Hymn to Aphrodite, Hymn to Demeter, Prometheus and Pandora PDF

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Laurel Bowman...

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The Hymn to Aphrodite 

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Tells the story of the end of heroes. Aphrodite is able to have power over the other goddesses, gods and ultimately Zeus because she can force him to mate with mortals. Zeus, in realizing this, forces her to feel the same desire she puts unto the other gods and goddesses and makes her mate with mortals. Relationship with mortals make the mortals more powerful, which the gods and goddesses hated. Aphrodite becomes more powerful as Zeus is weak for love. The way he can be influenced by beauty and love does not reinforce his power. Shows that he is vulnerable

The Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite tells how Zeus put into the heart of Aphrodite a desire for mortal Anchises. The Hymn to Demeter   

It was an opportunity for mothers to see their daughters. It was a three-day festival. Associates the fertility of the field with the sacrifice of victims. This was seen as sacred. Demeter summons the men of the town and tells them how to build a temple for her. She refuses to let the crops grow, but teaches the mysteries of Aeschylus.

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Relationship between Persephone and Demeter. Disrupted by Hades because he wants to marry her with the full permission of her father Zeus.

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This hymn unlike most Greek myths gives priority to relationships between women. Demeter reacts by adopting a son, withdraws from humanity, and negotiates months with her daughter. She gives the gift of agriculture to mankind. Limits Demeter's power.

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Persephone's father gave her away, she was not willing to go away with Hades. She is away from her mother, but is in a large group of women.

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Demeter looks everywhere for her, runs all over the place looking for her daughter. Demeter carrying torch in each hand, doesn't wash or eat much, part of the ritual.

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Marriages were made between father in law, and groom. Shows the power of the father to daughter’s marriage. He has legal authority to make the marriage happen. Demeter is upset that she was not asked or informed. Enraged and goes down to Aeschylus.

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Golden hair Demeter sat in the temple and pended away and mourned her daughter. Zeus sends a messenger to her, Iris, to ask Demeter to stop and to come back to Olympus.

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Zeus sends Hermes back to Hades to bring Demeter back. Found Persephone and Hades side by side. Hades doesn't disobey Zeus. He tells her by being Zeus's brother, no one will be better than him. Can only achieve authority if they marry. Only path to adult autonomy as they would know.

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Pomegranate as a consummation for the marriage.

Prometheus, Pandora and Man        

Humans are made out of clay, transactional, worship gods, not slaves, not equals. Bad things happen to humans; gods are not entirely on a side. The Great Civiliser, arts, medicine, and metal building. Plato's version, compared to animals, humans are completely defenses. The origin of sacrifice and fire. Trick to Zeus, not giving the best parts to the gods. Sacrifice, men sacrifice to gods, men sacrifice animals establishes natural order. Perform a sacrifice, kill animals, burn it to the gods. If Zeus erases fire, erases the good Prometheus tried to do. Punishes mankind because Prometheus, punishment is deflected, Hearth, household.

Pandora    

Woman who lives in house, and tends the fire, contains of life. Origin of evil, goddess like in form, Theseod, acknowledges the power of women have attributes it to beauty. Attacking liver, will regenerate. Liver, source of desire, Prometheus, makes mates susceptible to Pandora, mate pain that matters in the story.

Later versions of Pandora:  Pandora womb, giver of life, renaissance authors, concentrate on Pandora curiosity, opened the box, Genesis not the ancient source.  Built to be evil.  Western Art, curious about her own sexuality.  Zeus: At the end of the Theogony, Hesiod describes Zeus's many marriages to goddesses and the offspring they produce.  In Prometheus Bound, Zeus is a cruelly methodical ruler, whereas Prometheus is a sympathetic protector of human beings who disobeyed Zeus and is punished on a lonely mountain in Scythia.  Prometheus's action on behalf of humanity and the Oceanids' decision to stay with him suggest how even a king may fall: the alliances among and knowledge possessed by those ruled may prove too powerful to ignore or suppress.

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The tense relationships between power, and knowledge, and empathy or solidarity offer a distinctly human centered response to suffering in the face of indifferent gods. Prometheus Bound implies that human connection may be one powerful response to hostile divinity.

Demeter:  Gives skills of agriculture to men, limits her power.  Hymns about female deities are about how their powers are brought under Zeus's control.  Aphrodite's powers are reduced, can no longer mate a god w/ mortal woman. Powers of Aphrodite:  

Causes everyone to feel desire, power is only over mortals now, Daughter of Zeus, cannot affect the gods. She could at the start of the myth, but not at the end.

Hymn to Demeter: Theft, marriage to Persephone  Persephone and Demeter's consent didn't matter; Zeus has full authority to give Persephone to Hades if he wants.  Demeter tries to adopt a boy and make him immortal. Zeus tells Demeter to stop her nonsense because if the humans starve then the gods won't get any sacrifices.  Demeter will not let anything grow until she sees her daughter. Cultural Interpretation  Loyalty is supposed to be to both father and husband.  Comforting to humans that Zeus would tell Demeter that the gods need sacrifices.  Female deities tend to start out independent from Zeus and end up being subordinated (males start out subordinate and they are happy with that)  Demeter not only accepts her daughter's marriage to Hades, she also teaches agriculture to humans so it is no longer entirely up to her whether crops live or die, she gives up her largest power. Pandora:  everything is her fault because she opened the box. Inevitable because women can't follow orders and get their noses into everything.  Western culture depicts her as young and beautiful and opening the box of sexuality, which she isn’t supposed to do.  Evil inside, but you can't tell.  Fear of women's deceptiveness.  Both the Theogony claim that everything wrong with the world is women's fault.  Titan's in Ancient Greek Art, depicted as being punished, shows the strength of Zeus because he can overcome even hugely powerful deities.  Zeus's many marriages subordinate women, especially once they have children.  He subordinates and manages to subordinate all his sisters.

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Hymn to Demeter reflects an earlier culture where women were socially and politically important. A suitable punishment for the price of fire, no one escape to the will of Zeus. Prometheus said that he was the one who stayed Hope inside the jar when all the other spirits escaped....