Leather-bound gift book "Alcaeus and Sappho. Lovers of beauty"

It seems that poetry was eternal. But in the form that lyrical poetry is known and loved today, it was born in the time of Alcaeus and Sappho - more than 2500 years ago. Then on the island of Lesbos, a simple citizen Alcaeus and a simple citizen Sappho clothed their feelings in a melody, gave free rein to their feelings… No one else, except perhaps King Solomon in The Song of All Songs, has allowed himself to be talked about so openly. The individual soul yearned and sang. And nothing since then has been able to stop the "charming speeches" passing from "mouth to his mouth."

The feast of "the bliss of equality to the Gods" (Sappho) was clear to Russian poetry. It is not surprising that Alcaeus and Sappho have become one of the most translated Russian lyricists. So, in Sappho at the beginning of the XX century, the number of transcriptions and imitations of only the 2nd ode reached 51 variants. Here is the most complete collection of songs and lyrical excerpts of two of the most famous ancient Greek poets, prepared in 1914 by Vyacheslav Ivanov (1866-1949).