Supported by wooden frames, ancient wax tablets were the first 'blackboards'; words were hand-scribed into wax. When heated, the words melted away and the tablet could be used again. Very few remain intact today. Traditionally, the tablets were grouped together to form a book.
Sappho, a 7th century BCE poet has been described as: many-minded, wordsmith, tale-weaver, charmer of impossibilities, and definer of the symptoms of desire. David Campbell notes, "Indeed the most amazing characteristics of the divine Sappho is that she uses with charm a device that is of itself hazardous and difficult." In Hellenistic times she was acclaimed as "the tenth Muse".
Much of her work is lost. Miraculously, a series of emotionally charged fragments remain.