Who is atthis in sappho

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Black Lives Matter. Black Trans Lives Matter. From where does the name Atthis Arts originate? Who are we? Perhaps it is because of her obvious queerness or because the community itself has refused to let her fade into heterosexual obscurity—likely a healthy mixture of both. Nevertheless, not all scholars or fellow artists were parties to the grand deception.

Many risked their reputations and positions to defend the truth about Sappho. Queer or otherwise, historians and writers have not been a united front of homophobic erasure. If that were the case, there would likely be nothing left of her memory. It is also worth noting that even the wildest speculation did not always exclusively come from homophobia. While Christianity was experiencing a period of intense political power, Christian leaders aimed to burn as much of her work as possible.

For a time, minimizing her attraction and love for women was done to protect her work from extremists. The most considerable blow to her work came in B. From this point on, the effort to understand her life and preserve her work was more of a piecemeal operation.

The majority of her work comes from the original papyrus' fragments, quotes from other works, and mummy wrappings. There are not many primary sources in the discussions around Sappho's life, which leaves even the most simple details in question. There are wild overlaps and contradictions. Some judgements say she was beautiful, while the opposition says she was ugly. She was rather short, with dark hair and skin. She is credited with musical innovations throughout her life, making sense as most of her poems started their lives as songs.

After years of wild theories, homophobic historians have settled on a new take: her poetry was not, in fact, autobiographical. If such a claim was valid, then we truly know nothing of the real Sappho. Many scholars seem content to accept that the poems are autobiographical when discussing other things, like politics or a feud with friends.

However, as soon as it comes to her sexuality, they balk. Almost everything we know of her is speculation, at best rumours and gossip, the only exception being her work. What can be gleaned from her poetry is also relatively sparse. Sappho lived sometime in the early seventh century on the island of Lesbos. She mentioned multiple women with whom she had varying relationships.

She names them: her companions Anaktoria, Atthis, Gongyla, her friends Mika, Telesippa, Anagora, and two people she had falling outs with Gorgo and Andromeda. During her lifetime, Greece was much more accepting of same-gender attraction than it is today. Her reputation for loving women and the island she spent most of her life led to the creation of the word "lesbian.

This characterization held fast, so much so that the very term "lesbian" is derived from the name of her home island. Her reputation for licentiousness would cause Pope Gregory to burn her work in Because social norms in ancient Greece differed from those of today and because so little is actually known of her life, it is difficult to unequivocally answer such claims.

Her poems about Eros, however, speak with equal force to men as well as to women. Sappho is not only one of the few women poets we know of from antiquity, but also is one of the greatest lyric poets from any age. Most of her poems were meant to be sung by one person to the accompaniment of the lyre hence the name, "lyric" poetry.

Rather than addressing the gods or recounting epic narratives such as those of Homer , Sappho's verses speak from one individual to another. They speak simply and directly to the "bittersweet" difficulties of love. Many critics and readers alike have responded to the personal tone and urgency of her verses, and an abundance of translations of her fragments are available today.

National Poetry Month. Materials for Teachers Teach This Poem. For one woman to be called away to the duty of marriage is emotionally devastating for the one abandoned. Yes, this is where we get the word lesbian. But Themistius wrote in his Orations : We allow Sappho For this love has a nobility, and noble the beloved. Here's one collection of fragments from Sappho, strung together and titled "Six Fragments for Atthis" trans. Sherod Santos : I loved you, Atthis, years ago, when my youth was still all flowers and sighs, and you -- you seemed to me such a small ungainly girl.