Cropped image of Sappho from Raphael's Parnassus

The poetess is shown reclining against a grassy bank, looking over her shoulder toward the heights of the sacred mountain. She holds a small parchment scroll inscribed with her name and rests near a stringed instrument resembling a lira da braccio. She is crowned with a laurel wreath, signifying her status among the divinely inspired creators of antiquity.

Sappho represents the concept of 'poetic madness' (furor poeticus), which Renaissance Neoplatonists like Marsilio Ficino identified as a form of divine inspiration necessary for the soul's ascent. Her inclusion in the Stanza della Segnatura illustrates the harmony between classical lyric tradition and the search for spiritual truth.