Sappho and Erinna in a Garden at Mytilene (1864) by Simeon Solomon Sometime in 600 BC, the poet Sappho was born in the ancient city Mytilene on the Greek island of Lesbos and went on to inspire women who love women around the world for centuries. We have access to very little information about Sappho’s life.
Among the thousands of lines of poetry Sappho is said to have written, only two complete poems remain today, along with a few fragments from other poetry.
We can, however, assume that the Poetess (the capitalisation was used to refer to her in the same breath as Homer, the Poet with a capital “P”) was brought up in a privileged household, which afforded her the opportunity to acquire a formal education.