Sappho

Sappho was a Greek lyric poet born on the island of Lesbos, around 612 BC according to the chronology generally accepted. She lived at a time close to that of Alcaeus, a poet somewhat older than she was, and her work places her among the most important figures of Archaic Greek lyric poetry.

In her maturity she directed and trained, in Mytilene, the principal city of Lesbos, a group of young women from well-to-do families. There they practised rites and music dedicated above all to Aphrodite, the Graces and the Muses. Only women took part, and the emotional bonds within the group were intense. Plutarch describes her songs as capable of powerfully expressing the ardour of the heart.

To give shape to her emotions of love, jealousy and disillusionment, Sappho employed the lyric monody, a song for a single voice, and a stanza that bears her name. Of her choral compositions intended for worship, scarcely any loose verses survive, whereas somewhat longer fragments of her epithalamia, wedding songs performed by alternating choirs of young men and young women, are preserved.

Her legacy endures above all in personal lyric poetry. As regards instruments, she mentions the pēktis, perhaps a harp of Lydian origin, and the term chelus only once, probably in a generic sense. She is also credited with introducing the pēktis and inventing the Mixolydian mode, claims that scholars find not very convincing.