place
Lydia
also: the Lydians, Λύδοι
The wealthy kingdom of western Asia Minor facing Lesbos, proverbial in archaic poetry for luxury and military splendor; its chariots are the worldly glory fr. 16 weighs against one beloved face.
Reading notes
- Fragments of Book One §39 Lydian work
Lydia, the luxury kingdom across the strait, supplied the finest leatherwork and dyes; in fr. 16 its chariots are worldly glory, here its craft covers a foot. The eye that notices the sandal is the same eye that watches Anactoria walk.
- Fragments of Book Five §96 Lydia
The kingdom facing Lesbos, a byword in Sappho for wealth and finery — elsewhere she prices a daughter's headband against 'all Lydia.' Here it is the rival landscape itself: the woman now 'shines out among the women of Lydia' as the moon outshines the stars.
- The Major Poems §16 Lydians
The people of Lydia, the rich kingdom on the mainland facing Lesbos, proverbial for luxury and military display; their chariots are the spectacle the poem sets one beloved face against.
- Fragments of Uncertain Book, with the Epigrams and Dubia §132 Lydia
The rich kingdom across the strait from Lesbos, Sappho's standing measure of wealth and splendor — all of it not worth her child.