Sappho 2

[2] The Florentine ostrakon dates from the mid-third or second century BC, which makes it one of the oldest surviving fragments of Sappho's poetry.

[2] The handwriting is good, indicating that it was written by a professional scribe, but the text is full of errors – to the point that the Greek does not make sense in places.

[3] The ostrakon was most likely either copied by a private enthusiast unfamiliar with the Aeolic dialect used by Sappho, or produced as part of a school exercise.

[6] This may be a deliberate stylistic choice by Sappho, rather than evidence that the poem is incomplete: at least one other archaic hymn – Anacreon 12 (Page) – also withholds the name of the god being invoked until the final line.

[8] The description makes repeated reference to attributes of Aphrodite: apples, roses, spring flowers, meadows, and horses are all linked to her.

[11] It is generally assumed that the sacred precinct described by Sappho in the poem is a real one which she knew,[12] but there is no evidence for a temple to Aphrodite on Lesbos:[9] McEvilley suggests that the location of the grove should be found in the "spiritual geography rather than physical".

[16] Other scholars have seen the description of the grove as a metaphor for female sexuality, such as John J. Winkler[17] and Barbara Goff, who describes the drowsiness induced in it as "nothing short of postcoital".