While the best-known literary masterpiece of the Archaic Greek period is the so-called Homeric epics – The Illiad and The Odyssey - other influential pieces were written by Hesiod and Sappho.
Hesiod’s two known works were religious and instructive: Works and Days and Theogony. The ancient Greeks revered Homer and Hesiod and often cited their names together in theological and theological works. While the two could have been contemporaries, some estimate that Hesiod lived up to 100 years after Homer.
Sappho was an ancient Greek poetess and musician. She pioneered song lyrics and the ancient Greeks included her in the canon of nine lyric poets. Plato even numbered her among the Parnassian goddesses, referring to her as the tenth muse.
Homer. The Iliad. Translated by Alexander Pope
Homer. The Odyssey. Translated by William Cowper
Hesiod. Works and Days and Theogony. Translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White
Sappho. The Complete Poems. Translated by John Myers O'Hara