person
Atthis
also: Ἄτθις, Ἄτθι
A woman of Sappho's circle, named in the love poems more than once; ancient readers counted her among the companions. Fr. 49 looks back at loving her 'long ago,' when she seemed 'a small child, and without grace.'
Reading notes
- Fragments of Book Two §49 Atthis
Named in the love poems more than once; ancient gossip made her one of Sappho's companions. Here the backward look — 'long ago' — holds tenderness and condescension in the same breath: she seemed 'a small child, and without grace.'
- Fragments of Book Five §96 Atthis
The beloved of Sappho's circle to whom the poem is spoken — the departed woman loved Atthis' singing and held her 'like a goddess.' Atthis appears across the corpus: loved 'long ago' in fr. 49, fled from in fr. 131; here she is the one left behind, remembered with longing from Sardis.
- Fragments of Uncertain Book, with the Epigrams and Dubia §131 Atthis
A girl of Sappho's circle, loved and lost to a rival; the ancient witnesses name her among those Sappho loved most, and here the loss is to Andromeda.