This essay was written to accompany a lecture on the Long Hymn to Aphrodite. It follows the translation and editing of Stephen M. Trzaskoma in the Anthology of Classical Myth (Hackett). This is a very useful text for students. The translations are clean, and each hymn includes a helpful introduction and analysis. It also contains full versions of Hesiod's Theogony and Works and Days.
Translations of the hymn, unless otherwise stated, are from Homeric
Hymns. (trans. A. Lang, updated and modified). In Anthology of Classical Myth: Primary Sources in Translation, 2nd ed (Kindle edition). Stephen M. Trzaskoma, R. Scott Smith, Stephen Brunet
(eds.). Hackett (2016).
Attic Black-Figure Neck Amphora attributed to Leagros Group (c. 525-500 BCE). J. Paul Getty Museum 86.AE.82.
Aphrodite directs her son, Aeneas, away from the destruction of Troy. Aeneas leads his son, Ascanius, by the hand and carries his father, Anchises, on his back. This was a popular topic for artists in both Greek and Roman periods.
Female Olympians can be difficult to identify in Greek art because they often lack the attributes that their male counterparts carry (e.g., Dionysos with a Kantharos, Hermes with a Kerykeion, Aphrodite accompanied by Eros). In such cases, we rely on context (what's happening in the scene around her) and names on the vase when they are present.
The textbook’s introduction suggests that this is the oldest of the hymns because its linguistic similarity to Homeric language is closer than the other hymns, and the subject matter is related to a hero in the Homeric epic (the Iliad). While the relationship(s) between Aphrodite, Anchises, and Aeneas are certainly valuable to keep in mind when studying the Trojan War, this hymn carries a significance independent of its connection to the war, and that is the relationship between gods and humans in the Greek world that pervades all of the klea andron (stories of heroes, "fames of humans").
The hymn begins with the problematic situation of gods forced (or tricked) into romantic relationships with mortals. Initially, the reticence of the gods to enter these relationships is depicted as a matter of honor among the society of the gods. However, in the interactions between Aphrodite and Anchises, together with the birth and naming of their child, Aineias (Aeneas), a more powerful and anthropologically more important explanation is provided, one that both defines and fundamentally separates gods from humans: mortality. The relationship between Aphrodite and Anchises, and the subsequent birth of Aeneas, blur the distinctions between mortals and immortals, and this momentary blurring of the line draws attention to that distinction. Aphrodite’s pain, the only lasting pain the goddess will ever feel, is a psychological pain brought on by the loss of a mortal lover andchild respectively.
Bronze Hellenistic statuette with silver eyes (3rd to 1st Century BCE). MET 1972.118.96.
"Aphrodite holds up in contemplation the apple given to her by the Trojan prince Paris as a prize for being the fairest of the Greek goddesses."
Nudity amongst female Olympians is exceedingly rare in the Archaic and Classical periods, but it becomes more common in later periods. As a goddess associated with sex and sexual desire, Aphrodite was often depicted nude in Hellenistic and later art while other goddesses, such as Athena and Artemis, remained chaste in the myths and clothed in Greek iconography.
The conflict which triggers the narrative of the hymn is that Aphrodite could exert power over other Olympians (particularly Zeus) to make or persuade (peithō) them to take mortal lovers.
However, the hymn goes out of its way to emphasize that there were three goddesses among the Olympians who never took male lovers: Hestia, Athena, Artemis. These three goddesses were renowned for their virginity which was a core aspect of their respective identities and worship. Thus the opening section of the poem establishes Aphrodite’s power and the threat that such power poses to the male hierarchy, while at the same time acknowledging the conspicuous absence of that power over certain goddesses (Athena, Artemis, and Hestia).
Bronze Hellenistic statuette (3rd to 1st Century BCE).MET 1980.303.3
Artemis is missing the attribues of a bow (left hand) and quiver (reaching back with right hand). As the goddess of the hunt, Artemis is often depicted in a peplos that does not descend past her knees, but she is also regularly depicted with robes that go down to her ankles.
Significantly, both this statuette and that of the Aphrodite (above) were sculpted in the same period. Although nudes are more common in Hellenistic sculpture, there remains a significant degree of decorum in how Greeks represented certain deities, and as the Long Hymn to Aphrodite explicitly states, Artemis was one of the gods on whom Aphrodite's charms had no affect. This is reflected in the fact that Artemis' iconography, while representing the ideal young woman, were respectfully clothed (as was the case for Athena and Hestia).
The fact that Aphrodite was able to wield this power over the other gods, particularly Zeus, presented a problem for the latter. Olympus is a home, and the Olympians are a family. They are both the house, or oikos, of Zeus. Olympus is populated with Zeus’ immediate and some extended family, but predominately, those living on Olympus in Zeus’s household are his lovers/wives, unwed sisters and daughters, and his sons. Although his brothers, Hades and Poseidon, are considered Olympians and have seats on Olympus, they are patriarchs in their own houses, the sea and underworld respectively. On Olympus, at least, Zeus is the unquestioned male head of household, the patriarch. Thus, the threat to Zeus’ position posed by Aphrodite’s power to manipulate the other Olympians, including Zeus himself, can be seen as a weakness or challenge to Zeus’ position, both as a masculine power and as a head of household able to rule over his own family. In this respect, Aphrodite represents a challenge to Zeus’ rule similar to that of Demeter in the long hymn to Demeter, wherein the elder goddess used her power over seasons to challenge Zeus’ right to marry off their daughter, Persephone, to Hades. In both cases, Zeus reasserts his authority and establishes equilibrium in the world, but it an uneasy truce, because his “victories” come with concessions in both cases. In the case of Demeter, Zeus had to relent and allow Persephone to live with her mother on Olympus for two thirds of the year despite being wed to Hades and, technically, being a member of the house of Hades rather than the house of Zeus. Similarly, in the present hymn to Aphrodite, Zeus is able to turn the tables on Aphrodite, making her suffer the psychological pain of a deep emotional attachment to mortals, but this does not undo Aphrodite’s own ability to do so with him. Indeed, stories surrounding Zeus’ mortal lovers comprise a significant amount of the Greek mythological corpus.
Let us see below exactly how the hymn rationalizes Zeus’ rebalancing of the scales:
And into Aphrodite herself Zeus sent sweet desire to sleep with a mortal man. This he did so that without delay not even she might be unfamiliar with a mortal bed and might not some day with sweet laughter make her boast among all the gods, the smiling Aphrodite, that she had united the gods to mortal lovers, that they had borne for deathless gods mortal sons, and that she united goddesses with mortal men. Therefore, Zeus sent into her heart sweet desire for Anchises [….] Him thereafter did smiling Aphrodite see and love, and measureless desire took hold of her heart.
Then Aphrodite descends to earth and begins her quest to seduce the object of her affection. There are two important items to note. First is the stock manner by which Anchises is depicted by the narrative:
[Anchises] was left alone at the steading, walking up and down, playing the lyre sweet and pure.
Anchises, who is described as “graced with beauty from the gods” and “a man in appearance like the immortals,” is a beautiful male specimen. His status as beautiful object of affection is further emphasized by singling him out as playing the lyre. This is a stock activity of youthful males who attract the amorous attentions of gods and older men in Attic vase painting. These kalos cups were popular in the Classical period. Read more about them here. Apollo himself may be the template for such idealized male youths, but in Greek myth, two of the most iconic figures are Ganymede and Tithonos, Trojan princes who was carried away by Zeus and Eos (Dawn) respectively.
© Copyright Trustees of the British Museum. Used in accordance with
Creative Common Attribution 4.0 International.
Attic red-figure kylix attributed to Penthesilea Painter (c. 470-460 BCE). Detail of tondo (interior of cup) British Museum 1836,0224.82.
Eos appears in a pair of similar stories depicted on Attic vases in the Classical period: the rape (or kidnapping) of Kephalos (mainland Greece) and that of Tithonos, the Trojan prince spoken of in the Long Hymn to Aphrodite. Iconography for the scenes is identical, so it is impossible to tell which youth is carried away by Eos without greater context or naming in the artwork. In both cases, the male object of affection is portrayed as a beardless youth, often carrying a lyre, and often running away from the goddess (whether in earnest fear or as part of the "lovers' game"). The youthful ideal of the boy(s) is a constant feature in such scenes.
Also note the way in which Eos grasps Tithonos (or Kephalos) by the forearm. This is common in such seduction scenes, and tends to imply both a power relationship and that the grasper (Eos, in this case) is leading the graspee (Tithonos) to the bedchamber.
The second item of note has to do with the relationship between gods and humans. The narrative continues:
In front of [Anchises] stood the daughter of Zeus, Aphrodite, in appearance and stature like an unwedded maiden, lest he should be frightened when he beheld her.
When gods desire to interact with humans, they change their appearance, just as artists paint and sculpt the gods to look human – albeit flawlessly beautiful humans. Were Aphrodite to appear before Anchises in her true form, he would be struck by fear and unwilling to approach her. Indeed, such close interactions with a god in his true form would be more than just frightening. According to another story of such an encounter, Semele, the mortal princess of Thebes, was taken by Zeus as a lover. When she asked Zeus to come to her bed the same way he did to his wife, Hera, he did so, and it killed the mortal princess instantly. To stand before Zeus in his true form would be akin to standing a few feet away from a burning star. Their physical and intellectual magnitude is beyond human capabilities, literally in the sense that the heat from a star would destroy a mortal body, but conceptually as well in that the true nature of the gods (or the universe) is beyond human understanding. This conception of the nature of god(s) is shared with the Abrahamic monotheims as well.
Carnelian in a modern frame from Italy (c. 25 BCE). J. Paul Getty Museum 2017.2.
"The gem depicts a woman, mostly nude, with her hair bound in a sakkos, seated on a pile of stones, who gestures to a nude youth standing before her. He has drapery over one shoulder and carries a pedum (a hunter's throwing stick) visible near his shoulder. The identity of the pair has been the subject of scrutiny since the gem’s first publication in the eighteenth century, but they are likely the goddess Venus and her lover, the Trojan Anchises. The offspring of their union was Aeneas, the father of the Roman people."
When Aphrodite first appears to seduce Anchises, there is an interesting exchange between them:
Anchises marveled when he beheld her at her height and beauty and glittering raiment [....] Like the moon’s was the light on her fair breasts, a wonder to behold, and love came upon Anchises, and he spoke unto her: “Hail, Queen, whosoever of the immortals you are that come to this house, whether Artemis or Leto or golden Aphrodite or high-born Themis or gray-eyed Athena [....] But for your part be kindly and grant me to be a man preeminent among the Trojans, and give fine seed of children to follow me. But as for me, let me live long and well, see the sunlight and come to the limit of old age, being ever in all things fortunate among men.”
Anchises intuits the divine nature of the woman before him,
even though her exact identity is unknown. She is too perfect. Indeed, she made
herself to be so. She intended to seduce a lover, after all. Even when he
intuits her divinity, Anchises finds himself enmeshed in the all-too-human position of ignorance juxtaposed to the figure of Aphrodite’s divine
knowledge. This ignorance is clear in the very line that he expresses suspicion and awe at her beauty; he rightly intuits that she is a goddess, but he does not know
which goddess she is. In this act, he proves himself both wise and ignorant, a
mind that is as attractive as his physique.
Yet Aphrodite holds to her conceit:
Anchises, most renowned of men on earth, behold! No goddess am I. [....] Nay, mortal am I, and a mortal mother bore me [....] Hermes, the Slayer of Argos, of the golden wand has stolen me away from the choir of Artemis, the goddess of the golden arrow, who loves the noise of the chase. Many Nymphs and much-courted maidens were we there at play, and a great circle of people was about us. But thence did he bear me away, the Slayer of Argos, he of the golden wand, and bore me [across the world....] Now Hermes said that I was bidden to be the bride of Anchises and mother of your fine children. But when he had pointed you out and spoken, instantly he went back among the immortal gods, the renowned Slayer of Argos.
The lie is an elaborate and ironic one. Not only does Aphrodite insist that she is mortal, but that she is a mortal follower of the maiden goddess Artemis, who shuns the company of men and hunts in the wild with other chaste women. Such women and nymphs are the objects of affection, and, indeed, one of Zeus’ famous dalliances was the seduction of such a maiden, Kallisto. From Theoi.com:
KALLISTO (Callisto) was a daughter of the Arkadian King Lykaon (Lycaon) and a hunting companion of the goddess Artemis. There were several contradictory versions of her story but ancient writers all agreed on a number of details:--that she was seduced by the god Zeus, transformed into a bear, bore a son named Arkas (Arcas), and was hunted down as a beast and placed amongst the stars as the constellation Ursa Major.
Thus, Aphrodite pretends to be one of the tantalizing virginal women whom mortal men cannot touch. Although her identity as Artemis’ companion is a ruse, it adds another layer to Aphrodite’s story. She could simply have been a daughter of a noble or a lost lady in waiting. Whatever the case, Anchises, in keeping with his state of human ignorance, accepts Aphrodite’s lie without argument:
So spoke he and took her hand, while laughter-loving Aphrodite turned and moved with fair downcast eyes toward the bead [....] Then through the gods’ will and design the mortal man lay by the immortal goddess, not knowing who she was.
Aphrodite awakens Anchises the following morning and reveals herself to him. He is awed and terrified, showing proper deference to the goddess, but she calms him. What she tells him about their child, however, is most intriguing:
Anchises, most renowned of mortal men, take courage, nor fear overmuch. For no fear is there that you shall suffer harm from me nor from others of the blessed gods, for dear to the gods are you. And to you shall a dear son be born and hold sway among the Trojans, and his children’s children shall arise after him continually. Aineias shall his name be, since dread sorrow held me when I came into the bed of a mortal man. And of all mortal men those who spring form your race are always nearest to the immortal gods in beauty and stature.
Aphrodite reveals that she suffered a dread sorrow when she seduced and slept with Anchises, so much so that she named her son after the Greek word for “dread,” ainos. Aineias in Greek, or Aeneas, in Latin, is given as an aetiological explanation for the dread sorrow that plagued Aphrodite when she went to the bed of a mortal. This begs the question: what was Aphrodite’s dread sorrow? Was it simply humiliation that Zeus turned her own power against her? No. That would certainly be embarrassing, but it would hardly result in dread for the likes of a god. Aphrodite continues by detailing the list of attractive Trojan males whom other gods, including Zeus himself, took for lovers. The last of whom was Tithonos, the consort of Eos (Dawn). Eos sought to make her lover immortal, but when she noticed him growing old, her attempts to change the fate of her human lover proved disastrous:
[S]he went to pray to Zeus of the dark cloud, that her lover might be immortal and exempt from death forever. Zeus consented to this and granted her desire, but foolish of heart was Lady Eos, nor did she think of asking for eternal youth for her lover to keep him unwrinkled by grievous old age. Now so long as pleasant youth was his, in joy did he dwell with golden-throned Eos [....] But as soon as gray hairs began to flow from his fair head and fine chin, Lady Eos held aloof from his bed, but kept and cherished him in her halls, giving him food and ambrosia and beautiful raiment. But when hateful old age had utterly overcome him, and he could not move or lift his limbs, to her this seemed the wisest counsel: she laid him in a chamber and shut the shining doors, and his voice flows on endlessly, and no strength now is his such as nce there was in his limbs.
The failure of Eos to achieve eternal bliss with Tithonos
highlights one of the three fundamental differences between gods and humans.
The first, human ignorance and divine knowledge was highlighted in the meeting
between Anchises and Aphrodite. The second, and arguably most frequently
emphasized, is that of human mortality and divine immortality. In Greek myth,
fate is the ordering principle of the universe. In the Theogony, it is
Zeus’ ability to work with the Fates and his father’s failure to thwart them that defines their reigns. In the hero sagas, fate or destiny are immutable,
and the word is used interchangeably with death. For the fate of all mortals
is, by definition, to die.[1]
Aphrodite explains her dread to Anchises in the
hymn:
Therefore I would not have you be immortal and live forever in such fashion among the deathless gods. But if, being such as you are in beauty and form, you could live on and be called my lord, then this grief would not overshadow my heart. But it may not be, for swiftly will pitiless old age come upon you, old age that stands close by mortal men, wretched and weary and detested by the gods; but among the immortal gods shall great blame be mine forever, and all for love of you. For the gods used to dread my words and wiles with which I had subdued all the immortals to mortal women in love, my purpose overcoming them all. For now my mouth will no longer suffice to speak forth this boast among the immortals, for deep and sore has been my folly, wretched and not to be named. And distraught have I been who carry a child beneath my girdle, the child of a mortal.
When a god takes as a lover, sires, or gives birth to a mortal, the god binds himself to that mortal’s fate, to that mortal’s death. In other words, gods do not suffer loss in love, be it lover or child, because gods do not die. Humans, on the other hand, are defined by the certainty of death. For Aphrodite or Eos to fall in love with a human is to bind the god to the psychological or emotional suffering of mortal life: aging and death. Thus, when Aphrodite sleeps with Anchises, she does so with dread sorrow because her mortal lover and the child that she will bear him are destined to grow old, lose their attractive physiques, and die. This, in turn, exposes Aphrodite to psychological/emotional trauma that are foreign to the deathless gods.
[1] Mortal means “one who dies.”