Sympotic Sappho? The recontextualization of Sappho’s verses in Athenaeus

In order to reconstruct the original context of Sappho’s poems, it is important not only to examine the testimonia accurately, but also to analyse the sources that attest her ipsissima verba: those who quote Sappho’s words could have adapted them to the context of quotation. Even though the thesis of a female hetaireia is based on fragments reported by Athenaeus, who probably reworked them heavily, this hypothesis is tenable through a comparison of Sappho to other poets and an accurate analysis of the testimonia and the contexts of quotation.