Greece

Sappho
THE 10th MUSE

Sappho was an ancient Greek lyrical poet, born on the island of Lesbos, Greece. Her style of writing was not formally literary, but picturesque and direct. She was well known for her lyric poetry, read to be sung while accompanied by music. She was the leader of a “thiasos”, a female community which educated women for various matters, especially marriage. Her work has been lost throughout the years and only one twenty-eight-line poem has been found intact, the “Ode to Aphrodite”. The “Sapphic stanza”, named after her, is an Aeolic verse form of four lines (strophe), supposedly created or refined by Sappho. She was so popular that she has been honored in many different ways, such as pottery, statuary and coinage, centuries after her death. Sappho remains one of the most famous figures of Ancient Greece.