Mnasidica in Lydia missing Atthis and Sappho and the isle of Lesbos

 

Sappho had among her students a girl named Mnasidika, a Spartan name that means, 'In Remembrance of Justice.This painting is about Mnasidica in Lydia missing Atthis and Sappho and the isle of Lesbos . Mnasidica was in love with Atthis before leaving the isle of Lesbos to get married to a wealthy man in Lydia. Sappho describes her as "more shapely than tender Gyrinno,"

This is the poem that inspired me 

Atthis, far from me and dear Mnasidika,

Dwells in Sardis;

Many times she was near us

So that we lived life well

Like the far–famed goddess

Whom above all things music delighted.

And now she is first among the Lydian women

As the mighty sun, the rose-fingered moon,

Beside the great stars.

And the light fades from the bitter sea

And in like manner from the rich-blossoming earth;

And the dew is shed upon the flowers,

Rose and soft meadow–sweet

And many–coloured melilote.

Many things told are remembered of sterile Atthis.

I yearn to behold thy delicate soul

To satiate my desire.  .  .  .