Stefan Tilg
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199576944
- eISBN:
- 9780191722486
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199576944.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
No issue in scholarship on the ancient novel has been discussed as hotly as the origin of the Greek love novel, also known as the ‘ideal’ novel. The present book proposes a new solution to this old ...
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No issue in scholarship on the ancient novel has been discussed as hotly as the origin of the Greek love novel, also known as the ‘ideal’ novel. The present book proposes a new solution to this old problem. It argues that the genre had a personal inventor, Chariton of Aphrodisias, and that he wrote the first love novel, Narratives about Callirhoe, in the mid‐first century AD. This conclusion is drawn on the basis of two converging lines of argument, one from literary history, another from Chariton's poetics. A revisitation of the literary‐historical background provides the basis for further analysis: among other things, it considers Chariton's milieu at Aphrodisias (especially the local cult of Aphrodite), the dating of other early novels, and Chariton's potential authorship of the fragmentarily preserved novels Metiochus and Parthenope and Chione. Chariton's status as the inventor of the Greek love novel, suggested by the literary‐historical evidence, finds further support in his poetics. I argue that Narratives about Callirhoe is characterized by an unusual effort of self‐definition, which can be best explained as a consequence of coming to terms with a new form of writing. The book is rounded off by a study of the motif of Rumour in Chariton and its derivation from a surprising model, Virgil's Aeneid. This part also makes a significant contribution to the reception of Latin literature in the Greek world.Less
No issue in scholarship on the ancient novel has been discussed as hotly as the origin of the Greek love novel, also known as the ‘ideal’ novel. The present book proposes a new solution to this old problem. It argues that the genre had a personal inventor, Chariton of Aphrodisias, and that he wrote the first love novel, Narratives about Callirhoe, in the mid‐first century AD. This conclusion is drawn on the basis of two converging lines of argument, one from literary history, another from Chariton's poetics. A revisitation of the literary‐historical background provides the basis for further analysis: among other things, it considers Chariton's milieu at Aphrodisias (especially the local cult of Aphrodite), the dating of other early novels, and Chariton's potential authorship of the fragmentarily preserved novels Metiochus and Parthenope and Chione. Chariton's status as the inventor of the Greek love novel, suggested by the literary‐historical evidence, finds further support in his poetics. I argue that Narratives about Callirhoe is characterized by an unusual effort of self‐definition, which can be best explained as a consequence of coming to terms with a new form of writing. The book is rounded off by a study of the motif of Rumour in Chariton and its derivation from a surprising model, Virgil's Aeneid. This part also makes a significant contribution to the reception of Latin literature in the Greek world.
Michael Ward
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195313871
- eISBN:
- 9780199871964
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195313871.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Literature
Venus and Aphrodite in Lewis's scholarship, poetry, Perelandra, That Hideous Strength, and in the poetry of Charles Williams. Complexity of signification. The donegality of The Magician's Nephew. ...
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Venus and Aphrodite in Lewis's scholarship, poetry, Perelandra, That Hideous Strength, and in the poetry of Charles Williams. Complexity of signification. The donegality of The Magician's Nephew. Venus Infernal, the Morning Star, apples in the Garden of the Hesperides, mirrors, mothers, copper, laughter, fertility, sweetness. How to rank human love with respect to divine love.Less
Venus and Aphrodite in Lewis's scholarship, poetry, Perelandra, That Hideous Strength, and in the poetry of Charles Williams. Complexity of signification. The donegality of The Magician's Nephew. Venus Infernal, the Morning Star, apples in the Garden of the Hesperides, mirrors, mothers, copper, laughter, fertility, sweetness. How to rank human love with respect to divine love.
Stefan Tilg
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199576944
- eISBN:
- 9780191722486
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199576944.003.0002
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Chapter two discusses selected aspects of Chariton's hometown, Aphrodisias, which might have been relevant to the invention of a new form of writing: the massive building programme in the city‐centre ...
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Chapter two discusses selected aspects of Chariton's hometown, Aphrodisias, which might have been relevant to the invention of a new form of writing: the massive building programme in the city‐centre since Augustus, the local cult of Aphrodite, and various links to Miletus (which also had a famed cult of Aphrodite and was known as the focal point of Aristides’ Milesiaca, arguably a source of inspiration for Chariton's prose fiction). A detailed study of Chariton's date points to the Julio‐Claudian era. His use of Virgil's Aeneid supplies us with the terminus post quem of 19 BC, the year of Virgil's death; Persius’ reference to one ‘Callirhoe’ in his first satire (1. 134) with the terminus ante quem of AD 62, the year of Persius’ death. This time frame ties in with an identification of Chariton's employer, Athenagoras, in Aphrodisian epigraphy. An excursus on Chariton's potential impact on non‐novelistic authors suggests his significance as a paradigmatic author.Less
Chapter two discusses selected aspects of Chariton's hometown, Aphrodisias, which might have been relevant to the invention of a new form of writing: the massive building programme in the city‐centre since Augustus, the local cult of Aphrodite, and various links to Miletus (which also had a famed cult of Aphrodite and was known as the focal point of Aristides’ Milesiaca, arguably a source of inspiration for Chariton's prose fiction). A detailed study of Chariton's date points to the Julio‐Claudian era. His use of Virgil's Aeneid supplies us with the terminus post quem of 19 BC, the year of Virgil's death; Persius’ reference to one ‘Callirhoe’ in his first satire (1. 134) with the terminus ante quem of AD 62, the year of Persius’ death. This time frame ties in with an identification of Chariton's employer, Athenagoras, in Aphrodisian epigraphy. An excursus on Chariton's potential impact on non‐novelistic authors suggests his significance as a paradigmatic author.
Corinne Ondine Pache
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195339369
- eISBN:
- 9780199867134
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195339369.003.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval, Ancient Religions
Chapter 1 takes as its starting point the end of the Theogony, a conclusion that has been troubling to both ancient and modern scholars. At line 963, the poet invokes the Muses and sings about one ...
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Chapter 1 takes as its starting point the end of the Theogony, a conclusion that has been troubling to both ancient and modern scholars. At line 963, the poet invokes the Muses and sings about one subset of divinities, the goddesses who lie with and have children by mortal men. While many contend that the Theogony proper ends at some point before the catalogue of goddesses, I argue that the end as we have it is genuinely Hesiodic and look at how this interpretation affects the meaning of the Theogony. The conclusion of the Theogony encapsulates an essential truth about the poem and about ancient Greek culture: men acquire names and histories when they become objects of desire for goddesses, and ritual becomes established when Aphrodite chooses Phaethon as her temple keeper. The narrative of the Theogony is thus framed by two different versions of nympholepsy, which in turn recapitulate both the poetic and the cultic manifestations of the phenomenon. From an ancient Greek’s perspective, the catalogue of goddesses—and, more specifically, the goddesses’ interest in mortal men—represents the beginnings of human history.Less
Chapter 1 takes as its starting point the end of the Theogony, a conclusion that has been troubling to both ancient and modern scholars. At line 963, the poet invokes the Muses and sings about one subset of divinities, the goddesses who lie with and have children by mortal men. While many contend that the Theogony proper ends at some point before the catalogue of goddesses, I argue that the end as we have it is genuinely Hesiodic and look at how this interpretation affects the meaning of the Theogony. The conclusion of the Theogony encapsulates an essential truth about the poem and about ancient Greek culture: men acquire names and histories when they become objects of desire for goddesses, and ritual becomes established when Aphrodite chooses Phaethon as her temple keeper. The narrative of the Theogony is thus framed by two different versions of nympholepsy, which in turn recapitulate both the poetic and the cultic manifestations of the phenomenon. From an ancient Greek’s perspective, the catalogue of goddesses—and, more specifically, the goddesses’ interest in mortal men—represents the beginnings of human history.
Corinne Ondine Pache
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195339369
- eISBN:
- 9780199867134
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195339369.003.0003
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval, Ancient Religions
Chapter 3 returns to the literary sources and focuses on the interaction between myth and genre. After a brief examination of the different paradigms (and their possible origins) for encounters ...
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Chapter 3 returns to the literary sources and focuses on the interaction between myth and genre. After a brief examination of the different paradigms (and their possible origins) for encounters between goddesses and immortals, I analyze the encounter between Aphrodite and Anchises in the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite. Although we find few explicit examples of nympholepsy in Greek poetry, I argue that we find a mirror image of the cultic practice in the popular poetic motif of the goddess or nymph falling in love with a mortal man. Or, to put it the other way around, the localized religious phenomenon of nympholepsy reproduces at the cultic level the poetic narrative of the goddess falling in love with a mortal. Hymnic poetry gives its own twist to the nympholeptic narrative by privileging etiology and the pan-Hellenic dimension of this version.Less
Chapter 3 returns to the literary sources and focuses on the interaction between myth and genre. After a brief examination of the different paradigms (and their possible origins) for encounters between goddesses and immortals, I analyze the encounter between Aphrodite and Anchises in the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite. Although we find few explicit examples of nympholepsy in Greek poetry, I argue that we find a mirror image of the cultic practice in the popular poetic motif of the goddess or nymph falling in love with a mortal man. Or, to put it the other way around, the localized religious phenomenon of nympholepsy reproduces at the cultic level the poetic narrative of the goddess falling in love with a mortal. Hymnic poetry gives its own twist to the nympholeptic narrative by privileging etiology and the pan-Hellenic dimension of this version.
Pietro Pucci
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781501700613
- eISBN:
- 9781501704055
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501700613.003.0009
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Plays and Playwrights: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter examines how sophia depersonalizes Aphrodite and divinizes sexual power in Euripides's poetics. It considers the intellectual predicament in which Euripides must have found himself, as a ...
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This chapter examines how sophia depersonalizes Aphrodite and divinizes sexual power in Euripides's poetics. It considers the intellectual predicament in which Euripides must have found himself, as a thinker and a dramatist, in interpreting the irrational and perverse nature of human sexual drive. It explains how Aphrodite's presence could account for the irrational behavior of Helen, and her return to make love with Paris after having strongly rejected that intercourse. It suggests that the mysterious, mad, and commanding force of erotic passion can be attributed to Aphrodite's instigation and imperious will. It also reflects on the debate between Helen and Hecuba in relation to the nature and effects of eros.Less
This chapter examines how sophia depersonalizes Aphrodite and divinizes sexual power in Euripides's poetics. It considers the intellectual predicament in which Euripides must have found himself, as a thinker and a dramatist, in interpreting the irrational and perverse nature of human sexual drive. It explains how Aphrodite's presence could account for the irrational behavior of Helen, and her return to make love with Paris after having strongly rejected that intercourse. It suggests that the mysterious, mad, and commanding force of erotic passion can be attributed to Aphrodite's instigation and imperious will. It also reflects on the debate between Helen and Hecuba in relation to the nature and effects of eros.
Jan Bremmer and Andrew Erskine (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748637980
- eISBN:
- 9780748670758
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748637980.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Religions
This book explores the Greek gods from Homer to Late Antiquity. The Greek gods are still very much present in modern consciousness. Yet even though Apollo and Dionysos, Artemis and Aphrodite, Zeus ...
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This book explores the Greek gods from Homer to Late Antiquity. The Greek gods are still very much present in modern consciousness. Yet even though Apollo and Dionysos, Artemis and Aphrodite, Zeus and Hermes are household names, it is much less clear what these divinities stood for in Ancient Greece. In fact they have been rather neglected in modern scholarship which has tended to focus on other aspects of Greek religion such as ritual and myth. The book brings together a term of international scholars with the aim of remedying the situation and generating new approaches to the study of the nature and development of the Greek gods. It looks at the individual gods but it also asks to what extent cult, myth and literary genre determine the nature of a divinity. How do the Greek gods function in a polytheistic pantheon and what is their connection to heroes? What is the influence of philosophy? What does archaeology tell us about the gods? In what ways do the gods of late antiquity differ from those of classical Greece? The aim of this book is to present a comprehensive view of the gods as they functioned in Greek culture until the triumph of Christianity.Less
This book explores the Greek gods from Homer to Late Antiquity. The Greek gods are still very much present in modern consciousness. Yet even though Apollo and Dionysos, Artemis and Aphrodite, Zeus and Hermes are household names, it is much less clear what these divinities stood for in Ancient Greece. In fact they have been rather neglected in modern scholarship which has tended to focus on other aspects of Greek religion such as ritual and myth. The book brings together a term of international scholars with the aim of remedying the situation and generating new approaches to the study of the nature and development of the Greek gods. It looks at the individual gods but it also asks to what extent cult, myth and literary genre determine the nature of a divinity. How do the Greek gods function in a polytheistic pantheon and what is their connection to heroes? What is the influence of philosophy? What does archaeology tell us about the gods? In what ways do the gods of late antiquity differ from those of classical Greece? The aim of this book is to present a comprehensive view of the gods as they functioned in Greek culture until the triumph of Christianity.
Jan N. Bremmer and Andrew Erskine
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748637980
- eISBN:
- 9780748670758
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748637980.003.0014
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Religions
Among the many places of worship that could be found in the territory of the city of Athens and its chôra during the classical period, several offer remarkable configurations of nature: the sanctuary ...
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Among the many places of worship that could be found in the territory of the city of Athens and its chôra during the classical period, several offer remarkable configurations of nature: the sanctuary of Aphrodite of the Gardens on the slope of the Acropolis with its flowery meadow, the green field in Eleusis for the celebration of the Eleusinian Mysteries in honour of Demeter and Persephone, the olive tree sacred to Athena near the Erechtheion, groves and running water at Brauron where young Athenian girls played the bear in honour of Artemis, etc. Often actualised in the tragedies of Euripides, the aetiological legends that constitute the foundations of these cults help to associate the relevant divinity with a hero or heroine. This combination is the starting point of a discussion of the identities of the gods in a polytheist system and their modifications through the association of a heroic partner.Less
Among the many places of worship that could be found in the territory of the city of Athens and its chôra during the classical period, several offer remarkable configurations of nature: the sanctuary of Aphrodite of the Gardens on the slope of the Acropolis with its flowery meadow, the green field in Eleusis for the celebration of the Eleusinian Mysteries in honour of Demeter and Persephone, the olive tree sacred to Athena near the Erechtheion, groves and running water at Brauron where young Athenian girls played the bear in honour of Artemis, etc. Often actualised in the tragedies of Euripides, the aetiological legends that constitute the foundations of these cults help to associate the relevant divinity with a hero or heroine. This combination is the starting point of a discussion of the identities of the gods in a polytheist system and their modifications through the association of a heroic partner.
Jan N. Bremmer and Andrew Erskine
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748637980
- eISBN:
- 9780748670758
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748637980.003.0007
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Religions
The paper treats the visualization of epiphany and theoxeny in ancient Greek art with particular reference to votive reliefs, such as those dedicated to Asklepios, Aphrodite, Herakles and the ...
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The paper treats the visualization of epiphany and theoxeny in ancient Greek art with particular reference to votive reliefs, such as those dedicated to Asklepios, Aphrodite, Herakles and the Dioskouroi. It discusses some images showing the direct encounter with the divine, most of them from the fifth and fourth century BC. It points out their significant characteristics and analyzes them, showing that different concepts of gods are reflected in different modes of epiphany.Less
The paper treats the visualization of epiphany and theoxeny in ancient Greek art with particular reference to votive reliefs, such as those dedicated to Asklepios, Aphrodite, Herakles and the Dioskouroi. It discusses some images showing the direct encounter with the divine, most of them from the fifth and fourth century BC. It points out their significant characteristics and analyzes them, showing that different concepts of gods are reflected in different modes of epiphany.
Pascale Brillet‐Dubois
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199589036
- eISBN:
- 9780191728983
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199589036.003.0006
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter evaluates the relationship of the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite to the Iliadic tradition. Taking into consideration the methodological approach of Neoanalysis, it is suggested that the ...
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This chapter evaluates the relationship of the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite to the Iliadic tradition. Taking into consideration the methodological approach of Neoanalysis, it is suggested that the narrative of the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite interacts with the narrative sequence of the Homeric aristeia. Attention is given throughout to the ways in which the Hymn to Aphrodite defines its own place in relation to the heroic traditions of Homeric epic. A thorough analysis of the Hymn's narrative structure is undertaken.Less
This chapter evaluates the relationship of the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite to the Iliadic tradition. Taking into consideration the methodological approach of Neoanalysis, it is suggested that the narrative of the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite interacts with the narrative sequence of the Homeric aristeia. Attention is given throughout to the ways in which the Hymn to Aphrodite defines its own place in relation to the heroic traditions of Homeric epic. A thorough analysis of the Hymn's narrative structure is undertaken.
Mark Munn
Michael Rose (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520243491
- eISBN:
- 9780520931589
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520243491.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Religions
Among maternal deities of the Greek pantheon, the Mother of the Gods was a paradox. She is variously described as a devoted mother, a chaste wife, an impassioned lover, and a virgin daughter; she is ...
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Among maternal deities of the Greek pantheon, the Mother of the Gods was a paradox. She is variously described as a devoted mother, a chaste wife, an impassioned lover, and a virgin daughter; she is said to be both foreign and familiar to the Greeks. This study examines how the cult of Mother of the Gods came from Phrygia and Lydia, where she was the mother of tyrants, to Athens, where she protected the laws of the Athenian democracy. Analyzing the divergence of Greek and Asiatic culture at the beginning of the classical era, the book describes how Kybebe, the Lydian goddess who signified fertility and sovereignty, assumed a different aspect to the Greeks when Lydia became part of the Persian empire. Conflict and resolution were played out symbolically, it shows, and the goddess of Lydian tyranny was eventually accepted by the Athenians as the Mother of the Gods, and as a symbol of their own sovereignty. The book illustrates how ancient divinities were not static types, but rather expressions of cultural systems that responded to historical change. Presenting a new perspective on the context in which the Homeric and Hesiodic epics were composed, the book traces the transformation of the Asiatic deity who was the goddess of Sacred Marriage among the Assyrians and Babylonians, equivalent to Ishtar. Among the Lydians, she was the bride to tyrants and the mother of tyrants. To the Greeks, she was Aphrodite.Less
Among maternal deities of the Greek pantheon, the Mother of the Gods was a paradox. She is variously described as a devoted mother, a chaste wife, an impassioned lover, and a virgin daughter; she is said to be both foreign and familiar to the Greeks. This study examines how the cult of Mother of the Gods came from Phrygia and Lydia, where she was the mother of tyrants, to Athens, where she protected the laws of the Athenian democracy. Analyzing the divergence of Greek and Asiatic culture at the beginning of the classical era, the book describes how Kybebe, the Lydian goddess who signified fertility and sovereignty, assumed a different aspect to the Greeks when Lydia became part of the Persian empire. Conflict and resolution were played out symbolically, it shows, and the goddess of Lydian tyranny was eventually accepted by the Athenians as the Mother of the Gods, and as a symbol of their own sovereignty. The book illustrates how ancient divinities were not static types, but rather expressions of cultural systems that responded to historical change. Presenting a new perspective on the context in which the Homeric and Hesiodic epics were composed, the book traces the transformation of the Asiatic deity who was the goddess of Sacred Marriage among the Assyrians and Babylonians, equivalent to Ishtar. Among the Lydians, she was the bride to tyrants and the mother of tyrants. To the Greeks, she was Aphrodite.
K. J. Doveri
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748613199
- eISBN:
- 9780748651016
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748613199.003.0005
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
The Greeks regarded sexual enjoyment as the area of life in which the goddess Aphrodite was interested, as Ares was interested in war and other deities in other activities. Sexual intercourse was ...
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The Greeks regarded sexual enjoyment as the area of life in which the goddess Aphrodite was interested, as Ares was interested in war and other deities in other activities. Sexual intercourse was aphrodisia, ‘the things of Aphrodite’. Sexual desire could be denoted by general words for ‘desire’, but the obsessive desire for a particular person was eros or love. Our own culture has its myths about the remote past, and one myth which dies hard is that the ‘invention’ of sexual guilt, shame and fear by the Christians destroyed a golden age of free, fearless, pagan sexuality. That most pagans were in many ways less inhibited than most Christians is undeniable. This chapter explores attitudes to sexual behaviour in classical Greece, focusing on inhibition, women's segregation and adultery, commercial sex, resistance to sexual desire, homosexuality, class and status, and Greek philosophy and sexual intercourse.Less
The Greeks regarded sexual enjoyment as the area of life in which the goddess Aphrodite was interested, as Ares was interested in war and other deities in other activities. Sexual intercourse was aphrodisia, ‘the things of Aphrodite’. Sexual desire could be denoted by general words for ‘desire’, but the obsessive desire for a particular person was eros or love. Our own culture has its myths about the remote past, and one myth which dies hard is that the ‘invention’ of sexual guilt, shame and fear by the Christians destroyed a golden age of free, fearless, pagan sexuality. That most pagans were in many ways less inhibited than most Christians is undeniable. This chapter explores attitudes to sexual behaviour in classical Greece, focusing on inhibition, women's segregation and adultery, commercial sex, resistance to sexual desire, homosexuality, class and status, and Greek philosophy and sexual intercourse.
Pietro Pucci
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781501700613
- eISBN:
- 9781501704055
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501700613.003.0010
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Plays and Playwrights: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter examines how the character of Phaedra in Hippolytus enables Euripides to stage the split/conflation that he has dramatized in the debate of Troades between the traditional, ...
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This chapter examines how the character of Phaedra in Hippolytus enables Euripides to stage the split/conflation that he has dramatized in the debate of Troades between the traditional, anthropomorphic and the cosmic, natural source of sexual desire. In the first part of Hippolytus, Phaedra, after her confession to the Nurse, seems to relax: she describes the painful trajectory of her attempts to silence her shameful passion for Hippolytus. She is unaware of being Aphrodite's victim without hope of escape, and believes that she can silence and suppress what the audience knows from the prologue to be an inextinguishable erotic passion implanted in her by the goddess. This chapter analyzes Phaedra's confession and its specific language and how her eros drives her being, voice, and utterance into a hallucinating fantasy, bringing her closer to Hippolytus.Less
This chapter examines how the character of Phaedra in Hippolytus enables Euripides to stage the split/conflation that he has dramatized in the debate of Troades between the traditional, anthropomorphic and the cosmic, natural source of sexual desire. In the first part of Hippolytus, Phaedra, after her confession to the Nurse, seems to relax: she describes the painful trajectory of her attempts to silence her shameful passion for Hippolytus. She is unaware of being Aphrodite's victim without hope of escape, and believes that she can silence and suppress what the audience knows from the prologue to be an inextinguishable erotic passion implanted in her by the goddess. This chapter analyzes Phaedra's confession and its specific language and how her eros drives her being, voice, and utterance into a hallucinating fantasy, bringing her closer to Hippolytus.
Kathy L. Gaca
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520235991
- eISBN:
- 9780520929463
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520235991.003.0008
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Greek, Roman, and Early Christian Philosophy
This chapter examines Tatian's reasons for thinking that Christians must reject sexual activity altogether in order to be saved. It also uses the extant fragment from Tatian's On Perfection according ...
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This chapter examines Tatian's reasons for thinking that Christians must reject sexual activity altogether in order to be saved. It also uses the extant fragment from Tatian's On Perfection according to the Savior and his Oratio ad Graecos. The chapter then investigates the Greek ideas which motivated Tatian to declare that sexual activity is contrary to the way of God. Tatian believes that the Greek gods tangibly exist and that they have the powers traditionally associated with them in Greek religion, Homer, and astrology. A discussion on Tatian and the early Christian dilemma between choosing God or Aphrodite is also presented. Tatian reinterprets the Prophets' and Paul's ideas about God's punishment of his spiritually adulterous people. The theme of soul therapy allows him to recreate the metaphor of adultery in the Prophets and Paul. Tatian's principle of sexual renunciation has not become the dominant mode of Christian sexual mores.Less
This chapter examines Tatian's reasons for thinking that Christians must reject sexual activity altogether in order to be saved. It also uses the extant fragment from Tatian's On Perfection according to the Savior and his Oratio ad Graecos. The chapter then investigates the Greek ideas which motivated Tatian to declare that sexual activity is contrary to the way of God. Tatian believes that the Greek gods tangibly exist and that they have the powers traditionally associated with them in Greek religion, Homer, and astrology. A discussion on Tatian and the early Christian dilemma between choosing God or Aphrodite is also presented. Tatian reinterprets the Prophets' and Paul's ideas about God's punishment of his spiritually adulterous people. The theme of soul therapy allows him to recreate the metaphor of adultery in the Prophets and Paul. Tatian's principle of sexual renunciation has not become the dominant mode of Christian sexual mores.
J. F. de Jong Irene
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- April 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199688692
- eISBN:
- 9780191808562
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199688692.003.0006
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter examines the application of narratology to epic by offering a close reading of Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, a specimen of epic narrative from one of the Homeric Hymns. It begins with an ...
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This chapter examines the application of narratology to epic by offering a close reading of Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, a specimen of epic narrative from one of the Homeric Hymns. It begins with an overview of the Homeric Hymns, a collection of thirty-three poems, at least one of which had been ascribed in antiquity to Homer. It then analyses the narrative of the Hymn to Aphrodite and suggests that the story of the encounter between Aphrodite and Anchises can be read as a comedy of errors, or rather, a ‘tragicomedy of errors’.Less
This chapter examines the application of narratology to epic by offering a close reading of Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, a specimen of epic narrative from one of the Homeric Hymns. It begins with an overview of the Homeric Hymns, a collection of thirty-three poems, at least one of which had been ascribed in antiquity to Homer. It then analyses the narrative of the Hymn to Aphrodite and suggests that the story of the encounter between Aphrodite and Anchises can be read as a comedy of errors, or rather, a ‘tragicomedy of errors’.
Peter J. Bailey
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780813167190
- eISBN:
- 9780813167862
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813167190.003.0013
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
An overview of Allen’s 1990s films, this chapter also summarizes the book’s recurring argument about Allen’s ambivalent attitude toward the art that he obsessively creates and the issue of cynicism ...
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An overview of Allen’s 1990s films, this chapter also summarizes the book’s recurring argument about Allen’s ambivalent attitude toward the art that he obsessively creates and the issue of cynicism that often arises from that conflict. Because the contrived endings of the American films he grew up watching reinforce rather than resolve the human existential bind, many of Allen’s ’90s films tend toward elliptical endings in imitation of the irresolvability of that condition, although there are also films like Manhattan Murder Mystery, in which he cleaves to the structures and emotional tenors of 1940s popular film. What makes Allen’s films significant even when they are less than perfect artworks is their incessant interrogation of the value of art to human lives, their questioning of the necessity of illusions to human psychic equilibrium. This chapter largely attempts to lay the thematic groundwork that existed before the watershed moment of the Soon-Yi scandal and the release of Husbands and Wives.Less
An overview of Allen’s 1990s films, this chapter also summarizes the book’s recurring argument about Allen’s ambivalent attitude toward the art that he obsessively creates and the issue of cynicism that often arises from that conflict. Because the contrived endings of the American films he grew up watching reinforce rather than resolve the human existential bind, many of Allen’s ’90s films tend toward elliptical endings in imitation of the irresolvability of that condition, although there are also films like Manhattan Murder Mystery, in which he cleaves to the structures and emotional tenors of 1940s popular film. What makes Allen’s films significant even when they are less than perfect artworks is their incessant interrogation of the value of art to human lives, their questioning of the necessity of illusions to human psychic equilibrium. This chapter largely attempts to lay the thematic groundwork that existed before the watershed moment of the Soon-Yi scandal and the release of Husbands and Wives.
Stephen Citron
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300100822
- eISBN:
- 9780300133240
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300100822.003.0004
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
This chapter examines the genesis and inspiration for Jerry Herman's musical Milk and Honey. It explains that there are different versions about the origins of the musical, including suggestions from ...
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This chapter examines the genesis and inspiration for Jerry Herman's musical Milk and Honey. It explains that there are different versions about the origins of the musical, including suggestions from Priscilla Morgan and librettist Don Appell. The chapter discusses Herman and Appell's travel to Israel to observe life there, where they were impressed the kibbutzim, the thriving farms, and desert settlements, and also describes Herman's musical Madame Aphrodite.Less
This chapter examines the genesis and inspiration for Jerry Herman's musical Milk and Honey. It explains that there are different versions about the origins of the musical, including suggestions from Priscilla Morgan and librettist Don Appell. The chapter discusses Herman and Appell's travel to Israel to observe life there, where they were impressed the kibbutzim, the thriving farms, and desert settlements, and also describes Herman's musical Madame Aphrodite.
Irving Singer
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262512725
- eISBN:
- 9780262315111
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262512725.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
This chapter discusses erotic idealization based on Platonist and realist theories. According to the former, all attempts to describe eros as the child of earthly rather than heavenly Aphrodite can ...
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This chapter discusses erotic idealization based on Platonist and realist theories. According to the former, all attempts to describe eros as the child of earthly rather than heavenly Aphrodite can only lead to a misreading of love’s spiritual intent; the latter theory states that all love must be reducible to a basic organic condition, such as sexuality. Both theories, however, acknowledge the involvement of human desire, which points back to love as valuation through determination of how something can satisfy desire. The ultimate goal remains to be knowledge—warranted assertions regarding the nature of man, his wants, and what will satisfy those wants. This is the reason why most of Western philosophy presupposes the eros approach when theorizing about love, despite the fact that it generally seeks to be scientific.Less
This chapter discusses erotic idealization based on Platonist and realist theories. According to the former, all attempts to describe eros as the child of earthly rather than heavenly Aphrodite can only lead to a misreading of love’s spiritual intent; the latter theory states that all love must be reducible to a basic organic condition, such as sexuality. Both theories, however, acknowledge the involvement of human desire, which points back to love as valuation through determination of how something can satisfy desire. The ultimate goal remains to be knowledge—warranted assertions regarding the nature of man, his wants, and what will satisfy those wants. This is the reason why most of Western philosophy presupposes the eros approach when theorizing about love, despite the fact that it generally seeks to be scientific.
Ruby Blondell
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199731602
- eISBN:
- 9780199344956
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199731602.003.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter lays out some of the essentials of ancient Greek gender ideology, especially concerning female beauty and the desire (eros) that it elicits. It explains the objectivity of beauty in ...
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This chapter lays out some of the essentials of ancient Greek gender ideology, especially concerning female beauty and the desire (eros) that it elicits. It explains the objectivity of beauty in Greek thinking, the ambiguity of the word kalos (which means both "beautiful" and morally "fine"), techniques for representing female beauty in art and texts, such beauty’s emasculating power over men, and the lust that accompanies it in women. On the divine level these aspects of the feminine are embodied in the goddess Aphrodite, on the human level in the first woman, Pandora (Hesiod’s "beautiful evil"). The ambivalence surrounding female beauty is also focussed in the figure of the parthenos, the dangerously beautiful unmarried girl who makes a desirable bride. The chapter also discusses moral responsibility (male and female) for actions taken under the influence of Aphrodite and Eros. It ends by sketching the social and ideological controls on women in ancient Greece, intended to contain the threat posed by the forces of beauty and desire.Less
This chapter lays out some of the essentials of ancient Greek gender ideology, especially concerning female beauty and the desire (eros) that it elicits. It explains the objectivity of beauty in Greek thinking, the ambiguity of the word kalos (which means both "beautiful" and morally "fine"), techniques for representing female beauty in art and texts, such beauty’s emasculating power over men, and the lust that accompanies it in women. On the divine level these aspects of the feminine are embodied in the goddess Aphrodite, on the human level in the first woman, Pandora (Hesiod’s "beautiful evil"). The ambivalence surrounding female beauty is also focussed in the figure of the parthenos, the dangerously beautiful unmarried girl who makes a desirable bride. The chapter also discusses moral responsibility (male and female) for actions taken under the influence of Aphrodite and Eros. It ends by sketching the social and ideological controls on women in ancient Greece, intended to contain the threat posed by the forces of beauty and desire.
Ruby Blondell
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199731602
- eISBN:
- 9780199344956
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199731602.003.0003
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter focuses on Homer’s Iliad, the most canonical version of the story of Helen of Troy and the Trojan War. It starts by discussing Helen’s similarity to Achilles, and epic techniques for ...
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This chapter focuses on Homer’s Iliad, the most canonical version of the story of Helen of Troy and the Trojan War. It starts by discussing Helen’s similarity to Achilles, and epic techniques for portraying beauty, before moving to the different perspectives on her behavior supplied by various characters. She is objectified by the men, especially on the Greek side, in a way that helps to keep their struggle a heroic one, a task that is further aided by desplacing male desire away from Helen and onto revenge or warfare as such. But Helen’s own perspective challenges this picture. Her characteristic self-blame is both an exercise of power (in so far as it wins her sympathy and protection), and a retrospective assertion of agency in her elopement. The chapter includes a detailed treatment of her confrontation with Aphrodite in Book 3, which provides a window into Helen’s subjectivity, showing that despite the goddess’s power Helen is, in fact, responsible for her actions.Less
This chapter focuses on Homer’s Iliad, the most canonical version of the story of Helen of Troy and the Trojan War. It starts by discussing Helen’s similarity to Achilles, and epic techniques for portraying beauty, before moving to the different perspectives on her behavior supplied by various characters. She is objectified by the men, especially on the Greek side, in a way that helps to keep their struggle a heroic one, a task that is further aided by desplacing male desire away from Helen and onto revenge or warfare as such. But Helen’s own perspective challenges this picture. Her characteristic self-blame is both an exercise of power (in so far as it wins her sympathy and protection), and a retrospective assertion of agency in her elopement. The chapter includes a detailed treatment of her confrontation with Aphrodite in Book 3, which provides a window into Helen’s subjectivity, showing that despite the goddess’s power Helen is, in fact, responsible for her actions.
