The ancient Greek rhetorician Lucian used 'Lesbian' as an adjective to refer to female homosexuality, but the most common term used by ancient writers was Tribade, which could mean either a masculine woman, or a woman who has sex with another woman. From antiquity Lesbos was associated with female homosexuality because of the homoerotic verse of native poetess Sappho. The word lesbian in English was originally an adjective referring to the inhabitants of the Greek island of Lesbos and the dialect of Greek from the island. Here, it is doubled and twined in symbolic hues of lilac as a sign for lesbian. It was later also used to represent the female in biology and popular culture. Copper's ancient alchemy symbol became a sign for both the goddess and the planet. In ancient times, the metal copper was associated with the Roman goddess Venus because of its visual appeal.
