Poetry of Sappho

Sappho was an ancient Greek lyric poet from the island of Lesbos. She is believed to have written around 10,000 lines of poetry, only a small fraction of which survives. Only one poem is known to be complete; in some cases as little as a single word survives. Modern editions of Sappho's poetry are the product of centuries of scholarship, first compiling quotations from surviving ancient works, and from the late 19th century rediscovering her works preserved on fragments of ancient papyri and parchment. Along with the poems which can be attributed with confidence to Sappho, a small number of surviving fragments in her Aeolic dialect may be by either her or her contemporary Alcaeus. Modern editions of Sappho also collect ancient "testimonia" which discuss Sappho's life and works.

Textual history

Ancient editions

Sappho probably wrote around 10,000 lines of poetry; today, only 650 survive. They were originally composed for performance, and it is unclear precisely when they were first written down. Some scholars argue that books of Sappho's poetry were produced in or shortly after her own lifetime; others believe that if they were written down in that time, it was only as an aid to reperformance rather than as a literary work in their own right.
In the third or second century BC, Sappho's poems were edited into a critical edition by scholars in Alexandria. This may have been based on an Athenian text of her poems, or one from her native island of Lesbos. It is uncertain which of the Alexandrian scholars was responsible for the edition of Sappho; both Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of Samothrace are reported to have produced editions of Alcaeus, and one or both of these may have been responsible for the Alexandrian edition of Sappho. Alexander Dale argues that Aristophanes was more likely responsible.
The Alexandrian edition of Sappho's poetry was divided into eight or nine books: the exact number is uncertain. Ancient testimonia mention an eighth book of the Alexandrian edition of Sappho; an epigram by mentions nine books of Sappho, though it is not certain that he is referring to the Alexandrian edition. These books were probably divided up by metre, arranged based on the syllable count of the metre. Ancient sources record that each of the first three books contained poems in a single specific metre. Information about the contents of the later books is less certain: the fourth book appears to have contained many poems in acephalous hipponacteans with double choriambic expansion, and possibly in other metres; the fifth book was metrically heterogeneous, with ancient sources mentioning the use of Phaelecian hendecasyllables and lesser asclepiads; of the sixth, nothing is known; a single couplet from the seventh book is preserved in Hephaestion but it is unclear whether this was an entire stanza or part of a three- or four-line stanza. Fragment 103 preserves 10 incipits of poems by Sappho, possibly from book 8, of which the first is in a different metre from the remaining nine; those nine may or may not all be in the same meter. A ninth book may have been made up of epithalamia in various meters, though many scholars are skeptical of the evidence for this, and consider that the book of epithalamia mentioned in ancient sources might have been the eighth book of the Alexandrian edition.
In addition to the Alexandrian edition, at least some of Sappho's poetry was in circulation in the ancient world in other collections. The Cologne papyrus on which the Tithonus poem is preserved was part of a Hellenistic anthology of poetry, and predates the Alexandrian edition. Two fragments list opening lines of poems: Fr. 103 contains openings to ten of Sappho's poems, and Fr. 213C Campbell quotes openings to poems by Sappho, Alcaeus, and Anacreon; both might be related to anthological collections.

Loss and recovery

Today, most of Sappho's poetry is lost. The two major sources of surviving fragments of Sappho are quotations in other ancient works, from a whole poem to as little as a single word; and fragments of papyrus, many of which were discovered at Oxyrhynchus in Egypt. A few fragments survive on other materials, including parchment and potsherds. The oldest surviving fragment of Sappho currently known is the Cologne papyrus which contains the Tithonus poem; it dates to the third century BC.
Sappho's poetry survived into the seventh century, longer than that of the other canonical Greek lyric poets. Unlike other, less popular authors, the Alexandrian edition of Sappho's poetry was copied from papyrus rolls to the codex. Her work appears to have disappeared around the ninth century; there is no evidence that it was ever copied into the minuscule handwriting which began to be used at this time. Sappho's poetry continued to be accessible only in quotations from other ancient authors, which, until printed editions of Greek texts began to appear in the Renaissance, would only have been accessible in manuscript form in monastic libraries. In 1508, a collection of Greek rhetorical works edited by Demetrios Doukas and published by Aldus Manutius made a poem by Sappho available in print for the first time; in 1554, Henri Estienne was the first to collect her poetry when he printed the Ode to Aphrodite and the Midnight poem after a collection of fragments of Anacreon. The first modern edition devoted solely to Sappho's work was published in 1733 by, including fourteen fragments not previously included in collections of her poetry. The work of collecting quotations from Sappho from ancient sources culminated in Theodor Bergk's edition of the Greek lyric poets, whose second edition contained 120 fragments of Sappho and 50 testimonia.
The last quarter of the nineteenth century began a new period in the rediscovery of Sappho's poetry, with the discovery of a parchment fragment at Crocodilopolis published by Friedrich Blass in 1880. From then until the publication of the "newest Sappho" in 2014, 24 papyri preserving texts of Sappho, and eight preserving related materials such as commentaries on her work, have been published. The most recent major editions of Sappho, by Edgar Lobel and Denys Page in 1955, and Eva-Maria Voigt in 1971, in conjunction with Lobel and Page's Supplementa Lyra Graeca, collect all of the material published by 1974; despite the publication of further papyrus fragments in 1997, 2004, 2005 and 2014, Voigt's remains the standard modern edition.

Poems

The fragments of Sappho's poems are arranged in the editions of Lobel and Page, and Voigt, by the book from the Alexandrian edition of her works in which they are believed to have been found. Fragments 1-42 are from Book 1, 43-52 from Book 2, 53-57 from Book 3, 58-91 from Book 4; 92-101 from Book 5, 102 from Book 7, 103 from Book 8, and 104-117B from the Epithalamia. Fragments 118-168 are those which Lobel and Page did not assign to any particular book, and are arranged alphabetically. Fragment numbers with capital letters were assigned by later editors to fit into Lobel and Page's numeration; lowercase letters indicate different parts of the same fragment.

Fragment Number	Sources	Meter	No. of lines
Fragment 1	P. Oxy. 2288; Dionysius of Halicarnassus	Sapphic stanza	28
Fragment 2	PSI 1300	Sapphic stanza	17
Fragment 3	P. Berol. 5006; P. Oxy. 424	Sapphic stanza	18
Fragment 4	P. Berol. 5006	Sapphic stanza	10
Fragment 5	P. Oxy. 7; P. Oxy. 2289; P. GC	Sapphic stanza	20
Fragment 6	P. Oxy. 2289	perhaps Sapphic stanza	15
Fragment 7	P. Oxy. 2289	Sapphic stanza	7
Fragment 8	P. Oxy. 2289	Sapphic stanza	5
Fragment 9	P. Oxy. 2289; P. GC	Sapphic stanza	20
Brothers Poem	P. Oxy. 2289; P. Sapph. Obbink	Sapphic stanza	24
Fragment 12	P. Oxy. 2289	Sapphic stanza	9
Fragment 15	P. Oxy. 1231	Sapphic stanza	12
Fragment 16	P. Oxy. 1231; PSI 123; P. GC	Sapphic stanza	20
Fragment 16A	P. Oxy. 1231; PSI 123; P. GC	Sapphic stanza	12
Fragment 17	PSI 123; P. Oxy. 1231; P. Oxy. 2166; P. Oxy. 2289; P. GC	Sapphic stanza	20
Fragment 18	P. Oxy. 1231; P. GC	Sapphic stanza	15
Fragment 18A	P. GC	Sapphic stanza	9
Fragment 19	P. Oxy. 1231	Sapphic stanza	12
Fragment 20	P. Oxy. 1231	Sapphic stanza	24
Fragment 21	P. Oxy. 1231; Apollonius Dyscolus	Sapphic stanza	15
Fragment 22	P. Oxy. 1231	Sapphic stanza	19
Fragment 23	P. Oxy. 1231	Sapphic stanza	14
Fragment 24a	P. Oxy. 1231	Sapphic stanza	8
Fragment 24b	P. Oxy. 2166	Sapphic stanza	5
Fragment 24c	P. Oxy. 1231	Sapphic stanza	9
Fragment 24d	P. Oxy. 1231	Sapphic stanza	7
Fragment 25	P. Oxy. 1231	Sapphic stanza	7
Fragment 26	P. Oxy. 1231, P. Sapph. Obbink	Sapphic stanza	16
Fragment 27	P. Oxy. 1231	Sapphic stanza	13
Fragment 28a	P. Oxy. 1231	Sapphic stanza	4
Fragment 28b	P. Oxy. 1231	Sapphic stanza	5
Fragment 28c	P. Oxy. 1231	Sapphic stanza	5
Fragment 29a	P. Oxy. 1231	Sapphic stanza	4
Fragment 29b	P. Oxy. 1231	Sapphic stanza	5
Fragment 29c	P. Oxy. 1231; P. Oxy. 2166	Sapphic stanza	11
Fragment 29d	P. Oxy. 1231	Sapphic stanza	4
Fragment 29e	P. Oxy. 1231	Sapphic stanza	3
Fragment 29f	P. Oxy. 1231	Sapphic stanza	7
Fragment 29g	P. Oxy. 2081	Sapphic stanza	4
Fragment 29h	P. Oxy. 2166	Sapphic stanza	8
Fragment 29i	P. Oxy. 2166	Sapphic stanza	5
Fragment 30	P. Oxy. 1231	Sapphic stanza	9
Fragment 31	Longinus	Sapphic stanza	17
Fragment 32	Apollonius Dyscolus	Sapphic stanza	2
Fragment 33	Apollonius Dyscolus	Sapphic stanza	2
Fragment 34	Eustathius	Sapphic stanza	5
Fragment 35	Strabo	Sapphic stanza	1
Fragment 36	Etymologicum Genuinum	Sapphic stanza?	1
Fragment 37	Etymologicum Genuinum	Sapphic stanza	3
Fragment 38	Apollonius Dyscolus	Sapphic stanza	1
Fragment 39	Scholiast on Aristophanes' Peace	Sapphic stanza	3
Fragment 40	Apollonius Dyscolus	Sapphic stanza	2
Fragment 41	Apollonius Dyscolus	Sapphic stanza	2
Fragment 42	Scholiast on Pindar	Sapphic stanza	2
Fragment 43	P. Oxy. 1232	]-uu-ux, possibly Glyconic with 2x dactylic expansion	9
Fragment 44	P. Oxy. 1232	Glyconic with 2x dactylic expansion	34
Fragment 44Aa	P. Fouad. 239	]-uu-uu-ux, possibly Glyconic with 2x dactylic expansion	12
Fragment 44Ab	P. Fouad. 239	xx-uu-	3
Fragment 60	P. Halle. 3	]-uu-u-x, possibly acephalous hipponacteans with 2x choriambic expansion	11
Fragment 61	P. Oxy. 1787		2
Fragment 62	P. Oxy. 1787	x-uu--uu-	15
Fragment 64b	P. Oxy. 1787		4
Fragment 65	P. Oxy. 1787	x-uu-	3
Fragment 66b	P. Oxy. 1787		4
Fragment 66c	P. Oxy. 1787		3
Fragment 67a	P. Oxy. 1787	x-uu-	7
Fragment 68a	P. Oxy. 1787	]uu--uu-u-x, possibly acephalous hipponacteans with 2x choriambic expansion	12
Fragment 68b	P. Oxy. 1787		6
Fragment 69	P. Oxy. 1787		3
Fragment 70	P. Oxy. 1787	]--uu-uu--uu-u-x, possibly acephalous hipponacteans with 2x choriambic expansion	8
Fragment 72	P. Oxy. 1787		8
Fragment 73a	P. Oxy. 1787	-]uu-u-x, possibly acephalous hipponacteans with 2x choriambic expansion, possibly three line strophes based on acephalous hipponacteans with a shorter third line	9
Fragment 73b	P. Oxy. 1787	-]uu-u-x, possibly acephalous hipponacteans with 2x choriambic expansion, possibly three line strophes based on acephalous hipponacteans with a shorter third line	3
Fragment 74a	P. Oxy. 1787		6
Fragment 74b	P. Oxy. 1787		3
Fragment 74c	P. Oxy. 1787		4
Fragment 74d	P. Oxy. 1787		3
Fragment 75a	P. Oxy. 1787		8
Fragment 75b	P. Oxy. 1787		5
Fragment 75c	P. Oxy. 1787		5
Fragment 76	P. Oxy. 1787		7
Fragment 77a	P. Oxy. 1787		9
Fragment 77b	P. Oxy. 1787		6
Fragment 77c	P. Oxy. 1787		4
Fragment 78	P. Oxy. 1787		7
Fragment 79	P. Oxy. 1787		6
Fragment 80	P. Oxy. 1787		6
Fragment 81	P. Oxy. 1787; Athenaeus	acephalous hipponacteans with 2x choriambic expansion	7
Fragment 82a	Hephaestion	acephalous hipponacteans with 2x choriambic expansion	1
Fragment 82b	P. Oxy. 1787	acephalous hipponacteans with 2x choriambic expansion	5
Fragment 83	P. Oxy. 1787		7
Fragment 84	P. Oxy. 1787		7
Fragment 85a	P. Oxy. 1787		4
Fragment 85b	P. Oxy. 1787		3
Fragment 86	P. Oxy. 1787	]-uu--uu-u-x, possibly acephalous hipponacteans with 2x choriambic expansion, possibly three line strophes based on acephalous hipponacteans with a shorter third line	8
Fragment 87a	P. Oxy. 1787		9
Fragment 87b	P. Oxy. 1787		4
Fragment 87c	P. Oxy. 1787		2
Fragment 87d	P. Oxy. 2166		10
Fragment 87e	P. Oxy. 2166		4
Fragment 87f	P. Oxy. 2166		8
Fragment 88a	P. Oxy. 2290	-u--uu-u--uu-uu-u-x\|\|\|	28
Fragment 88b	P. Oxy. 2290	-u--uu-u--uu-uu-u-x\|\|\|	10
Fragment 90a	P. Oxy. 2293		47
Fragment 90b	P. Oxy. 2293		15
Fragment 90c	P. Oxy. 2293		7
Fragment 90d	P. Oxy. 2293		18
Fragment 90e	P. Oxy. 2293		4
Fragment 91	Hephaestion	acephalous hipponacteans with 2x choriambic expansion	1
Fragment 92	P. Berol. 9722	xx-uuu-u-	5
Fragment 94	P. Berol. 9722	glyconic \|\| glyconic \|\| glyconic with dactylic expansion\|\|\|	29
Fragment 95	P. Berol. 9722	-u-xx--uu-uu-u	9
Fragment 103Ab	P. Cair. Mediol. 7		4
Fragment 103B	P. Oxy. 2308	]--uu--	1
Fragment 163	Julian		1
Fragment 164	Apollonius Dyscolus		1
Fragment 165	Apollonius Dyscolus	Sapphic stanza	1
Fragment 166	Athenaeus	gl^c	2
Fragment 167	Athenaeus	gl^xd	1
Fragment 168	Marius Plotius Sacerdos	Sapphic stanza?	1
Fragment 168A	Etymologicum Genuinum	glyconic?	1
Fragment 168B	Hephaestion	Acephalous hipponacteans	4
Fragment 168C	Demetrius, On Style	Alcaic stanza?	1

Glosses

These fragments are isolated words quoted by other ancient authors, arranged alphabetically.

Fragment Number	Sources
Fragment 169	Scholiast on the Iliad
Fragment 169A	Hesychius, Lexicon
Fragment 170	Strabo, Geography
Fragment 171	Photius, Lexicon
Fragment 172	Maximus of Tyre, Orations
Fragment 173	Choeroboscus on Theodosius
Fragment 174	Orion, Lexicon
Fragment 175	Apollonius Dyscolus, Adverbs
Fragment 176	Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae
Fragment 177	Julius Pollux
Fragment 179	Phrynichus
Fragment 180	Hesychius
Fragment 181	Scholiast on Dionysius of Thrace
Fragment 182	Scholiast on the Iliad
Fragment 183	Porphyry on the Iliad
Fragment 184	Choeroboscus on Theodosius
Fragment 185	Philostratus, Images
Fragment 186	John of Alexandria
Fragment 187	Homeric Parsings
Fragment 188	Maximus of Tyre
Fragment 189	Phrynichus
Fragment 190	Scholiast on the Iliad
Fragment 191	Julius Pollux
Fragment 192	Julius Pollux

Testimonia

The testimonia are ancient accounts of Sappho, her life, and her poetry, which are conventionally included in critical editions of her work. The selection included in these editions varies considerably. Along with the seventy included in Voigt's edition, those given in Campbell's Loeb edition are listed here.

Voigt Number	Campbell Number	Sources
Fragment 194		Himerius
Fragment 194A		Michael Italikos
Fragment 195		Demetrius, On Style
Fragment 196		Aelius Aristides
Fragment 197		Libanius
Fragment 198a		Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius
Fragment 198b		Scholiast on Theocritus
Fragment 198c		Pausanias
Fragment 199		Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius
Fragment 200		Scholiast on Hesiod
Fragment 201		Aristotle
Fragment 203a		Athenaeus
Fragment 203b		Eustathius of Thessalonica
Fragment 203c		Scholiast on Iliad
Fragment 204a		Scholiast on Pindar
Fragment 204b		Pausanias
Fragment 205		Aulus Gellius
Fragment 206		Servius on Virgil
Fragment 207		Servius on Virgil
Fragment 208		Himerius
Fragment 209		Eustathius of Thessalonica
Fragment 210		Scholiast on Theocritus
Fragment 211a	T. 3, 23	Pseudo-Palaephatus; Strabo; Alciphron; Plutarch; Scholiast on Libanius; Suda; Servius; Lucian; Scholiast on Lucian; Hesychius
Fragment 211b		Pliny the Elder
Fragment 211c		Aelian; Athenaeus; Comes Natalis
Fragment 212		Comes Natalis
Fragment 213		P. Oxy. 2292
Fragment 213Aa		P. Oxy. 2506
Fragment 213Ab		P. Oxy. 2506
Fragment 213Ac		P. Oxy. 2506
Fragment 213Ad		P. Oxy. 2506
Fragment 213Ae		P. Oxy. 2506
Fragment 213Af		P. Oxy. 2506
Fragment 213Ag		P. Oxy. 2506
Fragment 213Ah	T. 14	P. Oxy. 2506
Fragment 213Ai		P. Oxy. 2506
Fragment 213Ak		P. Oxy. 2506
Fragment 213B		PSI
	Fragment 213C	P. Mich. inv. 3498
Fragment 214		Pausanias
	Fragment 214A	P. Oxy. 2637
	Fragment 214B	P. Colon. 5860
	Fragment 214C	P. Colon. inv. 8
Fragment 215	T. 45	Demetrius, On Style
Fragment 216		Philostratus
Fragment 217		Philostratus
Fragment 218		Himerius
Fragment 219	T. 20	Maximus of Tyre
Fragment 220		Himerius
Fragment 221	T. 50	Himerius
Fragment 222	T. 47	Menander
Fragment 223	T. 21	Philostratus
Fragment 224	T. 18	Horace
Fragment 225	T. 51	Horace
Fragment 226	T. 29	Scholiast on metre of Pindar
Fragment 227		Hephaestion
Fragment 228	T. 30	Hephaestion
Fragment 229		Hephaestion
Fragment 230	T. 31	Caesius Bassus
Fragment 231		Atilius Fortunatianus
Fragment 232		Hephaestion
Fragment 233	T. 32	Photius
Fragment 234		Servius on Virgil
Fragment 235		Suda
Fragment 236		Hephaestion
Fragment 237	T. 36	Dionysius of Halicarnassus
Fragment 238		Atilius Fortunatianus
Fragment 239		Marius Victorinus
Fragment 240		Scholiast on Hephaestion
Fragment 242		Marius Victorinus
Fragment 243		Servius
Fragment 244	T. 22	Seneca the Younger
Fragment 245	T. 41	Strabo
Fragment 246	T. 37	Aristoxenus
Fragment 247	T. 38	Menaechmus
Fragment 248	T. 40	Suda
Fragment 249	T. 6	Eusebius
Fragment 250	T. 8	Athenaeus
Fragment 251	T. 5	Parian Chronicle
Fragment 252	T. 1	P. Oxy. 1800
Fragment 253	T. 2	Suda
Fragment 254a		Herodotus
Fragment 254b		Strabo
Fragment 254c		Athenaeus
Fragment 254d		Photius
Fragment 254e		Suda
Fragment 254f		Appendix Proverbiorum
Fragment 254g		John Tzetzes
Fragment 255		Scholiast on Plato
Fragment 256	T. 4	Aelian
Fragment 257		Suda
Fragment 258		Maximus of Tyre
Fragment 259		Scholiast on Lucian
Fragment 260a	T. 34	Horace
Fragment 260b	T. 17	Porphyrio
Fragment 260c	T. 17	Dionysius Latinus
Fragment 261		Ovid
Fragment 262		Tatian
Fragment 263	T. 13, 16, 19, 44	Heroides 15
Fragment 264	T. 7	Strabo

Uncertain authorship

Fragments where the authorship is uncertain. In most cases, this is because the dialect is identifiable as Aeolic, but the poem may be by either Sappho or Alcaeus of Mytilene.

Fragment Number	Sources	Meter	Lines
Fragment 1	Scholiast to Odyssey	gl	1
Fragment 2	Etymologicum Genuinum		1
Fragment 3	Apollonius Dyscolus		1
Fragment 4	Homeric Parsings	aeol	1
Fragment 5a	Herodian	gl?	1
Fragment 5b	Herodian		1
Fragment 5c	Herodian		1
Fragment 6	Anonymous grammarian	uncertain	1
Fragment 10	Herodian	Alcaic stanza	2
Fragment 11	Herodian	uncertain	1
Fragment 12	Homeric Parsings	uncertain	1
Fragment 14	Homeric Parsings	uncertain	1
Fragment 15a	Zenobius		1
Fragment 15b	Scholiast on Aelius Aristides		1
Fragment 16	Hephaestion	hipp	3
Fragment 18	Anonymous	]uu-u-u--, gl ba?	2
Fragment 19	Apollonius Dyscolus		1
Fragment 20	Joannes Zonaras		1
Fragment 21	Hephaestion	ia gl ia	2
Fragment 22	Hephaestion	uncertain	1
Fragment 23	Philodemus	cho 2io anacl or hemiepes u-u--	1
Fragment 25	Scholiast on Theocritus	uncertain	1
Fragment 25A	Etymologicum Genuinum		1
Fragment 25B	Etymologicum Magnum		1
Fragment 25C	Eustathius of Thessalonica		2
Fragment 27	P. Vind. 29777	Sapphic stanza?	3
Fragment 28	P. Oxy. 2299	uncertain	8
Fragment 29	P. Oxy. 2299		2
Fragment 30	P. Oxy. 2299	uncertain	8
Fragment 31a	P. Oxy. 2299	]u-u--uu-u-u--uu-u---uu-u--, hipp or 3cho ba	8
Fragment 36a	P. Oxy. 2299	uncertain	6
Fragment 36b	P. Oxy. 2299	uncertain	4
Fragment 37	P. Oxy. 2299	uncertain	13
Fragment 38	P. Oxy. 2299	uncertain	3
Fragment 39	P. Oxy. 2299	uncertain	3
Fragment 40	P. Oxy. 2299	uncertain	4
Fragment 41	P. Oxy. 2299		7
Fragment 42	P. Oxy. 2378	uncertain	16
Alcaeus 303Aa	P. Oxy. 2291	gl \|\| gl ia	9
Alcaeus 303Ab	P. Oxy. 2291	2 ia \|\| ? \|\| 2 ia \|\|\|	15
Alcaeus 303Ac	P. Oxy. 2291	uncertain	25

Spurious epigrams

According to the Suda, Sappho wrote epigrams and elegies. Three epigrams in the Greek Anthology are attributed to Sappho, though none of them are authentic. These are nonetheless included in Campbell's and Neri's editions.

Poem number	Poem number	Source	Meter	Lines
307	157D	Greek Anthology 6.269	elegiacs	6
308	158D	Greek Anthology 7.489	elegiacs	4
309	159D	Greek Anthology 7.505	elegiacs	2