TFBT: Adonis Too Was Castrated

I assume my readers, if any, are bibliophiles; lovers of books.  If so, I am sure you had this experience.  You end up reading a book that is badly written and has a lame ending. In order to save someone else from getting sucked into this mess, you toss it into the garbage rather recycling or donating it to the library.  Or it ends up being a piece of propaganda full of lies and half truths.  Or it is full of illogic and bad science.  I read one of these books, recently; Walker 1983. I would have tossed it, but I was on a five hour flight. In between the waves of nausea and disgust there were a few interesting if odd insights on Greek mythology.  This is the first in a series of blogs investigating these possible gems in the rubbish.

"Adonis too was castrated: gored in the groin by Aphrodite's boar-masked priest.  His severed phallus became his son the  ithyphallic god Priapus...Priapus carried a pruning knife in token of (Adonis') necessary castration before new life could appear on earth.  Castrating the god was likened to reaping the grain which Adonis personified.  His rebirth was a sprouting from the womb of the Earth."  

So, if I can translate this a bit. The “boar-masked priest” is usually described as Aphrodite’s jealous lover, the god of War; Ares (Nonnus, Dionysiaca 42. 1)  Only one source describes Priapus the god of lust, as the son of Adonis.  Occasionally he carries a sickle, (Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.)  The author goes on to suggest that other heroes are sacrificial fertility figures, like Ancaeus of Arcadia, and the Trojan Prince Anchises.

Ovid, in Metamorphosis 8.391 reports that during the Calydonian boar hunt;

“Ancaeus wielding his war-axe, and rushing madly to his fate, exclaimed, “Witness it! See the weapons of a man excel a woman's! Ho, make way for my achievement! Let Diana shield the brute! Despite her utmost effort my right hand shall slaughter him!” So mighty in his boast he puffed himself; and, lifting with both hands his double-edged axe, he stood erect, on tiptoe fiercely bold. The savage boar caught him, and ripped his tusks through his groin, a spot where death is sure.—Ancaeus fell; and his torn entrails and his crimson blood stained the fair verdure of the spot with death.”

In the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite the Trojan Prince Anchises fears a fate similar to Adonis.  Awakening with the goddess in his bed, says to his lover, “ Yet by Zeus who holds the aegis I beseech you, leave me not to lead a palsied life among men, but have pity on me; for he who lies with a deathless goddess is no hale man afterwards.”

Apollonius Rhodius ARGONAUTICA 2.815 “And here his destined fate smote Idmon, son of Abas, skilled in soothsaying; but not at all did his soothsaying save him, for necessity drew him on to death. For in the mead of the reedy river there lay, cooling his flanks and huge belly in the mud, a white-tusked boar, a deadly monster, whom even the nymphs of the marsh dreaded, and no man knew it; but all alone he was feeding in the wide fell. But the son of Abas was passing along the raised banks of the muddy river, and the boar from some unseen lair leapt out of the reed-bed, and charging gashed his thigh.”

Apollodorus. The Library 1.9.12 “Phylacus marveled, and perceiving that he was an excellent soothsayer, he released him and invited him to say how his son Iphiclus might get children…And having sacrificed two bulls and cut them in pieces he summoned the birds; and when a vulture came, he learned from it that once, when Phylacus was gelding rams, he laid down the knife, still bloody, beside Iphiclus, and that when the child was frightened and ran away.”

Hesiod Theogony 176 “And Heaven (Uranus) came, bringing on night and longing for love, and he lay about Earth spreading himself full upon her. Then the son from his ambush stretched forth his left hand and in his right took the great long sickle with jagged teeth, and swiftly lopped off his own father's members”

Aaron Atsma observes; “There is also a vase painting depicting Khrysaor's son Geryon holding a shield emblazoned with the emblem of a winged boar--a likely representation of Khrysaor considering his boar-tusked, winged mother Medusa”  Various sources explain the name Chrysaor as meaning “golden aor”, “golden sword”, “golden falchion” or “golden sickle” 

 So in summary; Adonis castrated by the tusks of an apparent boar.  A boar “ripped his tusks through (Ancaeus’) groin.”  Prince Anchises fears a similar fate.  “…the boar from some unseen lair leapt out of the reed-bed, and charging gashed (Idmon’s) thigh.”  Iphiclus was psychologically castrated by watching his father wield a knife while castrating rams.  Uranus was castrated by a sickle.  And finally Chrysaor, the Golden Sickle was born when Perseus cut off his boarish mother’s head with a sickle.  

What that all means, I don’t know.

  

TFBT: Effects of a Thunderbolt and the Illusion of Death

On one hand, some think a thunderbolt thrown by Zeus could kill even those who are born immortal like   Menoetius, “Now Iapetus took to wife the neat-ankled maid Clymene, daughter of Oceanus, and went up with her into one bed. And she bare him a stout-hearted son, Atlas: also she bare very glorious Menoetius . . . But Menoetius was outrageous (hubristic), and far-seeing Zeus struck him with a lurid thunderbolt and sent him down to Erebus because of his mad presumption and exceeding pride. “   (Hesiod, Theogony 507)  or  Typhon;    “Zeus…seizing his weapons, thunder, lightning, and the glowering thunderbolt, he made a leap from Olympus, and struck...Then, when Zeus had put him down with his strokes, Typhoeus crashed, crippled, and the gigantic earth groaned beneath him… Zeus in tumult of anger cast Typhon into broad Tartarus.” (Hesiod, Theogony 820)

On the other hand, at least one mortal, Anchises, survives a thunderbolt without divine help; “Venus is said to have loved Anchises and to have lain with him. By him she conceived Aeneas, but she warned him not to reveal it to anyone. Anchises, however, told it over the wine to his companions, and for this was struck by the thunderbolt of Jove” (Hyginus, Fabulae, 94) Indeed, for he was, like the river “Asopos, heavy-kneed, for he was marred by a thunderbolt." Callimachus, Hymn 4 to Delos 75)

The death of the Cyclops really pushes the whole question. Can you kill an immortal? Is there a crucial difference between being a subterranean worker and being dead in Hades?  "Zeus was afraid that men might learn the art of medicine from Asclepius and help each other out, so he hit him with a thunderbolt. This angered Apollo, (his divine father) who slew the Cyclopes, for they designed the thunderbolt for Zeus. (Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 118 – 122)  Were these the elder Cyclopes?  The three, single-eyed, immortal giants who forged the lightning-bolts of Zeus; sons of Father Uranus and Mother Gaea?   Or the fellow tribesmen of Polyphemus, son of Poseidon and Toosa?  Or others who survived like the Basque Cyclops Tartaro.  And just to confuse the issue Asclepius, returned to earth as a god. 

 The Hesiodic reference to Menoetius’ life is short, but Aaron J. Atsma makes him later the herdsman of Hades, whom Herakles wrestled with in the underworld. (Theoi Project Copyright)   Wasn't Typhon buried under Etna? At least according to Prometheus, who says of the monster (Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 353)”, a helpless and a sprawling bulk, he lies hard by the narrows of the sea, pressed down beneath the roots of Aetna”  That's why in Hesiod the Titans are "bound" in Tartarus; whether struck by lightning or tossed into the pit, so they cannot escape.  Likewise, no mortal dies in Greek myth; their souls go to Hades; their immortal parts go to some version of the Isle of the Blest or Olympus. No one actually dies, it is just an illusion poorly maintained by the gods in order to insure their rule.

 

 

 

The above paper evolved from a conversation by WilliamMoulton2 and  Maya M. 

 Inspired by TFBT: Saving the Drown Toddler Glaucus

TFBT: Anchises, Casanova and Muellners Proto-Event

I woke early and checked the website several times.  As promised, Harvard published my article on the Hour 25 website a few minutes after noon their time.  (8:00am my time.)  Here is the link; “Is Anchises a Casanova?”    My editors said many flattering things as did my fellow members of the semi-circle.  Apparently, they like my sense of humor.  (I don’t hear that often at work!)  They also said nice things about my blog.  I am the first “guest blogger”.  Oh, in case you are wondering the little is “Is Anchises a Casanova?”  Anchises was an elderly Trojan prince in the Iliad.  His son Aeneas survived the final days of Troy and led the survivors to Italy where their descendants would found Rome.   I am really excited about this.

Fellow participant from Hour 25,  Edgreen has notion that gods can experience a pseudo-death. This ties in nicely with Muellner’s proto-event theory in “The Anger of Achilles” He suggests that the first time an event happens, we don’t recognize it because we have no context or concept. So, Uranus was not the first King of the Gods, because, no one knew what a king was or who “gods” were. For example Julius Caesar was never crowned Caesar, Augustus was the first Caesar.   

Likewise, with the pseudo-death experienced by the gods was not the first “death” because they didn’t know what was going on. Cronus bound the Cyclops and hundred handers and threw them into a dark miserable place under the earth. In due time, mortals too would be tossed into a similar hole. Of course, by then humans knew what death was because of the myths about the Titans, Cyclops and hundred handers going down below.   

Let’s continue the pseudo death idea of Ed’s by adding the resurrection.  Who among the gods knew they could escape “death” until Zeus attempted the rescue.  Eventually gods thrown into Tartarus ended up in Olympus (Cyclops and hundred-handers) or the Isles of the Blest (Cronus) which ends up being an option for demi-gods and initiates into the mysteries. Cool.

 

 

 

 

TFBT: Before and After the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite

“I loved her better than myself, but after obtaining possession the balance (swung the other way)”  paraphrase from  The Memoirs of Casanova,

 Chapter XIX

Quoting an eighteenth century adventurer might seem an odd start to a classical study.  But, when studying seduction, who would be a better reference.  It is clear in the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite that the mighty goddess will say whatever it takes to consummate her Zeus given passion for the Trojan prince Anchises. Traditional scholarship assumes that Anchises is being honest in his interactions with the disguised goddess.  In this paper I propose that Anchises exaggerates and lies just as much as golden Aphrodite and for the same reason.  

I Loved Her Better Than Myself

After a long preamble and scene setting the action starts around line 81 with “She stood before him, the daughter of Zeus, Aphrodite, looking like an unwed maiden in size of length and appearance.”  Clearly she didn’t want to scare off the royal shepherd, so she began her seduction of the Trojan by disguising her appearance. 

At 91”Seized with love, Anchises said to her: “Hail, my Lady, you who come here to this home, whichever of the blessed ones you are”  (Same sort of flattery that liar Odysseus uses on the fair-faced maiden Nausicaa.  Both men flatter the young woman out in the middle of nowhere by suggesting she is Artemis.  Odyssey 6:145)  Anchises then makes a lengthy guessing about which of the goddesses she is; sort of a descending scale of important goddesses in the Trojan Pantheon. “Artemis or Leto or golden Aphrodite or Themis of noble birth or bright-eyed Athena (95) Or perhaps you are one of the Kharites, you who have come here…Or you are one of those Nymphs who range over beautiful groves, (Dryads) or one of those Nymphs who inhabit this beautiful mountain, (Oreads) and the fountainheads of rivers (Oceanides and Naiads)  and grassy meadows. (Leimonides).  Then he pours on the flattery ( 100) “ For you, on some high peak, in a spot with a view going all round, I will set up an altar, and I will perform for you beautiful sacrifices”  Then speaking like some ancient city’s founding father flirting with eponymous nymph  he ask “Grant that I become a man who is distinguished among the Trojans. Make the genealogy that comes after me become a flourishing one. And make me (105) live a very long life and see the light of the sun, blessed in the midst of the people. “

At line 110, in order to keep up appearance the disguised deity says, “No, I am a mortal. The mother that bore me was a woman. My father is Otreus… The nursemaid who brought me up in the palace was a Trojan.11 Ever since I was a small child, 115 she brought me up, … That is why I know your language as well as my own...the Argos-killer [Hermes], abducted me, … He carried me over many fields of mortal humans …And he [Hermes] said that I, in your bed, … would be called your lawfully-wedded wife, and that I would give you splendid children."   Hmm, let see beautiful wealthy princess falls from Heaven as a gift to Anchises from the gods. She conveniently speaks his language, is lovely, alone and a great distance from father and brothers.  And that horn-dog Hermes delivers her with her virginity intact.  If Anchises believes this he's not thinking with his noos or thumos

Line 145 ; “If you are mortal, and if a woman was the mother who gave birth to you, and if Otreus is your father, … and if you are to be called my wife for all days to come…". Does he hesitate out of respect or for fear of the bolt that Iason got?  (See Calypso at Odyssey 5:116)  or out of wisdom like Diomedes (Iliad 6:122)  “ then it is impossible for any god or any mortal human (150) to hold me back, right here, from joining with you in making love right now, on the spot - not even if the one who shoots from afar, Apollo himself, takes aim from his silver bow and shoots his arrows that bring misery. Then, O Lady who looks like the gods, I would willingly, once I have been in your bed, go down into the palace of Hades below.”  What player hasn’t used the lie that they would die for their lady love.

After, the Balance Swung the Other Way          

At Line 172; “Now that her skin was again beautifully covered over, the resplendent goddess stood by the bed, and the well-built roof-beam - her head reached that high up”. Then she awakes her slumbering lover presumably to tell him about his son,  “I got myself a child beneath my waistband, having slept with a male mortal." However she gets interrupted when he complains (188) “…don’t let me become disabled  don’t let me live on like that among humans! Please, take pity! I know that no man is full of life, able,  if he sleeps with immortal goddesses".

Traditionally, it is assumed that Anchises worries about being "unmanned" by the experience.  Nowhere else in Ancient Greek literature is Anchises' concern shared by other heroes.  Maybe a close reading further along can shed light on his concern.  As a matter of fact the goddess says, "You should have no fear of that I would do any kind of bad thing to you,(195) or that any of the other blessed ones would. For you are philos indeed to the gods."  She continues by swearing to fulfill his original request (104)  “And you will have a philos son, who will be king among the Trojans. And following him will be generations after generations for all time to come. "  

Aphrodite goes on to explain what the results could be for sleeping with a goddess.  Obviously he could get the thunderbolt if he goes around bragging about bedding the daughter of Zeus.

 The other option is what happen to his cousin Tithonus  and great-uncle Ganymede ; "together with the immortal ones (with) the gods in the palace of Zeus… a wonder to behold, given his share of timē by all the immortals, "   Aside from the threat of a thunderbolt, the only un-manning mentioned is becoming no longer a man, but a god.  Aphrodite is preaching to the choir here.  This sort of thing happens a lot to Trojan princes, for example Alexander, that seducer of another daughter of Zeus.   The fame of the horse rearing Troy is based on the horses descended from a set sent by Zeus to King Tros to compensate for the loss of Ganymede.  And Tithonus' sons will come to Troy in its time of need.  So Anchises must know that the second option is the likely reward for a Trojan prince who sleeps with a goddess.  Unfortunately, things didn’t work out too well for cousin Tithonus.  When his lover Eos, Titaness of the Dawn, asked that he receive endless life, she forgot to ask for eternal youth, too.  As a consequence, to Tithonus   "hateful old age was pressing hard on him, with all its might, and he couldn’t move his limbs, much less lift them up,..and he has no strength at all, ". I suggest that this is the unmanning that Anchises fears.  He knows from family lore that he had a good chance that he "would be immortal and ageless, just like the gods." And he took his best shot at attaining it. But Aphrodite’s heartless response was “If you could only stay the way you are, in looks and constitution, staying alive as my lawfully-wedded husband… But now wretched old age will envelop you, “

Their son will be raised by some of the long-lived nymphs Anchises had listed earlier.  Aphrodite will bring the child, Aeneas, to Troy someday for his father to raise.  One last warning to be discrete and the goddess is gone.

In Summary

Before, in order to seduce Anchises, Aphrodite appears to him as a beautiful, rich virgin alone in the woods. In order to flatter the “maiden” he, just like Odysseus, compares her to a goddess.  In order to tempt Anchises she tells him she is far from her father and fated for her bed. Anchises hesitates only a moment then leads her to his bed, their mutual seduction complete.

Afterwards, Aphrodite stays long enough to tell the mortal they will have a son.  Anchises makes a backhanded request for endless life and eternal youth.  Aphrodite says not.