Sappho: What is Love?

from Backgrounds to the Bible Hosted by Jonathan Wolters

This episode explores the life and legacy of the Greek poet Sappho, highlighting her revolutionary use of the subjective "I" to express intense personal desire and vulnerability. Her fragments are often compared to the Song of Songs due to their shared sensory imagery and focus on the physical effects of love, despite their differing religious and social frameworks. While some early Christian leaders condemned her as unchaste, others admired her artistic mastery, and modern scholarship debunks the myth that the church systematically destroyed her work. For contemporary readers, her poetry offers a window into the Archaic Greek world and its female-centered rituals, contrasting epic military glory with the beauty of individual intimacy. Ultimately, the texts present Sappho as a foundational literary figure whose erotic lyricism profoundly shaped the Greco-Roman tradition and continues to resonate as a testament to universal human longing.