In the fragments of poetry assigned for the class, the poetess Sappho originally wrote on papyrus and not all of its parts survived to our days. In the first fragment, Sappho is asking the goddess Aphrodite to hear and respond to her prayers. Sappho is asking for assistance with the matters of the heart. In another fragment, Sappho is inviting her beloved to come over to a place she is describing so they can spend time together in "festivities and pour the libation." (What is confusing here is that libation ceremony is meant to honor the dead.) In the next fragment, Sappho is asking a sea nymph and what looks like the gods of Cypris for the safe return of her brother from his journey by the seas. I appears that her brother is returning from
