THE Ancient Greek Poet, Sappho, was the theme of February 24th’s History Café presentation – delivered virtually by Ms Tyrrell as part of our LGBTQ+ History Month celebrations!
History Café is for King’s Ely Senior students who have a passion for History and who want to explore the subject at every opportunity. More than 30 pupils and staff members tuned in for Wednesday’s talk.
Colin Currie, Head of History at King’s Ely Senior, said: “We learned how Sappho wrote lyric poetry about both homosexual and heterosexual love in the ancient world, how she was exceptionally highly regarded (similar to Homer!) by the Ancient Greeks, and how her poetry has been painstakingly pieced together through fragmentary remains.
“It was particularly interesting to hear how the reception of her poetry and depictions of her life have changed over the years, and how different cultures, from the Romans onwards, have found aspects of her life and work problematic: the Victorians, for example, though recognising her genius, felt uncomfortable with her writings on homosexual love and downplayed this aspect of her work in their depictions of her.
“The talk also highlighted how authentic female voices are rare in History before the modern period and that the ones that we have are often distorted by those who have presented them. I would like to warmly thank Ms Tyrrell again for her excellent talk!”