Term Paper on "Compare and Contrast Passages From Homer's the Iliad and Hesiod's Theogony"

Term Paper 4 pages (1596 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Homer's 'The

Iliad' and Hesiod's 'Theogony'.

The De-Evolution of Aphrodite

Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty, appears throughout the mythologies and literature of ancient Greece. Like all of the old gods, Aphrodite experienced many transformations that can be traced through time by studying the various incarnations of this character which appear in surviving writings. In Homer's the Iliad, an account of the Trojan War, as well as Hesiod's Theogony, a collection of myths about the Greek gods, Aphrodite is an important character. Despite being the same goddess, there are significant differences between the presentation of Aphrodite's existence, as well as the treatment of her image, in these two texts. The development of this goddess between these representations is a direct parallel to the way in which Greek culture, in later antiquity, shifted to value intellectualism over the instinctual. Among the variations between Homer's and Hesiod's interpretation of Aphrodite are the focus of the passage, origins of her birth, physical strength, sexuality, and literary imagery.

First, there is a very different focus on the content of these two selected passages from the Iliad and Theogony. Homer's piece is primarily dealing with the injury and deathlike experience of Aphrodite, while Hesiod's excerpt is the story of her creation and birth. According to Homer, on the battlefield, Aphrodite had entered the fight to rescue her son from being killed. She was wounded with a spear by Tydeus, and "beside herself with pain" (Homer) she collapses into the arms of her mother. She sobs and tells her mother of what has happened to wound her. In Hesiod's tale, Aphrodite is born of the earth. Uranus' genitals were severed and thrown into the river, where they floated and collected white foam. From that foam, Aphrodite (meaning that she was formed of seafoam) developed in the water and was born. She was beautiful and celebrated sexuality, and she was honored on all of the islands she visited. Hesiod, additionally, mentions that she becomes companions with the god of love, Eros. "Among both gods and humans, she has fulfilled the honoured function that includes Virginal sweet-talk, lovers' smiles and deceits and all of the gentle pleasures of sex." (Hesiod) the Iliad shows a very dark and painful occurrence in Aphrodite's existence, while Theogony shows a light and joyful time for the goddess.

In both excerpts, there is a strong focus on the importance of lineage and relations between those involved in the action. The origins of Aphrodite's birth and her family line, however, vary significantly between the passages. The selected text from Homer's work identifies Zeus as Aphrodite's daughter in the very first sentence. It additionally identifies Aphrodite as the mother of the Prince, the son of King Anchises, Aphrodite's attacker as the son of Tydeus, and Dione as Aphrodite's mother. This is not a small amount of the family tree to be identified in an action sequence using under 200 words! The Hesiod excerpt is equally focused on lineage and family ties, as it is the story of Aphrodite's birth. As Aphrodite forms from the genitals of Uranus and the white foam of the sea, her father is identified as Uranus, not Zeus, and her mother as the sea itself. "The genitalia themselves, freshly cut with flint, were thrown Clear of the mainland into the restless, white-capped sea, Where they floated a long time. A white foam from the god-flesh Collected around them, and in that foam a maiden developed and grew." (Hesiod) the connection that can be made between the origins of her mother is that Dione has been interpreted as a later representation of the Earth Goddess Rhea, and it may be speculated that Rhea, or a related divine figure, was the spirit of the sea at the time Aphrodite was conceived and nurtured. (Although not said to be Aphrodite's mother, Uranus was married to the Earth Goddess Gaia.) She is also identified by Hesiod as having taken Eros as a lover, while Homer's piece only identifies the King as a previous mate.

Aphrodite's physical incarnation and the ability of that body are also varied between these two texts. Homer's passage begins with high expectations of Aphrodite's ability as she rescues her son from being slaughtered on the battlefield. However, she quickly becomes a weak and physically powerless figure with "soft, limp wrists," able to be stabbed and injured by a mortal, and then experiencing overwhelming pain that collapses her, and would certainly have killed her were she not immortal. In essence, a mortal man is able to send the goddess crying to her mother as she cannot help herself. Aphrodite is mocked by the human. Hesiod, on the other hand, presents a strong and independent image of the goddess. While Aphrodite is nourished in the metaphorical womb of the sea, she is disconnected from her parents (as Uranus' genitals are disconnected from him) and her mother is not there to catch her in arms if she falls. Aphrodite emerges from the sea, having traveled long distances, and faces the world on her own. Rather than being unable to even protect her own well being, she is described as a powerful (not limp!) force of creation that nourishes the land. "There she came ashore, an awesome, beautiful divinity. Tender grass sprouted up under her slender feet." (Hesiod) She is not mocked by the humans as in Homer's tale, but honored and revered.

Aphrodite is the goddess of love and sex, and therefore her very presence in a passage infuses it with a further heightened sexuality within myths that are already inevitably sexually oriented. Once again, Homer and Hesiod have very different representations of Aphrodite's sexual function.

In the excerpt from Theogony, there is an element of rapacious sexual mutilation as Uranus' genitals are dismembered and tossed into the sea, but as Aphrodite forms within the sea foam, the violent undertones are healed. Aphrodite is a force of love, and she brings that love and tenderness into the sex that could have been a threatening force following the mutilation of her father. "She has fulfilled the honoured function that includes Virginal sweet-talk...and all of the gentle pleasures of sex." (Hesiod) in comparison to this gentle sexuality, Homer presents a very dark and violent sexuality surrounding Aphrodite. Her offspring, a symbol of her sexual encounter with King Anchises, is involved in a war. "She began to bear her dear son from the fighting." (Homer) This line speaks of Aphrodite shielding her son in battle as if it were a metaphor for "bearing" him in birth. The attack on Aphrodite is also very sexual, describing Tydeus' son as "stalking" her, then "lunging" and "thrusting" into her flesh with his spear. While caressing her daughter, Dione asks who has abused Aphrodite. The rapacious imagery of this scene presents a very different vision of Aphrodite's sexuality as dirty and shameful, something for which she could be "caught...in public, doing something wrong." (Homer) a stark contrast indeed to Hesiod's description of lovers' smiles and gentle pleasures for which Aphrodite is worshipped!

Homer and Hesiod have recurring literary imagery within both passages from the Iliad and Theogony. Both passages refer to sharpened weapons being connected to Aphrodite. In the case of Homer, it is with a spear that she is pierced. Hesiod refers to Uranus' genitalia having been freshly cut with flint, the stone of choice for many battle spears. This brings another connection between the violence of sexuality which surrounds Aphrodite's father and the rapacious treatment of her on the battlefield. (an additional note about weapons, her chosen mate in Theogony, Eros, always carries with him divine arrows -- a link to the spear used by the unwelcome sexual partner on the battlefield, though Eros' arrows are not directly mentioned in this section of text.) Another… READ MORE

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