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Chapter 9:
Aphrodite
Terms/Names/Tales to know:
two birth tales of Aphrodite
representing sacred and profane love:
(1): Aphrodite Urania:
from Uranus' genitals = force of non-sexual love/attraction
(2): Aphrodite Pandemos
("for all the people") = force of sexual/phsyical love/attraction
Cult shrines in
Cyprus and
Cythera,
both suggested as birth places for Aphrodite
Attendants:
Horae (Seasons)
and Charites
(Graces)
Son:
Priapus (role
as fertility symbol and guard) - represents raw sexuality
Tale of
Pygmalion:
Aphrodite's punishment of those who reject her and reward for Pygmalion
Tale of
Adonis
Images:
Titian (detail),
another Titian;
Rubens,
unknown
Adonis: Neoclassical sculpture
Cult of Cybele and Attis
Aphrodite's Affair with
Anchises - and her son, Aeneas
Image: Aeneas
and Venus:
Tiepolo
Eros:
male counterpart of Aphrodite, also with a double birth tradition
Images: 1490
sculpture by Antico
Thrust of speeches about Eros by
Aristophanes and Socrates in Plato's Symposium
Aristophanes: "Love is the merely the name
for desire and pursuit of the whole" (p. 189) (See video clip "The Origin of
Love" from Hedwig and the Angry Inch)
Socrates: "It is
necessary for the one proceeding in the right way toward his goal to begin,
when he is young, with physical beauty; and first of all, if his guide
directs him properly, to love one person, and in his company to beget
beautiful ideas and then to observe that the beauty in one person is related
to the beauty in another...next he will realize that beauty in the soul is
more precious than that in the body..." (p. 192) =
Platonic Love
Tale of Cupid and Psyche
(more folktale than myth)
jurisdiction of Aphrodite:
beauty, love, and marriage
note cult in Corinth (image of Acrocorinth, home of prostitute-priestesses)
associations: magic
girdle (induces sexual urge), great physical beauty
Dr. J's Supplementary
webpages:
Athena in Art:
Venus de Milo (Aphrodite of Melos,
original by the sculptor Praxiteles)
Priapus
http://www.pantheon.org/areas/gallery/mythology/europe/roman/priapus.html
useful source page with questionable language:
http://www.arespress.com/AresPages/Priapus/Priapus.html
Images:
Venus Felix, c. 1495
ANTICO, Italian sculptor, Mantova school (b. ca. 1460, Mantova, d. 1528,
Mantova)
Bronze, partly gilded, height with base 32 cm
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
http://gallery.euroweb.hu/art/a/antico/avenus.jpg
Adonis Led by Cupids to Venus,
detail, 1600
ALBANI, Francesco, Italian painter, Bolognese school (b. 1578, Bologna,
1660, Bologna)
Oil on canvas
Musée du Louvre, Paris
http://gallery.euroweb.hu/art/a/albani/adonis.jpg
Venus Attended by Nymphs and
Cupids, 1633
ALBANI, Francesco, Italian painter, Bolognese school (b. 1578, Bologna,
1660, Bologna)
Oil on canvas, 114 x 171 cm
Museo del Prado, Madrid
http://gallery.euroweb.hu/art/a/albani/venus.jpg
Venus and Adonis
AMIGONI, Jacopo, Italian painter, Venetian school (b. 1682, Napoli, d.
1752, Madrid)
Oil on canvas, 142 x 173 cm
Alte Pinakothek, Munich
http://gallery.euroweb.hu/art/a/amigoni/venus_a2.jpg
Venus and Adonis, c. 1740
AMIGONI, Jacopo, Italian painter, Venetian school (b. 1682, Napoli, d. 1752,
Madrid)
Oil on canvas, 45 x 75 cm
Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice
http://gallery.euroweb.hu/art/a/amigoni/venus_a1.jpg
Venus:
Titian,
Botticelli's "Venus on a Halfshell" (not its real name)
Venus and Mars:
Botticelli,
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