Sappho

### family

Erigyius (brother) Larichus (brother) Charaxus (brother) Cleïs (daughter) Cleïs (mother)

### works

Ode to Aphrodite, and many others that can't be found.

Sappho was an ancient greek poet.

## Appearance

No one has much idea what she looked like, because all the statues of her were non-descriptive. However, many mosaics depict her with curly hair. In the mosaics her hair is brown-red and in Tithonus’s poem (A poem written by Sappho, herself), is said to have “Violet colored hair”.

## Childhood

She was born into a wealthy family and raised on the island, Lesbos. She had three brothers, named: Erigyius, Larichus, and Charaxus. As for her parents: her mother’s name could very likely be Cleïs. This is thought because Sappho’s own daughter was named Cleïs. There are no leads as to the father’s name.

## Phaon

When Sappho was older she may have met a man named Phaon. (This story is not necessarily true, but Phaon may have been). Phaon was an old boatman. One day Aproditie asked for a ride on his boat, disguised as an old woman. Phaon took her to Asia Minor and refused any payment. In thanks, Aphrodite gave Phaon a magical lotion. Where it touched his skin it made him young again. Later Sappho met him and they fell in love. They may have gotten married but no one really knows.

## Conflict and death

The Christians and Catholics despised Sappho and her poems because it was said she was lesbian.1 However, she was more likely Bisexual, Pansexual, or something else because there are records of her having relationships with other genders.

According to The Parian Chronicle, Sappho was sent to exile (by the Christians) in Sicily around 600 BC to  Possibly because of her involvement in conflicts between political elites on Lesbos. Sappho was about sixty or seventy by this point. She was only in exile for two years, to only a few hours, before she died. Sappho committed sucided, throwing herself off the Leucadian cliffs, and into the water, claiming it was because Phaon “no longer loved her”, and since the world hated her and her life's work there was no reason for her to continue living in agony.

## After her death

There were divided opinions about Sappho and her poetry. They were praised by the Greeks, and some referred to her as “The Tenth Muse\*” and “The Poetess”. But the church was disgusted by her poetry, and Pope Gregory VII, later ordered it burned. During the Renaissance, several people attempted to gather the remnants of her poetry, but today only fragments and an ode to Aphrodite (the Greek goddess of love) remain.

## *Ode To Aphrodite*

"Ode to Aphrodite" is one of the largest remnants of Sappho's poems.

*Immortal Aphrodite, on your intricately brocaded throne,*

*child of Zeus, weaver of wiles, this I pray:*

*Dear Lady, don’t crush my heart*

*with pains and sorrows.*

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.

*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,*

*asked what had happened this time,*

*why did I call again,*

and what did I especially desire

*for myself in my frenzied heart:*

*“Who this time am I to persuade*

*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.”*

Come to me now once again and release me

*from grueling anxiety.*

*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.*

It’s very easy to make this clear

*to everyone, for Helen\*\*,*

*by far surpassing mortals in beauty,*

*left the best of all husbands*

and sailed to Troy,

*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]...*

*has reminded me now*
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*

*their footsoldiers in arms.*

*That man to me seems equal to the gods,*

*the man who sits opposite you*

*and close by listens*
to your sweet voice

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;

*instantly a delicate flame runs beneath my skin;*
with my eyes I see nothing;

*my ears make a whirring noise.*

A cold sweat covers me,

*trembling seizes my body,*

*and I am greener than grass.*

*Lacking but little of death do I seem.*2

## More poems by Sappho

The following are some more fragments of Sappho's poems. None of them are complete.

### To One who Love not Poetry

*THOU liest dead, and there will be no memory left behind*

*Of thee or thine in all the earth, for never didst thou bind*

*The roses of Pierian streams upon thy brow; thy doom*

*Is now to flit with unknown ghosts in cold and nameless gloom.*3

### Hymn to Aphrodite

*Throned in splendor, immortal Aphrodite!*

*Child of Zeus, Enchantress, I implore thee*

*Slay me not in this distress and anguish,*

*Lady of beauty.*

*Hither come as once before thou camest,*

*When from afar thou heard'st my voice lamenting,*

*Heard'st and camest, leaving thy glorious father's Palace golden,*

*Yoking thy chariot. Fair the doves that bore thee;*

*Swift to the darksome earth their course directing,*

*Waving their thick wings from the highest heaven*

*Down through the ether.*

*Quickly they came. Then thou, O blessed goddess,*

*All in smiling wreathed thy face immortal,*

*Bade me tell thee the cause of all my suffering,*

*Why now I called thee;*

*What for my maddened heart I most was longing.*

*"Whom," thou criest, "dost wish that sweet Persuasion*

*Now win over and lead to thy love, my Sappho?*

*Who is it wrongs thee?*

*"For, though now he flies, he soon shall follow,*

*Soon shall be giving gifts who now rejects them.*

*Even though now he love not, soon shall he love thee*

*Even though thou wouldst not."*

*Come then now, dear goddess, and release me*

*From my anguish. All my heart's desiring*

*Grant thou now. Now too again as aforetime,*

*Be thou my ally.* 4

### One Girl

*I*

*Like the sweet apple which reddens upon the topmost bough,*

*A-top on the topmost twig--which the pluckers forgot, somehow--*

*Forget it not, nay, but got it not, for none could get it till now.*

*II*

*Like the wild hyacinth flower which on the hills is found,*

*Which the passing feet of the shepherds for ever tear and wound,*

*Until the purple blossom is trodden in the ground.*5

\*The nine muses are goddess in the Greek myths. They are the goddesses of music, poetry, and other arts.

\*\*Helen of Troy, in Greek legend the most beautiful woman ever to live.