god
Zeus
also: Δίος
King of the gods and father of Aphrodite in the genealogy Sappho uses. Invoked here only as a patronymic of the goddess.
Reading notes
- Fragments of Books Three and Four §53 daughters of Zeus
Hesiod makes the Graces daughters of Zeus and Eurynome; Sappho keeps the paternity and drops the mother. Cox's copy prints 'Διος' without an accent — an artifact of his print, kept in the source.
- The Brothers Poem and the Kypris Poem §brothers Zeus
Invoked twice without being named twice: first as the one who, with all the gods, knows whether the ship will come; then as 'the king of Olympus' whose will turns a household's fortune. The poem's theology in miniature — knowledge and reversal both belong to him.
- The Major Poems §1 Zeus
King of the gods; named here only to title Aphrodite as his daughter, sharpening the prayer's formality.