| BC | |
| 750–700 | Homer composes the Iliad and the Odyssey. |
| late 7th – early 6th centuries | Life of Sappho. |
| 3rd century | Oldest surviving fragments of Sappho are written on potsherd and papyrus. |
| 1st century | Catullus, Horace, and other Roman poets are influenced by Sappho; Dionysius of Halicarnassus records Sappho Poem 1. |
| AD | |
| 1st–3rd centuries | Citizens of Lesbos feature Sappho on their coins. |
| 2nd century | Maximus of Tyre lectures on Sappho in Rome; Hephaestion preserves many fragments of Sappho’s poetry. |
| 2nd–3rd centuries | Most surviving Oxyrhynchus papyri of Sappho are written. |
| c. 362 | Roman emperor Julian quotes Sappho. |
| 7th century | Sappho’s poetry is written on parchment in Egypt. |
| 12th century | Byzantine scholar and bishop Eustathius quotes last Sappho poem from antiquity. |
| 1897 | Grenfell and Hunt discover first Sappho papyrus at Oxyrhynchus. |
| 2005 | Sappho’s newly discovered poem on growing older is published. |
| 2014 | “The Brothers Poem” is published. |