Aphrodite and Goats
Goats probably aren't the first thing that pop into your head when someone mentions Aphrodite, but maybe they should be.
But first a little background. The Pantheacon schedule was posted recently. There's some flaky stuff, of course, but also some stuff that I'm really looking forward to. One presentation in particular caught my eye, titled "The Dark Aphrodite", a presentation from a group called "Thiasos Aphrodite Pelagia". It's a presentation that was mentioned on Thiasos Aphrodite a little while ago, though I failed to follow up for more detail at the time. Now I'm wishing I had, because I really can't find much at all in the way of scholarly reference about Aphrodite Pelagia. Nothing in my (grossly incomplete) library's indices, and only one interesting hit from Google. That hit led me to a description of an excavation at Aphrodisias, in a brief comment mentioning Aphrodite Pelagia. It didn't really make any "dark" associations; rather it explained the name as simply an aquatic aspect of Aphrodite. This makes sense: Liddell and Scott list πελάγιος as "of the sea" in a variety of original sources. It's closely related to Greek πελάγος, the root of the English word "archipelago".
More relevant to the topic at hand, though, the link described some iconography associated with Aphrodite Pelagia there at Aphrodisias:
The zone overall represents the aquatic element of the universe and Aphrodite's domination over the sea and its denizens. Parallel, wavy horizontal lines incised along the lower edge of the panel emphasize the marine setting. Although her pose varies slightly among the preserved replicas, the goddess is usually turned towards the front and looking ahead, so that her face is seen in right profile. She is nude except for a mantle draped around her legs, and a large swath of cloth billows over her head in the wind. This motif is commonly used by Hellenistic artists to express rapid motion or a sudden divine epiphany. Her raised left hand grasps the edge of the wind-blown cloak, and her right hand is lowered for balance. She rides on a fantastic marine creature with the body and tail of a fish and the forepart of a goat. This sea-goat moves to the right and turns his head back to look at the goddess.
This sparked a light of recognition in me. I've just recently finished Rosenzweig's Worshipping Aphrodite, and I distinctly recalled some artifacts showing Aphrodite riding a goat, the goat romping off to the side, and Aphrodite seated sidesaddle facing the viewer. In many of these the goat is flying, and in some they're even clearly surrounded by stars.
So what's this thing with goats?
I started looking ahead a bit in Pirenne's L'Aphrodite Grecque. It seems that the associations between Aphrodite and goats run quite deep. She's seen with the epithet Epitragia ("on a goat", from Greek τράγος "he-goat") in an inscription on a seat in the Athenian Theater of Dionysos and also in a passage of Plutarch's The Life of Theseus. By Plutarch's explanation, before Theseus left for Crete he received from Apollon an oracle directing him to seek the aid of Aphrodite on his trip. As he was sacrificing a she-goat to Her, Plutarch explains, it spontaneously transformed into a he-goat.
Reading further in Pirenne, it seems Aristotle reports that τράγος has some other meanings as well beyond simply "goat". Apparently the verb τραγίζειν refers to entering into the age of puberty. Further, τράγος was sometimes used synonymously with τραγίζων ("one in the process of change"). With that context, τράγος is not only "he-goat" but also "boy becoming sexually mature." Or, at the risk of stretching the metaphor too far, "a goat growing into a he-goat", or "Theseus beginning a voyage of change".
Aphrodite ridden on a goat, indeed. I think the Greeks had a fine sense for the double entendre.
(LJ Spellchecker Genius of the Day: Pantheacon -> Pathogen)
Bibliographical note (because I'm too lazy for a proper bibliography in an LJ post): Greek word meanings from Liddell and Scott. English etymology from Merriam-Webster. Aphrodite information from Rachel Rosenzweig's Worshipping Aphrodite and Vincianne Pirenne-Delforge's L'Aphrodite Grecque. Lemme know if you need more complete info.
But first a little background. The Pantheacon schedule was posted recently. There's some flaky stuff, of course, but also some stuff that I'm really looking forward to. One presentation in particular caught my eye, titled "The Dark Aphrodite", a presentation from a group called "Thiasos Aphrodite Pelagia". It's a presentation that was mentioned on Thiasos Aphrodite a little while ago, though I failed to follow up for more detail at the time. Now I'm wishing I had, because I really can't find much at all in the way of scholarly reference about Aphrodite Pelagia. Nothing in my (grossly incomplete) library's indices, and only one interesting hit from Google. That hit led me to a description of an excavation at Aphrodisias, in a brief comment mentioning Aphrodite Pelagia. It didn't really make any "dark" associations; rather it explained the name as simply an aquatic aspect of Aphrodite. This makes sense: Liddell and Scott list πελάγιος as "of the sea" in a variety of original sources. It's closely related to Greek πελάγος, the root of the English word "archipelago".
More relevant to the topic at hand, though, the link described some iconography associated with Aphrodite Pelagia there at Aphrodisias:
The zone overall represents the aquatic element of the universe and Aphrodite's domination over the sea and its denizens. Parallel, wavy horizontal lines incised along the lower edge of the panel emphasize the marine setting. Although her pose varies slightly among the preserved replicas, the goddess is usually turned towards the front and looking ahead, so that her face is seen in right profile. She is nude except for a mantle draped around her legs, and a large swath of cloth billows over her head in the wind. This motif is commonly used by Hellenistic artists to express rapid motion or a sudden divine epiphany. Her raised left hand grasps the edge of the wind-blown cloak, and her right hand is lowered for balance. She rides on a fantastic marine creature with the body and tail of a fish and the forepart of a goat. This sea-goat moves to the right and turns his head back to look at the goddess.
This sparked a light of recognition in me. I've just recently finished Rosenzweig's Worshipping Aphrodite, and I distinctly recalled some artifacts showing Aphrodite riding a goat, the goat romping off to the side, and Aphrodite seated sidesaddle facing the viewer. In many of these the goat is flying, and in some they're even clearly surrounded by stars.
So what's this thing with goats?
I started looking ahead a bit in Pirenne's L'Aphrodite Grecque. It seems that the associations between Aphrodite and goats run quite deep. She's seen with the epithet Epitragia ("on a goat", from Greek τράγος "he-goat") in an inscription on a seat in the Athenian Theater of Dionysos and also in a passage of Plutarch's The Life of Theseus. By Plutarch's explanation, before Theseus left for Crete he received from Apollon an oracle directing him to seek the aid of Aphrodite on his trip. As he was sacrificing a she-goat to Her, Plutarch explains, it spontaneously transformed into a he-goat.
Reading further in Pirenne, it seems Aristotle reports that τράγος has some other meanings as well beyond simply "goat". Apparently the verb τραγίζειν refers to entering into the age of puberty. Further, τράγος was sometimes used synonymously with τραγίζων ("one in the process of change"). With that context, τράγος is not only "he-goat" but also "boy becoming sexually mature." Or, at the risk of stretching the metaphor too far, "a goat growing into a he-goat", or "Theseus beginning a voyage of change".
Aphrodite ridden on a goat, indeed. I think the Greeks had a fine sense for the double entendre.
(LJ Spellchecker Genius of the Day: Pantheacon -> Pathogen)
Bibliographical note (because I'm too lazy for a proper bibliography in an LJ post): Greek word meanings from Liddell and Scott. English etymology from Merriam-Webster. Aphrodite information from Rachel Rosenzweig's Worshipping Aphrodite and Vincianne Pirenne-Delforge's L'Aphrodite Grecque. Lemme know if you need more complete info.