Sappho's lesbian legacy is unwelcome in Lesbos
August 23rd 2008 15:13
Last month residents of the Greek island of Lesbos went to court to attempt to ban the use of the word "lesbian" being used to describe sexual attraction between women. An Athens court rejected their plea allowing the queer community and local gays rights groups to continue using the word "lesbian" to refer to the identity of homosexual women.
Some residents claim that as the island's inhabitants, they were the only true Lesbians.
a slogan promoted by Paul Thymou and Dimitris Lambru during the trial
Other locals embrace the connection with homosexuality due to the roaring tourist trade from gay women holidaying on the island and boosting the economy.
Gay women became known as "lesbians" because of the homoerotic writings of Sappho who was born and lived on the isle of Lesbos.
Sappho was one of the great Greek lyrists and few known female poets of the ancient world. Sappho was called a lyrist because, as was the custom of the time, she wrote her poems to be performed with the accompaniment of a lyre. Her style was sensual and melodic; primarily songs of love, yearning, and reflection. She was one of the first poets to write from the first person, describing love and loss as it affected her personally. Sappho wrote in the 7th century BC in Lesbos which was a cultural centre at the time.
Many women were sent to Sappho on the isle of Lesbos to receive an education in the arts. Sappho nurtured these women, wrote poems of love and adoration to them, and when they eventually left the island to be married, she composed their wedding songs.
Sappho was an aristocrat who married a prosperous merchant, and she had a daughter named Cleis. Her wealth afforded her with the opportunity to live her life as she chose, and she chose to spend it studying the arts on the isle of Lesbos. She spent most her time on the island, though she also traveled widely throughout Greece. She was exiled for a time because of political activities in her family, and she spent this time in Sicily.
At one time, there were perhaps nine complete volumes of Sappho's poetry, but over the centuries, from neglect, natural disasters, and possibly some censorship by close-minded scholars, her work was lost. Late in the 19th century manuscripts dating back to the 8th century AD were discovered in the Nile Valley, and some of these manuscripts proved to contained Sappho's work. Excavations that followed in ancient Egyptian refuse heaps unearthed a quantity of papyruses from the first century BC to the 10th century AD. Strips of papyrus containing Sappho's poetry had been used to wrap mummies, stuff sacred animals, and wrap coffins.
Here is all that remains of Sappho's works:
Hymn to Aphrodite
Shimmering-throned immortal Aphrodite,
Daughter of Zeus, Enchantress, I implore thee,
Spare me, O queen, this agony and anguish,
Crush not my spirit.
Whenever before thou has hearkened to me—
To my voice calling to thee in the distance,
And heeding, thou hast come, leaving thy father's
Golden dominions,
With chariot yoked to thy fleet-winged coursers,
Fluttering swift pinions over earth's darkness,
And bringing thee through the infinite, gliding
Downwards from heaven,
Then, soon they arrived and thou, blessed goddess,
With divine contenance smiling, didst ask me
What new woe had befallen me now and why,
Thus I had called thee.
What in my mad heart was my greatest desire,
Who was it now that must feel my allurements,
Who was the fair one that must be persuaded,
Who wronged thee Sappho?
For if now she flees, quickly she shall follow
And if she spurns gifts, soon shall she offer them
Yea, if she knows not love, soon shall she feel it
Even reluctant.
Come then, I pray, grant me surcease from sorrow,
Drive away care, I beseech thee, O goddess
Fulfil for me what I yearn to accomplish,
Be thou my ally.
Peer of the gods, the happiest man I seem
Sitting before thee, rapt at thy sight, hearing
Thy soft laughter and thy voice most gentle,
Speaking so sweetly.
2nd Poem
Then in my bosom my heart wildly flutters,
And, when on thee I gaze never so little,
Bereft am I of all power of utterance,
My tongue is useless.
There rushes at once through my flesh tingling fire,
My eyes are deprived of all power of vision,
My ears hear nothing but sounds of winds roaring,
And all is blackness.
Down courses in streams the sweat of emotion,
A dread trembling o'erwhelms me, paler am I
Than dried grass in autumn, and in my madness
Dead I seem almost.
3rd Poem
A troop of horse, the serried ranks of marchers,
A noble fleet, some think these of all on earth
Most beautiful. For me naught else regarding
Is my beloved.
To understand this is for all most simple,
For thus gazing much on mortal perfection
And knowing already what life could give her,
Him chose fair Helen,
Him the betrayer of Ilium's honour.
Then recked she not of adored child or parent,
But yielded to love, and forced by her passion,
Dared Fate in exile.
Thus quickly is bent the will of that woman
To whom things near and dear seem to be nothing.
So mightest thou fail, My Anactoria,
If she were with you.
She whose gentle footfall and radiant face
Hold the power to charm more than a vision
Of chariots and the mail-clad battalions
Of Lydia's army.
So must we learn in a world made as this one
Man can never attain his greatest desire,
But must pray for what good fortune Fate holdeth,
Never unmindful.
4th Poem
The gleaming stars all about the shining moon
Hide their bright faces, when full-orbed and splendid
In the sky she floats, flooding the shadowed earth
with clear silver light.
5th Poem
By the cool water the breeze murmurs, rustling
Through apple branches, while from quivering leaves
Streams down deep slumber.
Invocation to Aphrodite
Come hither foam-born Cyprian goddess, come,
And in golden goblets pour richest nectar
All mixed in most ethereal perfection,
Thus to delight us.
A section of the current island community argue that describing gay women as "lesbians" impacts on their quality of life by violating their right to a national and regional identity. They wish to take sole ownership of the word and distance themselves from the history of Sappho and the historical relevance of her works for gay women today.
Nobody knows if Sappho was actually a lesbian or if her works were strictly autobiographical. The first person narration may be her own voice recounting real life experiences or the voice of a character. We do know that Sappho celebrated love between women and this characterisation is the legacy of her birthplace.
Seems a shame to reject such cultural significance . . .
Some residents claim that as the island's inhabitants, they were the only true Lesbians.
IF YOU ARE NOT FROM LESBOS YOU ARE NOT A LESBIAN
a slogan promoted by Paul Thymou and Dimitris Lambru during the trial
Other locals embrace the connection with homosexuality due to the roaring tourist trade from gay women holidaying on the island and boosting the economy.
Gay women became known as "lesbians" because of the homoerotic writings of Sappho who was born and lived on the isle of Lesbos.
Sappho was one of the great Greek lyrists and few known female poets of the ancient world. Sappho was called a lyrist because, as was the custom of the time, she wrote her poems to be performed with the accompaniment of a lyre. Her style was sensual and melodic; primarily songs of love, yearning, and reflection. She was one of the first poets to write from the first person, describing love and loss as it affected her personally. Sappho wrote in the 7th century BC in Lesbos which was a cultural centre at the time.
Many women were sent to Sappho on the isle of Lesbos to receive an education in the arts. Sappho nurtured these women, wrote poems of love and adoration to them, and when they eventually left the island to be married, she composed their wedding songs.
Sappho was an aristocrat who married a prosperous merchant, and she had a daughter named Cleis. Her wealth afforded her with the opportunity to live her life as she chose, and she chose to spend it studying the arts on the isle of Lesbos. She spent most her time on the island, though she also traveled widely throughout Greece. She was exiled for a time because of political activities in her family, and she spent this time in Sicily.
At one time, there were perhaps nine complete volumes of Sappho's poetry, but over the centuries, from neglect, natural disasters, and possibly some censorship by close-minded scholars, her work was lost. Late in the 19th century manuscripts dating back to the 8th century AD were discovered in the Nile Valley, and some of these manuscripts proved to contained Sappho's work. Excavations that followed in ancient Egyptian refuse heaps unearthed a quantity of papyruses from the first century BC to the 10th century AD. Strips of papyrus containing Sappho's poetry had been used to wrap mummies, stuff sacred animals, and wrap coffins.
Here is all that remains of Sappho's works:
Hymn to Aphrodite
Shimmering-throned immortal Aphrodite,
Daughter of Zeus, Enchantress, I implore thee,
Spare me, O queen, this agony and anguish,
Crush not my spirit.
Whenever before thou has hearkened to me—
To my voice calling to thee in the distance,
And heeding, thou hast come, leaving thy father's
Golden dominions,
With chariot yoked to thy fleet-winged coursers,
Fluttering swift pinions over earth's darkness,
And bringing thee through the infinite, gliding
Downwards from heaven,
Then, soon they arrived and thou, blessed goddess,
With divine contenance smiling, didst ask me
What new woe had befallen me now and why,
Thus I had called thee.
What in my mad heart was my greatest desire,
Who was it now that must feel my allurements,
Who was the fair one that must be persuaded,
Who wronged thee Sappho?
For if now she flees, quickly she shall follow
And if she spurns gifts, soon shall she offer them
Yea, if she knows not love, soon shall she feel it
Even reluctant.
Come then, I pray, grant me surcease from sorrow,
Drive away care, I beseech thee, O goddess
Fulfil for me what I yearn to accomplish,
Be thou my ally.
Peer of the gods, the happiest man I seem
Sitting before thee, rapt at thy sight, hearing
Thy soft laughter and thy voice most gentle,
Speaking so sweetly.
2nd Poem
Then in my bosom my heart wildly flutters,
And, when on thee I gaze never so little,
Bereft am I of all power of utterance,
My tongue is useless.
There rushes at once through my flesh tingling fire,
My eyes are deprived of all power of vision,
My ears hear nothing but sounds of winds roaring,
And all is blackness.
Down courses in streams the sweat of emotion,
A dread trembling o'erwhelms me, paler am I
Than dried grass in autumn, and in my madness
Dead I seem almost.
3rd Poem
A troop of horse, the serried ranks of marchers,
A noble fleet, some think these of all on earth
Most beautiful. For me naught else regarding
Is my beloved.
To understand this is for all most simple,
For thus gazing much on mortal perfection
And knowing already what life could give her,
Him chose fair Helen,
Him the betrayer of Ilium's honour.
Then recked she not of adored child or parent,
But yielded to love, and forced by her passion,
Dared Fate in exile.
Thus quickly is bent the will of that woman
To whom things near and dear seem to be nothing.
So mightest thou fail, My Anactoria,
If she were with you.
She whose gentle footfall and radiant face
Hold the power to charm more than a vision
Of chariots and the mail-clad battalions
Of Lydia's army.
So must we learn in a world made as this one
Man can never attain his greatest desire,
But must pray for what good fortune Fate holdeth,
Never unmindful.
4th Poem
The gleaming stars all about the shining moon
Hide their bright faces, when full-orbed and splendid
In the sky she floats, flooding the shadowed earth
with clear silver light.
5th Poem
By the cool water the breeze murmurs, rustling
Through apple branches, while from quivering leaves
Streams down deep slumber.
Invocation to Aphrodite
Come hither foam-born Cyprian goddess, come,
And in golden goblets pour richest nectar
All mixed in most ethereal perfection,
Thus to delight us.
A section of the current island community argue that describing gay women as "lesbians" impacts on their quality of life by violating their right to a national and regional identity. They wish to take sole ownership of the word and distance themselves from the history of Sappho and the historical relevance of her works for gay women today.
Nobody knows if Sappho was actually a lesbian or if her works were strictly autobiographical. The first person narration may be her own voice recounting real life experiences or the voice of a character. We do know that Sappho celebrated love between women and this characterisation is the legacy of her birthplace.
Seems a shame to reject such cultural significance . . .
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Comment by postmoderncritic
Postmodern Critic
Relativity Watch
Padsoc
Thinking of the Greek again, have you heard the insult 'cretin'? It sounds just like Cretan, or a word that could be given to a dweller of Crete, lol.
But that's what I love about language - double meanings and ambiguity.
I agree, it would be a shame to designate the word lesbians to the dwellers of Lesbos only.
Thanks for the poems of Sappho, I enjoyed reading them...
Comment by Morgan Bell
Science News
Deep Pencil
Business News
Movie Train
Artist Quirk
im glad you enjoyed the Sappho!
thats a good point about Crete and "cretin"
i read a similar argument about Siam and "siamese twins" . . . we dont presume all conjoined twins are from Thailand or that all Thai twins are conjoined . . . its become an accepted phrase that has evolved
im from Newcastle and the regional identity there is "novocastrian" but i dont think ive ever described myself as that, it is clearer to say "im from Newcastle"
i guess the people of the isle of Lesbos could say "im from Lesbos" if they found the ambiguity too much to handle!
Comment by RubySoho
Music Zone
Thought Zone
Humans change in so many ways but in some ways we don't change at all.
Comment by Morgan Bell
Science News
Deep Pencil
Business News
Movie Train
Artist Quirk
im so glad you liked it, i agree it is truly beautiful!
i wish more of her works had survived!
thanks for stopping in and having a read!