The surprising origins of the word “lesbian” - Diane J. Rayor

Discover the works of poet and songwriter Sappho, and find out why only fragments of her poetry still survive.

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Over 2,500 years ago, one of ancient Greece’s most celebrated popstars and erotic poets enraptured listeners. The singer-songwriter offered a uniquely intimate perspective on love, passion, and longing, and was the first on record to combine the words “bitter” and “sweet,” to describe the ups and downs of romance. So, who was this revered figure? Diane J. Rayor uncovers the writings of Sappho.

Lesson by Diane J. Rayor, directed by Amir Houshang Moein.

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Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Juan Pablo Rodriguez Morales, ANNE FINE, Gerardo Castro, Siddharth Toshniwal, Michel-Ange Hortegat, Enes Kirimi, Amaury BISIAUX, Aravind C V, ND, Samyogita Hardikar, Vanessa Graulich, Vandana Gunwani, LvL042, Abdulmohsin Almadi, Andrew Brodski, AJ Lyon, Anandha Krishnan, Geoffrey Bultitude, Mi Mi, Thomas Rothert, Christopher McVay, Carlo Solaroli, Javier Aldavaz, Ivan Yeung, Brian Elieson, Grayson Garbarino, Oge O, Weronika Falkowska, Stefano Esposito, Nevin Spoljaric, Yvonne Feijoo, Sid Chanpuriya, Arjay Arcinue Dineros, Anoom Yasmin, Anoop Varghese, David Yastremski, Noah Webb, B, Erica Guerrero, Roberto Chena, Oliver Koo, Luke Pisano, Andrea Gordon, Aleksandar Donev, Nicole Klau Ibarra, Milo Vermeulen, Ryan Weiler, Jesse Lira, Ezekiel Raui and Zongpu Kou.

[PozoBlue]

Plato, who wasn't exactly fond of women, was so blown away with Sappho's work he called her "the Tenth Muse", essentially calling her one of the goddesses of inspiration (the 9 muses). That's how highly of a compliment you could think of.

[mansi]

This "someone in another time will remember us" hits really hard!

[nada__]

2021 : do you listen to girl in red ?

600 BCE : *do you listen to Sappho ?*

[Nicks]

Sappho is one of the greatest lyrical poets ever. Her poems, especially in the original with her beautiful vocabulary and placing of the words, are amazing!!!

[shainashresth]

People should not always associate “ancient” with “underdevelopment”. There are different periods in history, which saw different developments in different fields. Keep in mind that we too are “ancient” for people who will come to earth in the future.

[goodgirl]

It’s always so heartbreaking to hear when amazing pieces from history are destroyed 😥

[BuiHieuDong]

Sadly to hear that we only discovered about 10% total works of this talented girl :(

[MarkArandjus]

"And then a bunch of theocratic prudes who hated fun came along"

Every damn time, eh.

[sohamacharya]

I screamed "No!" at my computer for three seconds when I heard that 10000 of her verses were in the Library of Alexandria.

[mbbbits]

As a Greek I am so happy to see one of the most interesting figures of our cultural sphere have a video of her own and a beautiful one at that. Ευχαριστώ πολύ!

[joermnyc]

Can’t remember the comedian who said this, but they were of Greek heritage and their grandmother came from Lesbos. They asked grandma, “what do they call people from Athens? Athenians. What about (they went through a few places with similar results). Then they asked, “what do they call people from Lesbos grandma? Les….Greeks.

[weirdbookshelf]

There was a poem about literally shaking and sweating at the sight of how pretty someone was

Very platonic indeed just sappho and her friend

[odd-ysseusdoesstuff]

Where Boys cried: Avengers Infinity War
Where Men cried: Wall E
Where Historians, Writers, Archeologists, Intellects, and Authors cried: Burning of Ancient Literature

[angelodiavolo]

Italian most famous poet, Leopardi, Wrote "the Last Lyrics of Saffo" about her death. It is a romantic version of her suiciding over the abandon by her beloved. Loved that poem a lot

[mishkasooful]

'Thought to have married a man' is a bit of a joke because the man she is thought to have married was named 'Kerkylas of Andros'.

Kerkylas wasn't really a name in Greek times, and it is similar to the word 'kerkos', which refers to a man's... ahem.
Andros, besides being one of the Greek Islands, is also a word for 'man' in Greek.

So her 'husband's name literally translates to '*ahem* of man', which is clearly a cheeky joke, and why some scholars believe she was never married. :)

[biswasbudhathoki]

Instead of "someone in another time", a lot of people are remembering Sappho's work in every time there is.

[nragen]

Even though I'm Greek (but my nationality is Cypriot) I didn't get taught about ancient Greek history or Greek literature when I was at school. It makes me happy to watch videos from Ted-Ed so I can learn more about the country's literature (and generally many countries literature)

[meemeleem]

4:25 that is literally the straightest explanation i’ve ever heard, why can nobody just agree that she liked women and leave it at that

[gf]

This has got to be one of the most beautiful Ted Ed videos. Not only regarding its content, but also because of the delicate and exquisite animation. Would love to see more by this artist.

[griffithfrancis]

Please do a piece on Canada's Residential Schools. I think your level headed and well educated/researched approach would really help spread the knowledge and help people understand this dark and recent piece of Canadian history