Gender and the divine
He is suitably distressed 48 – earlier in the hymn (lines 92-107), he suspected her divinity but was persuaded otherwise. Aphrodite soothes his terror: Bergren identifies that Aphrodite’s speech was and still is governed by Zeus. Before, while under Zeus-given desire, she employed speech to seduce Ankhises, the result of that seduction is ‘a situation in which the goddess’s speech is still ultimately subordinate to Zeus ’ : Aphrodite now seeks to unburden herself from the shame of the experience. 49 First to Ankhises, Aphrodite promises safety, the reason for this is ‘ ἠ φιλος ἐ σσι θεοισι’ (for you are dear to the gods – line 195). 50 She then professes that she is now pregnant with their son, Aineias. 51 Bergren posits that Aphrodite’s naming of Aeneas is ‘ indeed after an attribute of herself … that attribute is the “ dreadful grief ” of being degraded in her own sphere ’. 52 Two mythic divine-mortal love stories are then mentioned: Ganymede and Tithonos, but their connection to the events of the text goes further. Both mortals are made immortal by the power of Zeus, one from another god’s request. Bergren, A.L.T (1989, pp.33-4) observes that ‘ Aphrodite reveals that she herself desires for Ankhises the ageless youth ’ but concludes that their inclusion in her speech is to reinforce the subordination of Aphrodite to Zeus: 53 Ankhises would never be granted immortality as it would nullify the remedy to Aphrodite’s threat that Zeus has created – her shame now prevents her from continuing her previous mischief. 54 The ending of the Hymn only cements Aphrodite’s subordination to Zeus: Aphrodite , to ensure her shame is concealed from mortals, threatens Ankhises with the divine punishment 55 he so greatly feared earlier and so confirms her reliance on the power of Zeus. Furthermore, she renounces her old ways completely by re-erecting, in her threat, the boundaries between man and divine. In this way, the Hymn depicts the rising threat of a female deity’s application of her τιμαι and the resulting punishment inflicted on her by the ruler Zeus to restabilize his dangerously disordered cosmos. From the aforementioned interpretations of the four poems, I believe that gender plays a pivotal role in the plethora of divine conflicts occurring in early Archaic Greek poetry. The content of Hesiod’s Theogony establishes the succession of power over the cosmos up to its now permanent ruler Zeus. That succession of power is illustrative of the pervading fear in elder males of the inherent threat younger males present to the security of their position. Threaded throughout the text, is a second level of gendered conflict: the role of feminine figures is pit against the ambitions of male divinities – their ability to create is a danger that comes to fruition twice. Only Zeus’ supreme strength and control over femini nity enables him to remain as a permanent ruler and resist the sources of downfall. With Zeus’ order strongly established, the conflicts which gender initiates are given further purpose in the Hymns : they allow Zeus’ power to be reasserted and often strengthen his position. Zeus creates from a turbulent quarrel the foundations of a strong fraternal alliance by coordinating the reconciliation of Hermes and 48 The punishment for sleeping with a goddess, thereby knowing what a mortal never should, her nudity, should be death – in this Hymn it takes a different cost for the hero, the loss of his strength. 49 Bergren 1989: 30. 50 A perplexing sentiment – only later on in my analysis do I uncover a reason for this remark. 51 Aineias’ own name (line 91) furthers our analysis – it derives from the Greek ‘α ἰ νος’ meaning horrible. Indeed, Aphrodite herself advances to connect his birth to the ‘dreadful pain’ (line 91) of falling into the bed of a mortal man. 52 Bergren 1989: 31. 53 Ibid.: 33-4. 54 See lines 247-54. Hence Ankhises’ position to the gods – an essential instrument of Zeus – becomes clear. 55 ‘Zeus in his anger will blast you with thunder’s smouldering bolt.’ – Line 288
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