Athena Artemis February 9 2016 Why

Athena & Artemis February 9, 2016

Why did the Greeks choose this bird to associate with Athena? [class]

Questions on Minerva and Arachne [tophat] o Why does the story make Arachne of low social status and motherless? o Why does Athena try to warn Arachne instead of destroying her immediately? Why is Arachne’s rebuff so hostile? o Why does Arachne try to commit suicide and why does Athena save her?

Thoughts on Minerva and Arachne • Lack of female role model: daughter does not know her place in society • No other privilege or pride; over-invested in her talent; masculine ambition; self-made person • Athena holds back because she sees the similarity • Arachne’s rude reply: anger conceals grief • Arachne raises feminine voice against male privilege; Athena sees the point but… • An Ovidian allegory for the artist oppressed by tyrannical regimes?

How are these images related to our topic? [class]

Artemis’ Domain Infant: pre-civilized state; speechless Child: often irrational; needs training

Niobe’s Hubris

Niobe’s Rock, Spil Dağı National Park, Turkey

Actaeon § “. . . If you look closely, you will find that Actaeon’s guilt was misfortune, not a crime; what crime indeed lies in an innocent mistake? ” ---Ovid

Questions on Callisto and Actaeon [tophat] • Does the story of Callisto remind you of any other story we have covered? What are the similarities? • Rape is a common motif in Greek myths. Do you see a rape element in the Actaeon myth? • What do these two myths tell us about the relationship between god, human, and animal?

Thoughts on Actaeon and Callisto • • • Zeus expresses gender switch fantasy Callisto punished by female superior for her ‘shame’ (~Io) Callisto bears Zeus a son (~ Io’s descendant = Hercules) Callisto and Arcas become scientific aetia (~peacock) Rape as violation of one’s physical/moral integrity: Actaeon penetrates with his eyes; Artemis through the dogs; rape as metaphor of divine retribution • Artemis’ mercy? (book image) arrow version opens the story up • God > human > animal: human stands between the two; can go either way; interchangeable to gods • Domestication suppresses animal instinct; man can turn from predator to victim

The Anthropomorphism of the Dog 1. n. a foot. (usually plural. ) I gotta get home and soak my dogs. 2. n. a female that is deemed unattractive by men (derogatory). 3. n. undesirable merchandise. Put the dogs out for sale. 4. v. to follow relentlessly, to haunt someone: The cop dogged the criminal for a week; will this memory dog me all the days of my life? 5. v. to eat something hungrily as a dog eats. He dogged (‘wolfed down’) his hamburger and ran out. 6. v. to criticize. Stop dogging me about every little thing! 7. n. buddy; friend (also sp. dawg and dogg), a term of address. Hey, dog! Word, dog.

Gender Switch fantasies

Euripides’ Hippolytus highlights Phaedra: ‘When Eros struck me, I thought about how I might best endure the wound. And so I began in this way, to be silent and to hide my affliction. My second plan was to endure this madness steadfastly, mastering it by selfcontrol. But when I was unable to overcome Aphrodite, it seemed best for me to die, the most effective of all resolutions…I must die for this simple reason: that I may never be found guilty of bringing shame upon my husband children. ’

Euripides’ Hippolytus highlights Hippolytus: ‘O Zeus, why did you bring women into the light of this world, an ingrained and deceitful evil for mankind? If you wanted to propagate the race, it is not from women that you should have ordained our birth. Instead, men should be able to buy children in your temples, each making a payment of bronze, iron, or gold, appropriate to his means, and live free in homes without females…may I never have in my house a woman who is more clever than she should be…for Aphrodite breeds more villainy in clever ones. I will never have my fill of hatred for women, not even if anyone criticizes me for always declaring it. Either someone should teach them how to be temperate or allow me to trample them down forever. ’

Euripides’ Hippolytus highlights Hippolytus: ‘Either someone should teach them (women) how to be temperate or allow me to trample them down forever. ’ Phaedra: ‘I will become an evil curse for him, so that he may understand that he should not exult haughtily over my misfortunes; by sharing in this malady with me, he will learn how to be temperate. ’

Euripides’ Hippolytus highlights Theseus: ‘Are you the man who consorts with the gods, as though you were superior to everyone else? Are you the pure virgin, unsullied by sin? I could never be convinced by these boasts of yours and wrongly believe that the gods are fooled by your hypocrisy…will you maintain that she hated you and that it is only natural for a bastard to be in conflict with those that are legitimate? . . I know that young men are no more stable than women, whenever Aphrodite plays havoc in their young hearts; yet because they are male, they are not discredited. ’

Euripides’ Hippolytus highlights Hippolytus: ‘there is no one under the sun more righteous than I am, even if you say this is not so…To this very moment, my body is chaste. I have never had sex but only heard about it, or seen depictions of it which I do not like to look because I am a virgin, pure in heart and soul. ’ Hippolytus on Phaedra: ‘She acted virtuously, when she could not be virtuous. I am virtuous but I have not used my virtue well. ’

Euripides’ Hippolytus highlights Hippolytus expiring: ‘Here I am, a holy and godrevering man, one who surpassed all others in virtue going into my inevitable death…why, oh why, when I am guilty of no evil myself? ’ Artemis: ‘it is to be expected for human beings to err, when the gods so ordain. I advise you, Hippolytus, not to hate your father. You have been destroyed by the destiny that is yours. ’

Euripides’ Hippolytus highlights Theseus: ‘that curse should have never come to my lips. ’ Hippolytus: ‘Why not? You would have killed me anyway, you were in such a state of anger. ’ Theseus: ‘Because the gods had taken away my good sense. ’

Questions on Euripides’ Hippolytus [tophat] § If you were in the audience of this tragedy, what message would you get out of it regarding the gods? § Which of the two main characters is more appealing to you? Phaedra or Hippolytus? Why?

Hippolytus’ Problem of Evil § Artemisian virginity, keeps oaths, but… § His deeper motives for his virginity: misogyny, self-hatred, father rejection § Phaedra has no control over her Eros, but…acts ‘virtuously’ § Gods do not enlighten or redeem humans