impiety in classical Greek religion

[inner_v0ice]

setting: Athens circa 350 BC

Comments

[marycatelli]

That was the sort of thing that got Andromeda staked out for the sea monster. Which is, yes, a myth, but it's the sort of myth they told.

[inner_v0ice]

Ah, thanks! I was thinking of Arachne, who got punished for claiming to be better than Athena, but I didn't know that Cassiopeia had also boasted of being better than the Nereids.

I'm still wondering, though, whether "A = Aphrodite" is a lesser offense than "A > Aphrodite".

[iiiskaaa]

Maybe do a search on epithets in Greek poetry. I can't say anything about the time period you're looking for, but I know that in the Iliad, Achilles, Agamemnon, and like half the other heroes have something like "godlike" as an epithet. Which is similar to the quote from Sappho - and I think the Sappho quote would have been pretty uncontroversial - but that's not quite what you're looking for.

[marycatelli]

Of course, most of those heroes actually had divine blood. And "godlike" can cover a vast spectrum of powers.

[iiiskaaa]

Yeah... IDK, I would still question the extent to which "godlike," as it was applied in any given instance to any given hero, actually was meant to reference their specific powers or skills. It tends to read kind of as "majestic," "really awesome," something like that. Basically, metrical filler.

Now, this might be of interest to the OP: there's a lexicon of ancient Greek personal names. You can look at it by region, and it has statistics for how many records there are of whatever name. And a number of gods' names - not just names derived from gods' names - apparently were in use as personal names. Aphrodite doesn't show up in the statistics for Attica, but it does in the statistics for the Peloponnese. So at least naming people directly after the gods doesn't seem to have been considered impious.

[inner_v0ice]

Oooh, thanks for the link, it looks very useful in general!

"a number of gods' names - not just names derived from gods' names - apparently were in use as personal names"
Thanks a lot for digging this up! I was quite astonished and pleased at the info. (And then after several minutes of being astonished I realized I already knew of a case of this, Dionysios (I and II) of Syracuse. *massive facepalm at self*) Still pleased! :)

Anyway, this naming practice has just made Character A a bit less freaked-out. XD

[laughinggas13]

I remember reading somewhere (and I have this feeling it was a Horrible History book, make of that what you will) that if you were going to compare someone to a god/goddess, it was a smart move to tack on an 'almost', just in case. Though as aaaaaah says, Homer comes ve-ry close to this sort of impiety in his epics, and the gods don't seem to mind.

I don't know, Aphrodite being a goddess of love and all that might be prepared to let it slide.

[felix_felicia]

Ho no. Aphrodite was a goddess of love but she wasn't *nice*. At one point Hippolytus scorned her, so she made Phaedra fall in love with him - except he wasn't in love with her, so when he rejected her she went around claiming rape and ended up getting Hippolytus cursed by Theseus, leading to his death.

[laughinggas13]

Oh I know she wasn't nice, but I always thought she had a bit of a soft spot (as far as the gods did soft spots) for lovers - a sort of 'look how crazy my powers make them, aren't I awesome?' type thing.

[daphnie_1]

Hubris is the one thing the Greek gods tend to strike down and strike down *hard* for. You mention Arachnie in one comment and she's a pretty good yard stick. So I would say that saying the person is *better* than a god or goddess is pretty much a no.

Whether to say they WHERE said figure is also probably a no XD The gods are rather jealous in Greek mythology and it's my guess from the myths that they wouldn't take kindly to that. (Even if it IS Aphrodite) but it is probably less (slightly less) likely to get you smited.

[lady_lirenel]

Aphrodite, depending on the incarnation, might be *more* likely to smite someone than the other gods. Hippolytus just didn't want to get married. He ends up exiled with a side of death by being dragged behind his chariot, because Aphrodite made his stepmother fall in love with him out of spite.

Honestly, the only god who might not be offended would be Hephaestus; he's usually pretty laid-back for a god.

[felix_felicia]

This, haha. Just commented on the same myth :P

[theeternalmind]

Don't forget about Hestia. I don't think Hestia would get worked up.

[genre_savvy]

It was because Psyche was compared to Aphrodite/Venus that Eros/Cupid was supposed to curse her (he fell in love instead, but still, he was on a mission from his mom to curse her when it happened), so I'd guess A would freak out at any such comparison. Who knows when those crazy gods will take offense and turn you into a snapping turtle? They never seem to curse the one making the comparison, though. Go figure.

[inner_v0ice]

Ooh, thanks. It seems that people "revere[d] her with devoted worship as if she were none other than [Aphrodite] herself", which is a bit closer to my scenario than the Arachne & Cassiopeia/Andromeda examples. B isn't seriously worshiping A like Aphrodite, but it's close enough to be conceivably mistaken for that by, say, a pissed-off goddess. Thanks again!

[genre_savvy]

No problem. I'm a Greco-Roman mythology geek. :-D