Born on the island of Lesbos at the end of the 7th century BC, the poet was brought up with the freedom that went with her aristocratic origins. She had a daughter Kleida by her husband Kerkolas. The bittersweet passion she expressed for young girls on the verge of marriage were considered unnatural by later generations. This is probably why an unrequited love for Faon was ascribed to Sappho as the reason for her drowning herself.