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Thalia by Sappho

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Sappho addresses a woman named Atthis, revealing that Eros — the god of desire — has once again taken hold of her body and mind.

Poet
Sappho
Core theme
Identity
The PoemFull text

Thalia

Sappho

{ODES} {COMPOSÉES AVEC LES FRAGMENTS QUI PRÉCÈDENT.} G'. {III.} O ERASTÊS EIKAIOS. Erôs d' aute m' ho lysimelês donei, glykypikron amachanon orpeton. Atthis, soi d' emethen men apêchtheto, phrontis d' ên epi t' Andromedan pote. Tis d' agriôtin epemmena stolên Soi thelgei noon, ouk epistamena Ta brak' elkên epi tôn sphyrôn? {Cette ode est formée des fragments n^os 3 et 4.} {Le 1^er tiré d'Héphestion dans l'_Enchiridion de metris et poemate_, p. 24.} {Le 2^e ibid, p. 40.} {Wolf. 12, 41, 55.} {Boiss. 29, 33.}

Public domain

Sourced from Project Gutenberg

§01Quick summary

What this poem is about

Sappho addresses a woman named Atthis, revealing that Eros — the god of desire — has once again taken hold of her body and mind. She observes that Atthis has shifted her gaze to another woman, Andromeda, and asks, tinged with jealousy, what kind of rough, country-dressed woman could enchant Atthis's heart. This poem captures the raw emotions of desire, rejection, and the bitterness of seeing someone you love drawn to another.

§02Themes

Recurring themes

§03Line by line

Stanza by stanza, with notes

  1. Erôs d' aute m' ho lysimelês donei, / glykypikron amachanon orpeton.

    Editor's note

    Sappho begins by invoking Eros with one of her most well-known compound words: *lysimelês*, which translates to 'limb-loosening.' Eros shakes her again — the word *donei* (shakes, agitates) conveys desire as a physical tremor. She describes it as *glykypikron* — 'bittersweet' — another compound she created that has resonated throughout Western poetry since. The creature (*orpeton*, a creeping thing) is *amachanon*: impossible to resist. Here, desire is not romantic; it feels like an invasion.

  2. Atthis, soi d' emethen men apêchtheto, / phrontis d' ên epi t' Andromedan pote.

    Editor's note

    Sappho directly names Atthis — a woman featured in several of her fragments and who clearly held significant importance for her. The impact of the line is striking: Atthis now sees Sappho's attention as hateful (*apêchtheto*), and her thoughts have shifted to Andromeda. This marks the turning point of the poem. The jealousy is expressed straightforwardly, without any self-pity, which adds to its emotional weight.

  3. Tis d' agriôtin epemmena stolên / Soi thelgei noon, ouk epistamena / Ta brak' elkên epi tôn sphyrôn?

    Editor's note

    The poem ends with a question that carries both pain and disdain. Who is this woman — clad in rough, rustic attire (*agriôtin stolên*), struggling to keep her skirts at her ankles — who has captivated (*thelgei*) Atthis's thoughts? The mention of the skirt serves as a social jab: Andromeda is depicted as an unrefined outsider, positioned below Atthis's social sphere. Sappho's anguish manifests as an incredulous sneer.

§04Tone & mood

How this poem feels

The tone shifts quickly—from helpless surrender at the start to wounded jealousy in the middle, and finally to sharp, almost catty contempt at the end. Sappho isn’t crying; she’s feeling the sting and isn’t afraid to show it. Beneath her sarcastic remarks about Andromeda's clothes lies genuine pain, yet Sappho maintains her composure by directing her hurt into a biting comment. The overall vibe is intimate and raw, like eavesdropping on someone struggling to hold it together while clearly unraveling.

§05Symbols & metaphors

Symbols & metaphors

Eros as a creeping creature (*orpeton*)
By referring to Eros as a crawling, creeping thing instead of a beautiful god, Sappho removes the allure from desire. It becomes something that seeps beneath the skin, something you can't easily shake off. This image conveys how desire can feel involuntary and a bit shameful.
Bittersweet (*glykypikron*)
This compound word — which seems to have been created by Sappho — captures the entire emotional essence of the poem in just one term. Love is both sweet and bitter, intertwined. It's not a sequence of feelings; rather, they coexist at the same time, and that’s what makes it so unbearable.
The rough country dress (*agriôtin stolên*)
Andromeda's clothing is far from a neutral detail. In Sappho's world, what one wears indicates education, refinement, and membership in a cultured circle. By focusing on Andromeda's rustic attire and her inability to wear it properly, Sappho suggests that Atthis has traded sophistication and grace for someone unworthy. The dress symbolizes everything Sappho believes Andromeda is missing.
Limb-loosening (*lysimelês*)
This description of Eros highlights how desire can physically overwhelm a person — their knees weaken, and their body stops following their mind. It depicts love not as an uplifting experience but rather as a form of surrender, setting the emotional tone of the poem right from the opening line.

§06Historical context

Historical context

Sappho lived on the island of Lesbos in the late seventh and early sixth centuries BCE. She was part of a community of women, likely a *thiasos*, formed around shared religious, artistic, and social activities, and her poetry emerged from those connections. Names like Atthis and Andromeda appear frequently in Sappho's surviving fragments, indicating complex relationships among these women. This poem is a reconstruction made from two different fragments found in Hephaestion's *Enchiridion de metris et poemate*, a Greek handbook on meter. Combining fragments was a common practice among later editors who aimed to piece together coherent poems from various quotes. The Sapphic stanza — consisting of three longer lines followed by a shorter fourth — is the metrical form that Sappho popularized, influencing lyric poetry not only in Latin (where Horace extensively used it) but also far beyond.

§07FAQ

Questions readers ask

Both are women mentioned in various pieces of Sappho's poetry. Atthis seems to have been someone Sappho cared for deeply and had a complex, tumultuous relationship with. Andromeda appears as a rival — someone who led a competing group of women on Lesbos and whom Sappho criticizes in several of her poems. They were real historical figures, but we know very little about them beyond what Sappho’s verses reveal.

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