Transliteration : Sappho's poems are written in Aoelian Greek, spoken in antiquity in the North-Eastern Aegean. This is a rustic and more archaic dialect than the Attic or New Testament Greek which is typically taught in schools, closer to the Homeric. Indeed, many of the confirmed surviving Sappho fragments are...
The Poems Of Sappho, Part Iv : H?mitu'bion stala'sson. A napkin dripping. From the Scholiast on the Plutus of Aristophanes to show the meaning of h?mitu'bion. This was a piece of soft linen for wiping the hands. To`n vo`n paida kalei. Him she called her son. From Apollonius to show the use of digamma. Paides, a?'fwnos e?oi^s...
The Poems Of Sappho, Part Iii : Ge'llws paidofilwte'ra. More fond of children than Gello. Zenobius, about A.D. 130, quotes this as a proverb. The ghost of Gello was said by the Lesbians to pursue and carry off young children. Ma'la dh` kekorhme'nas Go'rgws. Very weary of Gorgo. Quoted by Choeroboscus about A.D. 600 to show...
The Poems Of Sappho, Part I : Poikilo'ron? a`a'nat? ?Afrodita, pai^ Di'os, dolo'ploke, li'ssomai' se mh' m? a?'saisi mh't? o?ni'aisi da'mna, po'tnia, u^mon. a?lla' tui'd? e?'l?, ai?'pota ka?te'rwta ta^s e?'mas au'dws ai?'oisa ph'lgi e?'klues pa'tros de` do'mon li'poisa xru'sion h?^les a?'rm? u?pozeu'ksaia, ka'loi de' s? a?^g...
Introduction : THE POETRY OF SAPPHO: INTRODUCTION BY J.B HARE Imagine that two millenia or so in the future, literary experts attempt to collect the glories of our literature. Most of our paper writings have crumbled into dust or used for kindling; all our digital files are long gone or indecipherable. English is...
The Poems Of Sappho, Part Ii : Po`das de' poi'kilos ma'slhs e?ka'lupte, Lu'dion ka'lon e?'rgon. A broidered strap of beautiful Lydian work covered her feet. Her shining ankles clad in fairest fashion In broidered leather from the realm of Lydia, So came the Goddess. This fragment is very likely from an invocati...