Sappho’s Second Book

The second book of the Alexandrian edition of Sappho’s poetry contained distichs in the dactylic pentameter. Two papyri of the end of the book are extant, with complementary parts of the final poem in the book: frag. 44 V. One further papyrus, containing a mythical narration about Artemis (frag. 44A V), is usually attributed to Sappho’s second book as well. The nature of these fragments makes them stand out within the corpus of Sappho’s poetry, and could suggest a link between the second book, the dactylic metre, and the mythical narratives in the extant fragments. A thorough study of the material and literary evidence reveals a very different picture. The discovery of an asteriskos on P.Fouad inv. 239 proves beyond reasonable doubt that it is not a fragment of Sappho’s second book. Moreover, the papyrological evidence demonstrates that her epic-style poem on the wedding of Hector and Andromache (frag. 44 V), is not representative of Book 2 either. The remaining fragments, mostly from quotations, present a much more homogeneous picture of poetry concerned with young women and the poetic I’s interactions with them.