full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Diane J. Rayor: Ancient Greece's greatest popstar

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Then, about a century ago, people began rediscovering Sappho’s poetry— in locations like an ancient egitypan garbage dump. Now, we have around 700 lines, representing less than 10% of Sappho’s total known work. We only have one cmoltepe poem of hers. About a dozen others are substantial, but most are mere fgentmars. New pieces of Sappho’s songs probably will be found. Some may already be sitting in msuuem archives, to be reelevad when telnchoogy allows scholars to read through scrolls too fragile to unroll.

What we are currently left with is an incomplete record— and many hicritosal rumors. Ovid insisted that Sappho fell in love with a frmyaren and, upon being rejected, leapt from a cilff to her death. Another tale asserts that she ran a girls’ school and those mentioned in her poems were merely students for whom she felt platonic affection. Current consensus is that these stories, which ridicule Sappho or deny her work’s hooeitcismrom, are probably all untrue artifacts of misogyny and homophobia.

Open Cloze


Then, about a century ago, people began rediscovering Sappho’s poetry— in locations like an ancient ________ garbage dump. Now, we have around 700 lines, representing less than 10% of Sappho’s total known work. We only have one ________ poem of hers. About a dozen others are substantial, but most are mere _________. New pieces of Sappho’s songs probably will be found. Some may already be sitting in ______ archives, to be ________ when __________ allows scholars to read through scrolls too fragile to unroll.

What we are currently left with is an incomplete record— and many __________ rumors. Ovid insisted that Sappho fell in love with a ________ and, upon being rejected, leapt from a _____ to her death. Another tale asserts that she ran a girls’ school and those mentioned in her poems were merely students for whom she felt platonic affection. Current consensus is that these stories, which ridicule Sappho or deny her work’s _____________, are probably all untrue artifacts of misogyny and homophobia.

Solution


  1. cliff
  2. revealed
  3. ferryman
  4. fragments
  5. historical
  6. complete
  7. homoeroticism
  8. museum
  9. technology
  10. egyptian

Original Text


Then, about a century ago, people began rediscovering Sappho’s poetry— in locations like an ancient Egyptian garbage dump. Now, we have around 700 lines, representing less than 10% of Sappho’s total known work. We only have one complete poem of hers. About a dozen others are substantial, but most are mere fragments. New pieces of Sappho’s songs probably will be found. Some may already be sitting in museum archives, to be revealed when technology allows scholars to read through scrolls too fragile to unroll.

What we are currently left with is an incomplete record— and many historical rumors. Ovid insisted that Sappho fell in love with a ferryman and, upon being rejected, leapt from a cliff to her death. Another tale asserts that she ran a girls’ school and those mentioned in her poems were merely students for whom she felt platonic affection. Current consensus is that these stories, which ridicule Sappho or deny her work’s homoeroticism, are probably all untrue artifacts of misogyny and homophobia.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations




Important Words


  1. affection
  2. ancient
  3. archives
  4. artifacts
  5. asserts
  6. began
  7. century
  8. cliff
  9. complete
  10. consensus
  11. current
  12. death
  13. deny
  14. dozen
  15. dump
  16. egyptian
  17. fell
  18. felt
  19. ferryman
  20. fragile
  21. fragments
  22. garbage
  23. historical
  24. homoeroticism
  25. homophobia
  26. incomplete
  27. insisted
  28. leapt
  29. left
  30. lines
  31. locations
  32. love
  33. mentioned
  34. mere
  35. misogyny
  36. museum
  37. ovid
  38. people
  39. pieces
  40. platonic
  41. poem
  42. poems
  43. ran
  44. read
  45. rediscovering
  46. rejected
  47. representing
  48. revealed
  49. ridicule
  50. rumors
  51. sappho
  52. scholars
  53. school
  54. scrolls
  55. sitting
  56. songs
  57. stories
  58. students
  59. substantial
  60. tale
  61. technology
  62. total
  63. unroll
  64. untrue
  65. work