Why does Ara: History Untold have Sappho as the leader of the Greek civilization, why does she look like that, and why hasn't she called me?
a conversation with my ex-wife
Ara: History Untold is a grand strategy game, a genre I don’t usually play a lot of. Ok, fine, I’ve played a lot of Civilization in my time, and only half of that was spent either playing against my brother or sharpening my skills to be competitive when I played against my brother. But with a new Civ game coming down the pike, I definitely wasn’t looking for a new grand strategy game in my life. Until I learned that the leader of the Greek civ is Sappho. And then I learned what she looks like.
Now, her default portrait is pretty much what you’d expect: curly dark hair, peplos, gold jewelry. Fine, sure, whatever. It’s not the most historically accurate, but if you get to the modern age you’ll probably have Sappho building tanks and the Eiffel Tower, so let’s not get too caught up on anachronisms here.
Great eyebrows, though.
Ara is available for free with X-box Game Pass. But for a $10 upgrade, you can get her modern leader skin, which looks like… well, this is the conversation I had with my ex about it:
I’ve written about my relationship with my ex before. She also trained as a classics scholar and proposed to me by quoting the Odyssey:
Ten-ish years later she saw an eclipse and realized she was a woman. She came out to me shortly after our now six-year-old son was born, which was hard for us both. We got divorced, and being divorced kind of slaps, but we’re still good friends, and she was exactly the person I wanted to talk to about this Sappho skin, which I was shook by.
Let’s take a closer look:
ENHANCE:
Well, hello there. Even Isabella I of Spain is looking up at her, like, “Daaaaamn.”
A week after that initial conversation, my ex, my partner, and I took our six-year-old son to Legoland for his birthday. That evening, my partner watched our happy and exhausted child while my ex and I went down to the Lego-themed hotel bar to discuss this whole hot butch Sappho situation further over some drinks. This is how it went.
D: Ok, so, my first question is: is there any way they didn’t know what they were doing here? Could this be an accidental butch thirst-trap Sappho?
X: No. they knew what they were doing. There’s no way.
The only reason I ask is because the game’s description of her is aggressively non-sexual in any way. Here it is:
Born on the Greek isle of Lesbos in the late 7th century BCE, Sappho was a poet who became widely revered throughout the classical world. She wrote melodic poems with intricate meters covering topics like religion, nature, and love. The poems were often read accompanied by musical instruments. Her literary successors, Greek and Roman alike, regarded her as one of the greatest lyric poets of all time.
Now, this is a rich text on many levels. And also, definitely not written by a classics scholar. “Melodic poems?” Come on. But the main thing I want to draw attention to is that the bio says nothing about queerness, although love is mentioned as a topic she wrote about (“covering topics like religion, nature, and love”). So we’re not off to the gayest start.
Religion, nature, and love… and especially not boning other women.
Right?! I mean, LOOK at her. The hair! That slicked-back faux-mullet!
For me it’s the cheekbones, and the knowing look in her eyes. The hands. That thick necklace peeking out.
The JACKET! Is it leather?
Vegan leather. Obviously.
So we agree, it’s just not plausible that whoever designed this skin didn’t know that she looks super gay.
I don’t even think they have plausible deniability at this point.
I have to level with you: I paid $10 so I could play as dreamboat butch Sappho. I did do that.
I don’t like how the big video game companies are going pay to gay. I’m not ok with this.
Going back to the jacket… it’s tailored, right? It would have to be, to get that level of precision with the fit of the shoulders and the waist. And the shirt cuffs just barely peeking out.
Oh, I have a theory on this!
YES. This is what we’re here for.
I think she’s a shipping magnate.
That works on so many levels! I definitely ship that, if you know what I mean.
Nice.
Get it? Because ‘ship’ in fandom means…
Yes, please keep explaining the joke. But it works because her brothers were, we think, actually involved in shipping, and she wrote a lot of poetry about them. One of her lost books of poems was about her family.
She wrote so much. It’s so sad. We think her total output would have been as long as The Odyssey.
One of our professors in grad school said she was “a doorstop.” And now we just have fragments. It’s brutal.
So my headcanon is that, in the world of this game, instead of sitting at home writing poems about being afraid for her brothers on their sea voyages, she became part of the family business. And then maybe was disowned for being gay, so she started her own company and took over the whole industry. Even Onassis had to bend the knee. Yeah, I went there.
She was a badass, in her own way. Which is why they have her as a “leader” in the game. It’s a weird choice, but it kind of works, because in Ara your point total is determined by “prestige.” There aren’t scientific and diplomatic victories like in Civ. So they picked leaders based on vibes instead of only picking political rulers. Although I’d argue that Sappho is still a bit of a weird choice in that context. Not Socrates? Or Pericles? Solon? Although, picking Sappho did mean I got to make Alcman be her adviser, which was satisfying. I would make every single other lyric poet her bitch if I could.
But going back to her undeniable hotness…
Yes, let’s.
My one question is, is it even plausible for this to be Sappho? Because part of Sappho’s whole schtick was unrequited love. And who would say no to her??
People who can’t escape heteronormativity?
Ugh. Fine.
No, seriously. So, as you know, my favorite move for hitting on women is to talk to them about Sappho. And, later on, to give them copies of Sappho poems that I write out on papyrus scraps.
Classic. Literally. Well, archaic.
It helps that I have a nice Hadrianic book hand. But for a while I was shocked there exist gay women who don’t know about Sappho. And then I realized I could use that to my advantage. Because it meant I could introduce them to Sappho 31 for the first time and blow their minds.
I can see that. It’s really powerful to feel seen by a 2600-year-old poem.
Exactly. I have brought multiple masc-of-center women to tears with this move.
So it’s sort of like a gay, literary nerd bend-and-snap, if you will. And you’re ok with me sharing that on my newsletter?
The great thing about that kind of move is that it just works. It doesn’t matter if you tell people it’s a move. It’s very unselfconscious about its being-a-move-ness. I didn’t just happen to have a papyrus with a Sappho poem written on it lying around.
I mean, if I were you, I might keep a few on hand, just in case. And maybe tell your giftee that Sappho canonically looked like this.
I just want her to spoon me. She looks like she’d make me feel really safe.
Sure. “Spoon” you. Is my objectification of this bunch of pixels too much?
I think it’s just enough.
It does make me mad, though. They’re having their cake and eating it too, right? Let’s make her so obviously butch and hot, and charge you if you want this skin, but also not ever mention queerness as the most significant part of her legacy AT ALL. Now I regret falling for their queerbaiting bullshit.
Sure, but also, queer joy and queer longing is important. That’s part of why Sappho still resonates. And if this helps you access that and amplify it, then that’s valuable, too.
Thanks. That was an amazing ex-wife pep talk.
Anytime.
Happy International Lesbian Day to all who celebrate!