Step onto the sun-soaked island of Lesbos, where a woman with a lyre and a pen reshaped the way the world talks about love. In this episode, we dive into the life of Sappho — the ancient Greek poet whose verses of passion and longing for women were so unforgettable that her name gave rise to the very word “lesbian.” From aristocratic beginnings to running her own poetry school (basically the queerest summer camp of 600 BCE), Sappho’s story is both timeless and revolutionary.

But as dazzling as her rise was, history wasn’t kind to her. Nearly all of her poems were lost, her life became the subject of scandal, and rumors twisted her legacy. In Episode 2, “Exile, Scandal, and the Lost Poems,” we’ll unravel the myths — including the biggest lie ever told about Sappho — and how her work survived despite centuries of erasure. And in Episode 3, we’ll explore how Sappho became a queer icon for every generation that followed.