Lesbos and Sappho

Lesbos in association with the rest of Greece

http://www.birdingreports.nl/greece-lesbos-map.jpg

          Lesbos is an island approximately 280 kilometers east of the mainland of Greece. It was decribed as a beautiful land, called "the fair isle, now the Garden of the Turkish Empire, was once the Garden of the Greeks" (Shields 670). It's greatest product is olives, which "grow in large plantations mostly in the east and centre" (Rouse 146). It also acts as home to plentiful figs and grapes. The wine that comes from these grapes, both red and white, is reported to be good in quality. It is home to ancient remains in the form of the Cyclopean Walls at Antissa, Arisba, Pyrrha, Xerocastro, and Apothiki. Apothiki acts as a centerpiece to a structure on raised ground.

A painting of Sappho

http://classicpersuasion.org/pw/sappho/

          Lesbos is most prominently known, however, as being home to the poet Sappho, who lived there around 600 B.C. Sappho is mostly a mystery in modern times, and what we do know of her could potentially be misinterpretation of the little information that we do have. There is a famous assumption that Sappho was a homosexual, and her verses seem to support this claim due to several references to passionately loving women (Prentice 347-352). Despite this, as is fairly easy to infer, Lesbos became the root to the common word for female homosexuality, "lesbian," and Sappho became the root to a word pertaining to lesbian eroticism, "sapphic." Neither of these words were applied to female homosexuality until the late nineteenth century, according to their entries in the Online Etymology Dictionary.

Blogger refused to acknowledge that this was a video, and wouldn't allow it to embed. So, here's the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGq1mDYSDnQ

And here are the two poems that are read at the end, translated into English

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/01/31/read_two_newly_discovered_sappho_poems_in_english_for_the_first_time.html

Prentice, William K. "Sappho." Classical Philology. Vol. 13. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1918. 347-           60. Print. Ser. 4.

Rouse, W. H. D. "Lesbos." The Annual of the British School at Athens. Vol. 2. N.p.: British School at             Athens, 1895-96. 145-54. JSTOR. Web.

Shields, Emily L. "Lesbos In The Trojan War." The Classical Journal. Vol. 13. N.p.: Classical Association         of the Middle West and South, 1918. 670-81. Ser. 9. JSTOR. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.