Women, Weird and Wonderful: Sapho, the Lesbian Poet

Sappho’s name, and the island of Lesbos where she lived, have become synonymous with female to female love. But this connotation is as recent as the 19th century. For the ancient Greeks, whether she felt attracted to men or women, was of no importance, as they rarely used labels to rank love. For the Greeks, she was the voice of the great women in Greek mythology: Phaidra, Aphrodite, Helen, Demeter,… It’s a shame that only 650 from the roughly 10 000 verses survive, because her feminine perspective could have changed our view on the big stories. Even if she lived in a patriarchal structure, her contemporaries appreciated her feminine and sensitive approach. “Some say an army of horsemen… is the fairest thing on the black earth, but I say it is what one loves… for Helen… left the best of all husbands… seduced by Aphrodite…” Sappho was held in such high esteem that she was referred to as “the tenth Muse”, or just “the Poetess”, and the terms “lesbian” or “saphic” were used as an honorary title.

Sapho, fresco Pompeï, Italy

Sapho, krater, Brygos painter, Staatliche Antikensammlungen, München, Germany

Did you know?

• The poet Anyte of Tegea (4th century BC) was so much admired, that the Greeks went out of their way to establish a family-relationship between her and Sapho.