The Complete Works of Sappho

Whew!  What a month folks!  I want to apologize for my lack of posting, my computer decided to stop working and we have been scrambling to retrieve everything, putting me far behind on my to-do list.  Fortunately all is now well and I will be keeping to a posting schedule for next month!

First, some housekeeping.  This month I signed the site up for its own Bluesky account!  Click the link at the bottom of the page to say hi and share with me over there.  I also set up a Pinterest account and jazzed up my Patreon if you are interested in following me on those platforms.  Lastly, the garden is chugging along for this (very hot!) summer, and we have had a first harvest of garlic!  I am excited to share with you next month as the cucumbers and second batch of onions are actually doing very well.  

In tragic news, it looks like at least one of the figs might not make it.  We are trying to revive them but so far it isn’t working out.  I will have more to say about that next month and fingers crossed the news will be good. 

But this post is about books!  So without further adieu…

Sappho “The Poetess” and Why You Should Read Her Work (Even if You Hate Poetry!)

The island of Lesbos in the Aegean sea was the home of this unique voice in classical literature.  The daughter of a rich family, Sappho grew up in a society of haves and have nots, dominated by men, much like many, many, many women in classical antiquity.  Her family's status allowed her an education, and her works (often designed to be sung) have survived the ages where many women’s writings have not.  Although her work is mostly fragmented, we can still read, millennia later, her inner thoughts and feelings and many people today can relate to her emotions as they dance off the page in evocative and compelling language.  

Some of you may have noticed the names “Lesbos” and “Sappho” sound very similar to words used to describe women who love other women and you would be absolutely correct.  Both “lesbian” and “sapphic” can trace their roots back to this woman who, among other things, often wrote of her love and affection for other women.  Can you imagine anything more iconic than writing so passionately that you have your name (and the name of your homeland) become synonymous with romance!  Though there are stories of Sappho’s love for men, a vast majority of her love poetry relates to the women she loved throughout her life.  In an era where women were often pushed out of public life and hidden away, Sappho dared to write openly about her feelings and attractions, giving us a rare insight into the world of women in classical Greece.

And this, more than any other reason, is why you should read her.  When people approach reading the classics, I have often found, they tend to gravitate to the “important works” of Greek and Roman men that get all the attention.  While you shouldn’t neglect these works (we are reading one of those Roman authors next month!) as the philosophies and histories set out in them have had massive impacts on the western world and understanding them will go a long way towards understanding the forces at play in the world today, you run the risk of ignoring very important perspectives that way.  

Sappho isn’t a representative of all women of her time. Each Greek city state was different in their approach to the treatment of women, and outside of Greece their experiences varied even more.  There were societies where women were treated with a greater respect and with a greater level of equality with men, and there were societies where (at least wealthy women) were locked away behind high walls and veiled from public sight.  Not to mention the fact that Sappho was a woman of means, and an educated one.  

The lives of poor and enslaved women in the ancient world tended to be treated as of lesser concern than those of their privileged counterparts, a fact which afforded them harder lives in most cases (though in some their seeming lack of worth allowed them to leave those high sequestered walls and feel a breeze on their face now and again!). Their lack of representation even in the writings of men as nothing more than silent figures working passively in the background of great tales tells us all very little about their day to day lives.   

Yet we should still read Sappho.  No one person is ever going to capture the entirety of experiences lived by the people of their time, anymore than you or I could be a representative for the entirety of people of our gender, race, homeland, or even family!  Sappho isn't special because she was attracted to women, because she was Greek, because she was a woman, because her family was wealthy, or because she was talented.  She was special because she had a voice, one that wasn’t listened to all that often, and she found a way despite all that was against her to use it.  And that is a lesson we could all do well to learn. 

I hope that this has inspired you to read the poems of this remarkable authoress and to look critically at the sources we often default to and ask yourself if there is something missing.  I am going to try, as we go forward in this blog, to highlight some of these less represented works.  While there are a few popular classics that I am going to write about because I personally view them as interesting or important, I am going to challenge myself to read outside the box, and to share all of my journeys with you.  

Yesterday we had our first book club meeting and I want to give a special shout-out to the members who came.  We had a great time and I really enjoyed hearing all of your insights on this remarkable poetess and her work.  Next month we are going to be reading Tacitus’ “Agricola” and “Germania” if you are interested in joining us.  These shorter works by the Roman historian are a fairly quick read and the subject of a great deal of love and hate in the classical community.  I am eager to hear everyone’s opinions on these as I am sure we will be even more divided in our assessment then we were with Sappho!  Hope to see you all July 30th at 7pm EST over on my Patreon for the live!