Sappho 16

[a] It is from Book I of the Alexandrian edition of Sappho's poetry, and is known from a second-century papyrus discovered at Oxyrhynchus in Egypt at the beginning of the twentieth century.

It makes the case that the most beautiful thing in the world is whatever one desires, using Helen of Troy's elopement with Paris as a mythological exemplum to support this argument.

Fragment 16 was preserved on Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1231, a second-century manuscript of Book I of an edition of Sappho,[1] published by Bernard Pyne Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt in 1914.

[12] The first stanza opens with a list of things which some people believe are the most beautiful in the world: "some say an army of horsemen, others say foot soldiers, still others say a fleet".

[14] This introductory stanza is followed by a mythological exemplum to demonstrate this idea – that of Helen of Troy, who abandoned her husband, daughter, and parents to be with the man she loved.

[17] After setting out Sappho's definition of what beauty is, the poem moves into a more personal section, recalling the narrator's beloved, Anactoria.

[19] George Koniaris believes that this transition, with the apparently spontaneous introduction of Anactoria, makes Sappho's praise for her seem fresh;[20] by contrast, Hutchinson sees it as emphasising the deliberate artificiality of the work.

καλλίποισ’ ἔβας ‘ς Τροίαν πλέοισα κωὐδὲ παῖδος οὐδὲ φίλων τοκήων πάμπαν ἐμνάσθη, ἀλλὰ παράγαγ’ αὔταν οὐκ ἀέκοισαν

τᾶς κε βολλοίμαν ἔρατόν τε βᾶμα κἀμάρυχμα λάμπρον ἴδην προσώπω ἢ τὰ Λύδων ἄρματα κἀν ὄπλοισι πεσδομάχεντας.

Many commentators have suggested that Sappho's use of Helen as an example in this poem is intended as a rejection of masculine in favour of feminine values.

[23] For instance, John J. Winkler argues that the poem sets Sappho's definition of beauty against a masculine ideal of military power.

[34] George Koniaris disagrees, arguing that there is "no special reason" to believe that Anactoria left Sappho for a man.