Happy Lesbian Visibility Day!! (belated)
Ever wondered where exactly the word ‘Lesbian’ came from? Here’s a piece of queer history for you! :3
Dating all the way back to c. 610BCE on a Greek island called Lesbos (I think you can already see where this is going- ), a poet named Sappho was born. (Or Psappho as pronounced in the Aelic dialect). She is literally the first-ever Lesbian icon and oh my GOD did she slay!
She is, however, said to have a husband, Cercylas, a wealthy man from the island, Andros. She may have had a daughter as well. It is considered legend that she leaped off the Leucadian rock due to her unrequited love for Phaon, a younger man who was a sailor. Although many people believe that to be untrue.
Anyway, her poetry, was out of her love for Athena, the Greek goddess. It paints the poet as an “intimate servant” for the goddess, as quoted from Britannica. ‘Ode to Aphrodite’ remains to be her only a complete piece that is twenty-eight lines long, and you can read it right here.
“Frequent images in Sappho’s poetry include flowers, bright garlands, naturalistic outdoor scenes, altars smoking with incense, perfumed unguents to sprinkle on the body and bathe the hair—that is, all the elements of Aphrodite’s rituals.”
Mentioned in a piece on Britannica
“Rapidly they came.
Excerpt from a Fragment of Sappho’s Work
And you, O Blessed Goddess,
a smile on your immortal face,
asked what had happened this time,
why did I call again”
To the Universe: when is it my turn?
This is the link for the entire fragment, translation included!
Here is a famous painting, ‘Death of Sappho’ (1881) made by Catalan artist Miguel Carbonell Selva.
I have just discovered this bombshell of a woman and I’M IN LOVE! Although I can’t seem to find much about her, it was a piece of history I just had to share! If any of the literature/history girlies (genderless) know ANYTHING more about her- Let. Me. Know.
