Sapphic “On richly-worked throne Aphrodite” (once again about the epithet in Sappho)

This article about epithet ποικιλόθρονος exposes some new arguments in the light of the latest archaeological data, which support the latest views on the female circle of Sappho as a religious community confirmed historically. This epithet can be best understood if it is correlated with the figurines from the Temple of the Mother, whose temple in the era of Sappho was the main cult center of Mytilene (7th-6th centuries BC, cf. Rungu 2013, 138). The first part of this epithet (ποικιλό-), therefore, most likely refers to the lion figure that lies on the lap of this goddess. Cf. Bolling 1958.