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Sappho

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Sappho Famous memorial

Birth
Death
c.-580 (aged 29–30)
Burial
Cremated, Ashes scattered at sea Add to Map
Memorial ID
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Poet. One of the greatest poets in the anchient world and one of the first lyricists. She was believed to have been born in the city of Mytilene on the Greek island of Lesbos where she spent most of her life. Facts about her life are in despute but it is believed that she was the daughter of an aristocrat and spent much of her life within a close group of friends writing poetry and music, her intimate associations are said to have consisted mainly of women (though not exclusively because at one point she was married and had a daughter). Unlike poets of her time she wrote her poems in stanzas and wrote them to music, making her the first lyricist. Not much of her work has survived but from what we know it consisted mostly of emotionally-charged poems of love and romance. But her work was condemed by the church because of it's erotic content. Due to the fact that she lived on the island of Lesbos, an island that was populated chiefly by woman (and due to persistant accounts of homosexuality there) the term 'lesbian' was coined for a homosexual woman. Sappho's death is as mysterious as her life. She is said to have died around 580 B.C. of natural causes and was set out to sea where her ashes would be scattered to the four corners of the earth.
Poet. One of the greatest poets in the anchient world and one of the first lyricists. She was believed to have been born in the city of Mytilene on the Greek island of Lesbos where she spent most of her life. Facts about her life are in despute but it is believed that she was the daughter of an aristocrat and spent much of her life within a close group of friends writing poetry and music, her intimate associations are said to have consisted mainly of women (though not exclusively because at one point she was married and had a daughter). Unlike poets of her time she wrote her poems in stanzas and wrote them to music, making her the first lyricist. Not much of her work has survived but from what we know it consisted mostly of emotionally-charged poems of love and romance. But her work was condemed by the church because of it's erotic content. Due to the fact that she lived on the island of Lesbos, an island that was populated chiefly by woman (and due to persistant accounts of homosexuality there) the term 'lesbian' was coined for a homosexual woman. Sappho's death is as mysterious as her life. She is said to have died around 580 B.C. of natural causes and was set out to sea where her ashes would be scattered to the four corners of the earth.

Bio by: Selk


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  • Maintained by: Find a Grave
  • Originally Created by: Selk
  • Added: Apr 11, 2005
  • Find a Grave Memorial ID:
  • Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10754953/sappho: accessed ), memorial page for Sappho (c.-610–c.-580), Find a Grave Memorial ID 10754953; Cremated, Ashes scattered at sea; Maintained by Find a Grave.