In the footsteps of the traveling artists, Souma, Sappho and Azra

In Leptopoda, a village north of Chios (Greece), a festival dedicated to souma, a drink made by hand from figs, is held every year. With a glass of souma in one hand and the poems of Sappho translated into Turkish by Azra Erhat in the other, we can fantasize and dream about the Mediterranean from an armchair. Erhat, a writer, archaeologist, classical philologist and humanist, translated the Greek classics into Turkish and, for the first time, brought Turkish readers closer to the great masterpieces of Antiquity. In an article written by Cengiz Bektaş, Erhat’s friend and colleague, he explains that he was never able to take her to Lesbos, Sappho’s homeland, because at that time there was no way to cross the sea to the other shore and reach the Greek islands from Turkey. Thus, Erhat carried out all the research without being able to visit the island. Even so, in his translations it is clear that, beyond physical presence, literature is capable of bringing us closer together; it allows us to get to know and recognize each other in our shared aspects and in our mutual imaginary.