Lost poem by Sappho discovered

Fragments of a previously unknown work by the ancient Greek poet have been identified by an Oxford classicist.

31 Jan 2014

Richard Watts

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Writing and Publishing

A depiction of Sappho on an Attic red-figure vase, c. 470 BC. Image: Wikimedia Commons.

Sappho, a Greek lyric poet who died circa 570 BC, was greatly admired by her contemporaries, but today only a handful of her poems survive.

Now two new works by Sappho have been identified after the owner of an ancient papyrus consulted Oxford classicist, Dr Dirk Obbink, about the significance of the document.

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Richard Watts is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM, and serves as the Chair of La Mama Theatre's volunteer Committee of Management. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, and was awarded the status of Melbourne Fringe Living Legend in 2017. In 2020 he was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize. Most recently, Richard was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Green Room Awards Association in June 2021. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts