
the "her sexuality doesn't matter" clearly meant some homophobic offended opinion inside the discorse. most of her poems are about loving woman and the sexual desire on it, how can people say she might after all be straight??????????? WHY PEOPLE STILL WANT TO ERASE LESBIAN EXISTENCE FOR FUCKING SAKE
This may be the tinfoil hat talking but I don't think she killed herself…I think she was murdered!!
It's an absolute shame we can't read any more of her poetry…what we know of so far is lovely!
I mean…as a lesbian, the fact that people say that her sexuality doesn’t really matter is kind of annoying. There have been so many examples of straight washing throughout history. It matters to me that I’m a lesbian and it matters to other queer people that they are queer. We can’t just say that our queerness is not important and make it go away because cishet people don’t want to talk about it. That’s just how I felt watching that. It’s just kind of frustrating to see someone say that it doesn’t matter that one of the only examples of a wlw figure in history is wlw, especially that it does matter to so many wlw and LGBT+ people in general. Please don’t take the is personally. This isn’t an attack. This is just a commentary as a queer person of what I noticed in this video about someone who is a big part of queer history.