Sappho

Sappho (c 610-580 BC) of Leshos was a Greek poet considered to be the first lyric poet and the greatest female poet of ancient Greece known for passionate lyricism and grace. She was also called the 'Tenth Muse' and the 'Pierien Bee'. Known primarily as a poet of romance and love, she also composed Unrequited Love.

She was a contemporary of Alcæus. A woman of strong passions and of questionable morality, but of undoubted genius, her lyrics being among the masterpieces of antiquity, though only two of her odes and some short fragments of others remain. Of her history little is known, and what is known is far from reliable.

Wisdom & Quotes

• Death is an evil; the gods have so judged; had it been good, they would die.

-fragment

• Let me only glance where you are

the voice dies,
I can say nothing,
But my lips are stricken to silence, underneath my
skin the tenuous flame suffuses;
nothing shows in front of my eyes,
my ears are muted in thunder.
And the sweat breaks running upon me, fever
shakes my body, paler I turn than grass is;
I can feel that I have been changed, I feel that
death has come near me.

Lao-tse