Aphrodite

Amidst the expected, punning advertisements for data companies lining the drive into San Francisco, one passes a lone cultural billboard depicting Klimt’s The Virgin (1913). The image advertises Klimt & Rodin: An Artistic Encounter at the Legion of Honor. Below the image of entwined pale, female flesh against a tapestry of vibrant color are the words: “Gives off seriously sexual vibes,” excerpted from a review in San Francisco Magazine. Klimt & Rodin showcases the two male artists’ interest in depicting the white female subject, an art historical mainstay since the splash of Praxiteles’s naked Aphrodite of Knidos. Vibrant colors and gilt dominates the non-figural spaces of Klimt’s canvases, but not the subjects’ bodies, which are rendered in light flesh tones, highlighted with pale yellows and pinks. Rodin’s sculptures, in contrast, are hewn from monochrome materials—marble, bronze, clay—with no surface treatments. If the “seriously sexual vibes” advertised on the billboard come from the expected space of white female (and feminized) subjectivity, the “artistic encounter” on display is one of medium—of painting’s uncontested polychrome in contrast to the insistent monochrome of modern sculpture.

This paper discusses the most controversial subject of sex within a spiritual setting, as the holy yoke presented itself among fertility cults of ancient pagan cultures. It presents a fine treatment of the subject with findings rarely traced in modern scholarship.

What does scandal designate? Is it a narrative of moral outrage, a titillating spectacle of shame, or a violation that simultaneously unsettles and consolidates norms and traditions? Scandal as a phenomenon, event, and analytical category has been the focus of de bates and representations in works by Kant, Heidegger, Rousseau, Sade, and Mme de Sévigné, as well as in The Arabian Nights. These engagements with scandal in philosophy, literature, and media constitute a genealogy if not a tradition that emphasizes the relations between scandal and the body, gender, story-telling, visuality, marginality, and pow er. From the body of Aphrodite that frames scandal in the Greek mythological context to the body of Egyptian activist and nude blogger Alyaa Elmahdi, adulterous affairs and fantasies of debauchery particularly have been used as instruments to critique the rich and powerful but also to oppress women and sexual minorities. What becomes of scandal in the age of the Internet, apps, and social media? The article examines whether the digital is bringing about the demise of scandal as an affective scene that generates outrage and condemnation but also as a model of telling and representing tied to antiquated re portage genres, gossip scenes, and fictional models. Genealogy The word "scandal" comes from the Greek word skandalon, which means moral stumble and trap. 1 One of the most famous scandals in antiquity is the one generated by the adul terous relation between the god of war, Ares (Mars), and the goddess of beauty, Aphrodite (Venus) or Cypris, as she comes from the eastern part of the Greek world (the island of Cyprus). Homer tells us that when Ares stayed in Aphrodite's bed into dawn, Helios, the sun god, making his journey from east to west, saw the lovers in bed. Helios, best known as the gossiper among the gods as he sees everything, told Aphrodite's husband Hephaistos, thereby setting the scene of scandal on Mount Olympus. 2 Following Helios's "seeing" and "gossiping," Hephaistos, the blacksmith who works in the forge all night, laid a "trap" for the lovers: an invisible chain net that would fall and immobilize them when set. A revealer, a whistleblower, and artificer, Helios sets the stage for the scene of scandal.

For the full article, please email me at [email protected] or visit https://doi.org/10.1017/S0009838820000919

One of the more powerful recurring motifs in the Iliad is that of the grief-stricken woman lamenting the death of a hero. As with much else in the Homeric epics, these scenes have a formulaic character; when Briseis laments Patroclus, and Hecuba, Andromache and Helen lament Hector, each is depicted delivering a specialized form of speech, specific to the context of a woman’s lament. The narrative depiction of grieving women, as well, is formalized, with specific gestures and recurring images that typify these scenes. One element of this depiction that has largely escaped serious consideration is the comparison of a woman in her initial moment of recognition of the corpse to Aphrodite. In this article, I will argue that the allusion is not merely to her beauty but to the myth of Aphrodite and Adonis, specifically the moment of the goddess’ discovery of the death of her mortal lover. As the earliest surviving explicit reference to Adonis in Greek literature appears c.600 B.C.E., this would require a raising of the terminus ante quem for the transmission of the Adonis myth from the Near East to the mid eighth century.

Neste artigo, propomos uma leitura acerca da deusa Afrodite e de suas múltiplas análises e interpretações ao longo da história. Sua potência interpretativa tem sido explorada em diversas manifestações artísticas, como na literatura, na pintura, na escultura, entre outras. Desta forma, buscamos num primeiro momento discutir sua imersão no mundo grego através da cosmogonia de Hesíodo, passando por Platão para, finalmente, expandir sua leitura até o olhar contemporâneo de Didi Huberman. Logo, a proposta deste trabalho consiste em refletir sobre a diversidade interpretativa que acompanha a presença de Afrodite na arte.

This is not work of mine, but primary source material. In 2015 the ancient goddess Aphrodite contacted me on Facebook; over the next several months she told me about her life in ancient times and her return to our world. I intend to write about these stories but am posting them here (with her permission) for anyone interested.

Борисюк-Дудкіна А.С., Шевченко Т.М. // Археологія та давня історія України. Вип.1 (18). К., 2016 – С. 145—149
Published is a Classical period protome kept in the Scientific Funds of the IA NASU from the excavations at Olbia in 1956 headed by L.M. Slavin. Presented are the description of and a basis for the restoration and conservation process conducted according to the modern requirements. After the cleaning and restoration, it became possible to discern the details not noticed before, which allowed to consider the attribution and dating of the protome anew. It appeared that the goddess is represented with a naked breast and a headdress and earrings are decorated with rosettes. Consequently, its relation with an Aphrodite image appears to be more convincing than with Kore-Persephone, as it was considered before. As for the dating, it should be reviewed not only because of the context of the finding, but also because of the peculiarities of fingers and hair depiction. Efficiently made fingers of this protome differ from the hands presented profiled during the 5th century BC. The hair depiction is common for Attic depiction of the first half of the 4th century BC, although it does not mean that the terracotta was produced in Attica, the clay composition evidence for its Chersonesan origin. The context of a find allows narrowing the dating to the first quarter of the 4th century BC. Protome is one of a few archaeologically intact Olbian terracottas and reminds of a chthonic aspect of Aphrodite cult.

On the basis of written monuments of ancient Greek thought traces the development of the figure of Aphrodite in ancient culture. The author in this paper shows that already in the mythological image of Aphrodite, displayed in the texts of ancient Greek writers traced the first philosophical intentions regarding the idea of love. The article also discusses in detail the version of the etymology "Aphrodite" and meticulously
Keywords: Aphrodite, Homer, Hesiod, hymns, earthly Aphrodite, the celestial Aphrodite, the person

Women's mobility is central to understanding cultural constructions of gender. Regarding ancient cultures, including ancient Greece, a re-evaluation of women's mobility within the household and beyond it is currently taking place. This invites an informed analysis of female mobility in Greek myth, under the premise that myth may open a venue to social ideology and the imaginary.

Female Mobility and Gendered Space in Ancient Greek Myth offers the first comprehensive analysis of this topic. It presents close readings of ancient texts, engaging with feminist thought and the 'mobility turn'. A variety of Olympian goddesses and mortal heroines are explored, and the analysis of their myths follows specific chronological considerations. Female mobility is presented in quite diverse ways in myth, reflecting cultural flexibility in imagining mobile goddesses and heroines. At the same time, the out-of-doors spaces that mortal heroines inhabit seem to lack a public or civic quality, with the heroines being contained behind 'glass walls'. In this respect, myth seems to reproduce the cultural limitations of ancient Greek social ideology on mobility, inviting us to reflect not only on the limits of mythic imagination but also on the timelessness of Greek myth.

О статуе Афродиты «в садах» работы Алкамена сообщают античные авторы: Плиний Старший (Plin., N. H. XXXVI, 16), Лукиан (Luc., Imagg., 4; 6), Павсний (Pausan., I, 19, 2). Эти пассажи содержат противоречивую информацию. В частности, не вполне ясно, что подразумевается под «садами»: конкретный топоним, эпитет Афродиты, «мистические сады» или просто пространство за пределами храма. Древние авторы не уточняют, являлась ли статуя Алкамена культовой. Вопрос атрибуции также окончательно не решен. Наиболее убедительной предстает гипотеза, согласно которой тип «Афродиты у колонны» (Aphrodite Leaning Against a Pillar), известный по римским копиям, восходит к греческому оригиналу работы Алкамена.

Al adentrarse en la lectura de la literatura grecorromana se puede identificar la importancia que se le daba a las diosas en esas sociedades. Dicha cosmovisión  fue rechazada más tarde por el cristianismo dado que, si bien se preservó la figura de una divinidad femenina, esta perdió su condición de diosa para tomar un lugar secundario como la madre de Cristo. No obstante, el culto y el mito de las diosas ha perdurado hasta nuestros días. En este ensayo realizo un análisis sobre la continuidad y las rupturas del mito de la divinidad femenina al abordar el caso de la diosa griega Afrodita y su equivalente romana Venus. Ambas tradiciones literarias veían a esta deidad como la diosa del amor, sin embargo, cada una le dio rasgos específicos a su diosa que se encuentran ocultos bajo la aparente continuidad del mito.

Kokkini (2013) has recently argued that the destruction of Euripides’ Hippolytus is crucially linked to his absolute rejection of erotic love. She argues that the participation in (or experience of) eros was considered an integral part of Greek male identity that no one could disregard without serious ramifications. With this in mind, it would seem then that Sarah Kane’s universe has nothing to do with this early account of the myth. More specifically, in Phaedra’s Love Hippolytus is no longer the chaste devotee of Artemis, but rather, an obese, depressed and atheist prince, who avails himself of every opportunity for intercourse with anyone at all. His endless list of lovers includes not only Phaedra, his stepmother, who is desperately in love with him, but also her daughter Strophe and a Catholic priest, as well. Nevertheless, a close reading of her work may well reveal that Kane, despite the displacement that her play evidently achieves, conveys a message which is well in accordance with the underlying essence of the ancient myth. This article will demonstrate that in Phaedra’s Love Kane presents Hippolytus’ indifference towards, and neglect of, erotic love in a way that may indeed reflect the Euripidean tragedy.

Ancient readers were highly attuned to etymologically and allusively significant character names, which helped shape their experience and understanding of narratives in a variety of ways. Authors frequently exploited that fact in their compositions. This paper capitalizes on that state of affairs by utilizing a literarily attuned onomastic analysis to explore two themes in Xenophon’s Ephesiaca. Specifically, I argue that Xenophon deploys several character names in interpretively important and sometimes sophisticated ways to serve the construction of themes relating to erotic andreia and lasting beauty. Regarding erotic andreia, this study largely supplements and corroborates conclusions that have been emerging in recent scholarship and offers a few fresh proposals for consideration. Xenophon’s interest in lasting beauty has not received much attention in contemporary scholarship outside of David Konstan’s Sexual Symmetry. The results of this study suggest that the theme deserves further examination. I offer a brief sketch, informed by onomastic analysis, of where the theme occurs and why it matters in the story Xenophon is telling.

Con "Regno del Bosforo Cimmerio" gli studiosi moderni definiscono una peculiare organizzazione statale, sviluppatasi, a partire dai primi anni del V secolo a.C. , nella regione così detta del Bosforo Cimmerio, come comunità di città greche volta probabilmente a cementare non solo uno spirito di coesione e koinè culturale tra città di medesima origine (almeno da quel che le fonti storiche e archeologiche ci documentano), ma soprattutto una unità politica e militare.

Female nudity, in Greek sculpture between the end of the Archaic period and the middle of the third century BCE, is conspicuous only in its absence.  It did appear, but only rarely, and under specific circumstances. This paper attempts to discover if the slow acceptance of female nudity in sculpture was reflective of a change in attitude towards the female role, body, and sexuality. Through the lens of three different categories of sculpture, the Kouroi and Korai, goddesses depicted in the nude (such as the Knidian Aphrodite), and the Tanagra Figurines, this paper examines the place of female nudity in sculpture in relation to male nudity, divine female nudity, and female morality and  women’s roles in Ancient Greece.  This paper takes a chronological look at the changing attitudes towards the portrayal of the female body through a brief exploration of the rise of transparent drapery, while exploring the Archaic ideals of modesty and morality. Furthermore, by considering outside influences, such as a possible Near Eastern or Egyptian influence and the differing attitudes across Magna Graecia, while also taking into account the representational factuality of the sculpture, this paper endeavours to answer the paradox of female nudity in Ancient Greek sculpture in a well-rounded and complete fashion. This paper argues that, while the attitude towards female nudity in sculpture changed over the course of these few centuries, this was not reflective of a change in the female role of chaste and modest wife and mother.

The Mediterranean basin was a multicultural region with a great diversity of linguistic, religious, social, and ethnic groups. This dynamic social and cultural landscape encouraged extensive contact and exchange among different communities. This book seeks to explain what happened when different ethnic, social, linguistic, and religious groups, among others, came into contact with each other. What means did they employ to mediate their interactions? How did each group construct distinct identities while interacting with others? What new identities came into existence because of these contacts? Denise Demetriou brings together several strands of scholarship that have emerged recently, especially ethnic, religious, and Mediterranean studies. It reveals new aspects of identity construction in the region examining the Mediterranean as a whole and focuses not only on ethnic identity but also other types of collective identities, such as civic, linguistic, religious, and social identities.

, as a field of scientific research, is a set of stories, mythos in Greek meaning ‗story' or ‗legend' and logos ‗word'. Usually, the myths are works of literature. The term mythology may include all the myths of religion or culture. Throughout history, these stories have circulated as works of literature, folk tales (ballads, odes, songs, songs of bravery) or based on historical sources written at different ruler's courts or monasteries. In this paper I will present a number of similarities between Greek and Roman deities and the slavic ones, basing my research as much as possible on the information provided by an etymological analisys, a description of the deity as well as rituals, offerings, sacrifices and celebrations dedicated to the deities. As a main source for Slavic deities, I used a compilation of medieval and religious texts written in the Kievan Rus' by monk Nestor, called the Russian Primary Chronicle or Nestor's Chronicle. This script presents Russian history and Kievan Rus between 850-1110 years, written in Kiev during Iziaslav Sviatopolk the second's (Grand Prince of Kiev 1093-1113) reign. The Chronicle is German-Scandinavian inspired, since the Prince Sviatopolk's (the principality's ruler) policy was pro-Scandinavian. Also, I could list following volumes: Dictionary of Slavic mythology by Ilie Danilov and Slavic mythology by Sorin Paliga. In addition to these works, information about Slavic mythology can be found in the following books:

This paper explores the picture of an Attic black-figured alabastron, which is now in the Archaeological Collection of the Berlin Museum (Antikensammlung, Berlin, F 2030) and dates back to around 490 BC. The representation depicts a scene of preparations before a cockfighting. Two men, one young and one mature, are squatting, facing each other, and holding a cock in their hands, while tow hens stand in front of them. A symbol of bravery, fighting and male sexual supremacy in Attic iconography, the cock is rarely depicted in scenes of female life. What, therefore, could be the meening of a cockfighting on an alabastron, a vase related predominantly to female hygiene?
On examining cock images on alabastra and comparing them with other elements of the iconographic repertoire of these vases, this article shows that the alabastron in question does not only depict an impending cockfighting in the usual meaning. The presence of two hens in the middle of the scene, the prize for the victorious cock, moves the competition in the field of the erotic wrestling, Aphrodite’s world, in which women played an important role.

Yannis Asvestas Eleni Bardani 10. Adorning the body: hairstyle, dress, jewellery I. Papageorgiou 11. Aromatic plants, perfumes and perfume vases: their uses in everyday and religious life during Archaic and Classical times D. Aktseli-E. Manakidou 12. Making materials for beauty in Ancient Greece Ph. Walter 13. Beautification and Beauty: the legacy of prehistory to the historical times of Greek Antiquity I. D. Fappas CATALOGUE OF ANTIQUITIES KALLOS Introduction Divine beauty Divine beauty contests Daemonic beauty Abductions of beauty and erotic encounters Archaic and Classical/Hellenistic beauty Kallos of mortals Athletic beauty Heroic beauty ʻKaloi' and ʻKalai' in antiquity Timely beauty, untimely death BEAUTIFICATION The bath Use of perfumes and unguents Face and body care Hairstyles and dress Adornment

Este artigo centra-se no Idílio 2, As Magas, de Teócrito (c. 300-260 a.C.), a fim de ali observar a estruturação poética do triângulo Afrodite, éros e feitiçaria. Uma vez que Simaeta, a personagem cuja voz se faz ouvir nos versos do idílio, profere uma prece em meio a um ritual claramente mágico e erótico, interessa aqui a consideração dos elementos dessa prece e do rito urdidos, da representação de Afrodite, a regente de éros, nesse contexto, e das relações da deusa com o universo da magia, notáveis na literatura grega desde, pelo menos, a Ilíada.
Ao discutir esses três pontos, pretendo não apenas destacar aspectos específicos da construção de Afrodite no poema de Teócrito, mas também refletir sobre uma das muitas facetas de sua figura poética – a da deusa que flerta com ou até mesmo pratica a feitiçaria

This articles centers itself on the Idyll 2, The Sorceresses, of Theocritus (c. 300-260 a.C.), in order to observe the poetical construction of the triangle Aphrodite, éros and sorcery therein. Knowing that Simaetha, the character whose voice is heard through the verses of the idyll, utters a prayer within a clearly magical and erotic ritual, what is important here is the consideration of this prayer and of the rite performed, of Aphrodite’s representation in this context, and of the relations of the goddess of éros with sorcery, which are remarkable in Greek literature since the Iliad, at least.
In discussing these three points, I intend not only to emphasize specific aspects of the Aphrodite conceived in the poem of Theocritus, but also to reflect about one of the many facets of her poetic figure – that of the goddess that flirts with or even practices sorcery.

Oysters are generally known with their legendary power as an aphrodisiac. In ancient Greek, oysters were so common that no banquet was complete without a spread of oysters and other seafood. In Roman gastronomy, oysters were a luxury dish. Romans washed oysters in vinegar and kept in jars sealed with pitch. The feminine symbolism of their shell imposes iconographic meaning to oysters. The presence of oysters in paintings generally intensifies the eroticism, physical love and chastity in the atmosphere. Their erotic affect appears in Italian, French, English and especially Dutch genre paintings of the 17 th and 18 th centuries. This study examines oysters within its figurative context in genre and still life paintings.

The revision of the Topical Catalogue Vol 2.1 ‘The French Venus’ (2,997 artworks of 997 identified French artists) published in 2009, is a work in progress for several years.
This version includes now 6,057 artworks of 2,061 identified artists. The compilation is updated for 1,607 artists with surname in the alphabetical list [A,B,C,D,E-F,G,H-I-J-K]. They represent 78% of the current list of artists. Subsequent versions will extend and correct the compilation through categorization of the ‘meta-data’ of the artworks into ‘topics’.
See about the project webpage 'My Project' in  Blog 'Iconography in Art History' https://kbender.blogspot.com/p/my-website.html?view=magazine

Geçmişi M.Ö. 5000’lere kadar dayanan prehistorik bir yerleşme olan Afrodisias Antik Kenti, Aydın İli Karacasu İlçesi merkezine yaklaşık 12 km kadar uzaklıktaki Geyre Köyü sınırları dâhilinde yer almaktadır. Babadağ’ın batı eteklerinden yaklaşık bin metre kadar uzaklıkta yer almaktadır. Güneyinde bir kilometre kadar uzağından Geyre Suyu geçer. Geçmişte Lelegonpolis, Megalopolis ve Ninoe isimleriyle de anılan Afrodisias bugünkü ismini Aşk Tanrıçası olan Afrodit’ten almıştır. Önemli bir edebiyat, sanat merkezi olan kent, tıp ve felsefe alanında tanınan bir merkez haline gelen Afrodisias 'da çok ünlü bir heykel okulu vardı. Özellikle heykelciliğin gelişmesi Babadağ’daki mermer yataklarından kaynaklanmaktadır.
Bu raporda Afrodisias yerleşmesinin konumu, yer seçimi, ekonomik yapısı, teknolojik düzeyi, sosyal yapısı, mekânsal özellikleri konu başlıkları özelinde ve doğal veriler ile bağlantılı olarak incelenmektedir. Ayrıca Afrodisias’ın tarihsel süreç içerisinde yaşadığı değişimler ve Afrodisias Antik Kentinin özellikleri raporda ayrıntılı bir biçimde incelenmiştir.

In this paper I discuss the dossier of cults for Arsinoe II Philadelphos to investigate how the worship of a sovereign could concretely become a constitutive part of the religious
life of the communities composing a kingdom. I argue that in order to let the worship of a sovereign survive the political context in which it was first conceived, a certain degree of freedom and of individual initiative must have been encouraged among potential worshippers, so that the cults could become part of a durable shared religious and political identity connecting the individual with the collective sphere.
The Appendix provides an up-to-date geographical catalogue of inscribed altars, stones and vessels pertaining to the cut of Arsinoe Philadelphos from Egypt, Cyprus and the Aegean world.

This essay proposes a synchronic reading of Empedocles’ fragments that emphasizes the relationship of the mortal human mind to all of the determinants in the system, including the Sphere which represents the zenith of Love’s power and the vortex which represents the zenith of Strife, simultaneously in the present moment, over the diachronic account in which the systematic determinants are disposed in a temporal cycle of world history with the two principles alternating in dominance. The essay does not seek to claim that such a diachronic account is not present in Empedocles, as it evidently is, but rather to argue that we must understand Empedocles’ discourse as operating on more than one register, and that in this very distinction we may see the cosmic principles of Love and Strife operating as epistemic principles as well. Love, on this reading, is what makes possible the perception of the integrity of living things on a continuum from the recognition of functional biological structures to the recognition of the metaphysical character of the individual daimōn, while Strife is active in the analytic that decomposes such unities into their elemental components as well as their historical process of emergence.

Per uso strettamente personale dell'autore. È proibita la riproduzione e la pubblicazione in open access. For author's personal use only. Any copy or publication in open access is forbidden. SOMMARIO in memoria di mari o torelli parte ii • varia