Search Results: Lesbos

Lesbos, a Greek island located in the eastern Aegean, had several prosperous city-states which thrived from the Bronze Age to the Byzantine era. Switching many times between independence, Persian and Greek control, Lesbos was often a victim...

Sappho of Lesbos (l. c. 620-570 BCE) was a lyric poet whose work was so popular in ancient Greece that she was honored in statuary, coinage, and pottery centuries after her death. Little remains of her work, and these fragments suggest she...

Women in the ancient Greek world had few rights in comparison to male citizens. Unable to vote, own land, or inherit, a woman's place was in the home and her purpose in life was the rearing of children. That is a general description and when...

In many cultures of antiquity women had to battle the disadvantages of rules and conventions made for men and by men who dominated government, public life, and society. Nevertheless, many ancient religions had powerful female goddesses like...

A black basalt representation of the Greek poetess Sappho of Lesbos. The work is a 16-18th century CE replica or even a re-working of an ancient original. (Palazzo Massimo, Rome)

Marble head of the poetess Sappho, from Smyrna (Izmir, Turkey). Roman copy of a portrait type belonging to the Hellenistic period. (Istanbul Archaeology Museum)

Orpheus is a figure from ancient Greek mythology, most famous for his virtuoso ability in playing the lyre or kithara. His music could charm the wild animals of the forest, and even streams would pause and trees bend a little closer to hear...

Greek literature has influenced not only its Roman neighbors to the west but also countless generations across the European continent. Greek writers are responsible for the introduction of such genres as poetry, tragedy, comedy, and western...

In Greek mythology, Amphitrite is a goddess and the feminine personification of the sea. She is the wife of the Greek sea god, Poseidon, and lives with him in a golden palace beneath the sea. As the daughter of Nereus and Doris, she is one...

Sappho of Lesbos was considered one of the greatest poets of her time. Ancient scholars included her among the illustrious Nine Lyric Poets - a list of the most important and influential poets of the age who mirrored the Nine Muses. Sappho...