Lesbian originally referred to something or someone from the Greek island of Lesbos. The Online Etymology Dictionary says the term was used by the philosopher Aristotle to refer to a type of pliant lead: "And this is the nature of the equitable, a correction of law where it is defective owing to its universality. ... For when the thing is indefinite the rule also is indefinite, like the leaden rule used in making the Lesbian moulding; the rule adapts itself to the shape of the stone and is not rigid, and so too the decree is adapted to the facts." [Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics]But that's not what we think of when we think of lesbians.The most famous ancient inhabitant of Lesbos was the the woman poet Sappho. Sappho is known today for having lived and taught women and for having written erotic, (what we mean today as) lesbian poems about women, although she also loved men and, according to a romantic legend, died for the love of one. Learn more about Sappho and see the Women's History Guide's collection of Sappho pictures.
- Women in Archaic Greece
- Review: The Laugher of Aphrodite, by Peter Green -- on Sappho.
- A Yokepair of Opposites - Sappho and Alcaeus
- Greek Dialects (Sappho's was Aeolic.)
Photo © Clipart.com
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