It is believed that the poet Sappho was born on this day in 630 BC on the island of Lesbos. The poet wrote about her love of women, and it’s because her followers lived on the Greek island of Lesbos that we have the word lesbian.
Most of her poetry was lost over the ages and only fragments remain, except for one poem that has been preserved in its entirety The Ode to Aphrodite.
Sappho’s poems were sung to music and she was often referred to as ‘the tenth muse’, a reference to the nine daughters of the god Zeus who are said to provide inspiration to artists.
It is estimated that Sappho would have written around 10,000 lines of poetry in her lifetime, but sadly only 600 have survived.
Swedish activist Axel Axgil died in 2011
When Denmark became the first country to legalise same sex partnerships in 1989, activist couple Axel and Eigil Axgil were the first couple to be formally recognised. The created the surname Axgil which was a combination of both their first names.
Axel’s previous surname was Lundahl-Madsen, while Eigil’s was Eskildsen. Together with friends they had formed Denmark’s first LGBTIQA+ group in 1948. Eigil died in 1995, but years later it was revealed that he had been a member of the Waffen-SS between 1943 and 1945, something Axel confirmed in his 2012 autobiography.
Axel Axgil died in 2011 at the age of 96.
