Bronze sculpture of Sappho fixed on a slate plaque 20 cm x 19 cm The Leap of LEUCADE Leucade Sappho at Leucate , by Antoine-Jean Gros  (1801). Menander , in a passage from his play Leukadia preserved by Strabo, is the oldest known source to report the legend according to which Sappho threw herself into the sea from the island of Leucade , in pursuit of a certain Phaon , out of love for him. Phaon is a mythical figure close to that of Adonis and Phaethon . According to one myth, Phaon is an old man transformed into a young man by Aphrodite and with whom the goddess then falls in love. Other myths report that Aphrodite was the first to jump from the rock of Leucade , out of love for Adonis, or that she was in love with Phaethon. Studying the relationships between these different myths, Gregory Nagy believes that there was a myth of a cosmic nature, linked to death and rebirth, and specific to the island of Lesbos, depicting an Aphrodite in love with Phaon, and throwing herself into the sea from the rock of Lefkada. There is said to have been a poem by Sappho relating to this myth, in which the poetess identified herself with the goddess. This poem, now lost, is said to be the origin of the version reported by the fragment of Menander 46. The scene of the Lefkada leap adorned the chapel of the Neo-Pythagoreans in Rome, during the reign of Claudius. In modern times, it is represented by several painters, including Pierre-Narcisse Guérin, Théodore Chassériau, Gustave Moreau and Henri Manguin (1874-1949). She is also the originator of the opera Sapho by Charles Authenticity: Original Type: Sculpture Period: 19th century and before Material: Bronze Dimension (cm): From 10 to 30 Theme: Character