Happy Valentines’ Day, loves! We’re here today with a special treat bonus episode for you with a very special guest! You may know her from Xena: The Warrior Princess as the patron god of Sappho, the goddess of love, Aphrodite: it’s Alexandra Tydings! You heard her voice briefly in our last episode on Sappho, but we had so much fun talking with Alex about the Poetess, gay feelings, hysteria, and more, that we created a whole episode for it.
At long last, hosts Gretchen and Leigh are going back to the beginning, to the OG lesbian: Sappho herself. Despite the dearth of information about her life and history, your hosts still find plenty to say about Sappho, her poetry, her legacy, and all the debate that’s circled around her for years. Find out what Leigh and Gretchen think about the many questions about Sappho and listen to fragmentary poetry filled with queer longing and other relatable feels like fire burning beneath flesh, wind crashing through mountain oaks, and…celery.
Outline
0:00 – Introduction
4:57 – Main Topic: The OG Lesbian Sappho
5:08 – Socio-Historical Context
13:02 – Who were they? Bio Time.
23:42 – Sappho’s Poetry
56:12 – Fun Segment: Word of the Week
1:16:40 – Why do we think they're gay?
1:30:12 – How Gay were They?
1:33:48 – Closing and Where to Find us Online
History is Gay podcast that examines the underappreciated and overlooked queer ladies, gents, and gentle-enbies that have always been there in the unexplored corners of history. Because history has never been as straight as you think.
