Sappho Women in Education History EDCI658 Fall, 2006

Sappho’s Life and Times First female music teacher Poet First health and physical education teacher for girls Born around 630 B. C. on the island of Lesbos to an aristocratic family Sappo’s life and works are known today through the oldest bibliographical source in existence, the Byzantine Encyclopedic work Suda(written about 100 A. C.)

Sappho’s Life and Times Married Cercylas of Andros, a very wealthy businessman Had one daughter Aristocratic world view is reflected in her poems Had intimate relationships with three companions and friends, maybe her male lovers Greek biography found on papyrus indicated that Sappho might be accused by having a woman lover as well

Sappho’s Life and Times She wrote passionate poetry to other women, for her, marriage and lesbianism were not necessarily exclusive Certain historians found that having relationships with both man and women were common in her time Education in Greece were separated for boys and girls, for different age groups, and for children with different status even if the education in Sparta Greece was wide spread

Sappho’s Life and Times Sappho was the head of a girl’s school Her poems were stanzas consisting of three lines of 11 syllabus followed by a single line of five syllabus following a formal pattern of “long” and “short” Writing was limited in her time; she might have written her poems on lead or gold and dedicated them to the temples

Sappho’s Life and Times First female independent thinker Plato called her “the tenth muse” Other women throughout the history of western literature, especially those writing in Greek or Latin, were called “the tenth muse” or another Sappho Later dramas and plays often portray Sappho as their main characters; for example, a French opera was named for her Sapho Two versions of Sappho’s Death

Sappho and Education Head of a girl’s school from elite, aristocratic families Music and dance teacher Sex educator and physical education instructor Reading teacher Educational philosophy: believe in the education of the whole student and attached equal importance to all areas of education; emphasized a mentor-mentee relationship between teachers and learners

Resources about Sappho m#life m#life 1.htm (Divine Sappho) 1.htm

Sample Poems The Show Pupil Lament for a Lost Student Hymn to Aphrodite (Murphy, Madonna, 2006, p.22-23) Citation of the book: Murphy, M. (2006). The history and philosophy of education: Voices of educational pioneers. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall

Sappho’s Relevance to Today’s Education Current research on single-sex schools The education of women and the role of women in education Sex and health education in school and the issues such as AIDS and teenage pregnancy Teacher-student relationship? Befriend students?