Poetry

Sappho (d. c. 580 b. c.e.), born in Mytilene on the island of Lesbos, is considered one of the first poets to deal with personal thoughts and feelings, and was much admired by ancient Greek writers who followed her-in-cluding Plato, who called her the 10th Muse. Though a wife and mother, she often wrote of erotic feelings toward other women, and consequently members of the medieval Christian Church destroyed much of her poetry. The name of her home island was later modified into the word lesbian, meaning a woman who has sexual relations with other women, and Sapphic can refer either to poetry similar to Sappho’s or to lesbian issues.

Pindar was an Athenian-educated Theban aristocrat whose lyric poetry was much in demand. Lyrical poetry was sung to accompaniment of the lyre, a musical instrument much like a small harp, and Pindar was the most famous and productive lyric poet of his era. What survives of his works are four books of victory odes he was commissioned to write for his fellow aristocrats, who were athletic champions. Just as it was not proper

For generals to boast of their military accomplishments, Pindar’s musical odes did not focus on any individual’s athletic achievements, but rather on the athlete’s noble family or even a mythological story related to the champion’s success.

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The Muses

The Muses were the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyn (which means "memory," from which we get mnemonics— techniques that help improve memory). Hesiod wrote of the Muses (quoted in Edith Hamilton's Mythology), "Their hearts are set upon song and their spirit is free from care." Even a grieving man, upon hearing their singing, "forgets his dark thoughts and remembers not his troubles."

By Roman times, each sister was said to have her own artistic subject that she watched over: