Challenging Gender Roles: Dionysus, Lucian, Dialogues of the Gods 18

TRIGGER WARNING: drunkenness, homophobic slurs

JUNO: Me quidem puderet, Iuppiter, talis filii, tam feminei & corrupti ebrietate; qui mitra revinctam gerat comam, plurimum cum furibundis mulieribus versetur, mollior iis ipsis, ad tympana tibiasque & cymbala choreas agens, atque omnino cuivis similior, quam tibi patri.

JUPPITER: Atque hicce mitra feminea redimitus, mollior mulieribus, non solum, Iuno, Lydiam subegit, incolentesque Tmolum cepit, & Thracas sibi subiecit; sed & adversus Indos rapto muliebri isto exercitu elephantos in potestatem redegit, & regione tota potitus est, regemque paululum resistere ausum captivum abduxit: & ista quidem omnia perfecit saltans simul & choreas ducens, thyrsis usus hederaceis, ebrius, ut ais, & furore concitus. Tum si quis in animum induxit maledicere ipsi, contumeliis in sacrorum initia iactis, ab eo quoque poenas expetiit, vel ligatum obstringens palmitibus, vel ut discerperetur efficiens a matre tanquam hinnulus. Viden' ut virilia sint ista, atque haud indigna patre? Si vero lusus & lascivia simul adisnt, nihil est ea in re, quod invidiam faciat; inprimis si quis reputet, qualis sobrius hicce foret, ubi isthaec facit ebrius.

JUNO: Tu mihi videris laudaturus etiam inventum eius vitem & vinum; idque tametsi videas, qualia perpetrent inebriati titubantes atque ad iniuriam versi & plane furentes a potu. Icarium ergo, cui primo donavit palmitem, ipsi compotatores interemerunt concisum ligonibus.

JUPPITER: Nihil hoc ad rem, quod dicis: non enim vinum ista, neque Bacchus facit; sed potus immoderate sumtus, & ultra quam deceat ingurgitari mero: qui vero bibendi modum servat, hilarior & suavior exsistit; neque eiusmodi, qual Icario contigit, quidquam designaverit in ullum compotatorem. At tu adhuc aemulari videris, Iuno, & Semeles meminisse, ut quae crimineris Bacchi pulcherrimas dotes. 

Ἥρα

ἐγὼ μὲν ᾐσχυνόμην ἄν, ὦ Ζεῦ, εἴ μοι τοιοῦτος υἱὸς ἦν θῆλυς οὕτω καὶ διεφθαρμένος ὑπὸ τῆς μέθης, μίτρᾳ μὲν ἀναδεδεμένος τὴν κόμην, τὰ πολλὰ δὲ μαινομέναις ταῖς γυναιξὶ συνών, ἁβρότερος αὐτῶν ἐκείνων, ὑπὸ τυμπάνοις καὶ αὐλῷ καὶ κυμβάλοις χορεύων, καὶ ὅλως παντὶ μᾶλλον ἐοικὼς ἢ σοὶ τῷ πατρί.

 

Ζεύς

καὶ μὴν οὗτός γε ὁ θηλυμίτρης, ὁ ἁβρότερος τῶν γυναικῶν οὐ μόνον, ὦ Ἥρα, τὴν Λυδίαν ἐχειρώσατο καὶ τοὺς κατοικοῦντας τὸν Τμῶλον ἔλαβε καὶ τοὺς Θρᾷκας ὑπηγάγετο, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπ᾽ Ἰνδοὺς ἐλάσας τῷ γυναικείῳ τούτῳ στρατιωτικῷ τούς τε ἐλέφαντας εἷλε καὶ τῆς χώρας ἐκράτησε καὶ τὸν βασιλέα πρὸς ὀλίγον ἀντιστῆναι τολμήσαντα αἰχμάλωτον ἀπήγαγε, καὶ ταῦτα πάντα ἔπραξεν ὀρχούμενος ἅμα καὶ χορεύων θύρσοις χρώμενος κιττίνοις, μεθύων, ὡς φής, καὶ ἐνθεάζων. εἰ δέ τις ἐπεχείρησε λοιδορήσασθαι αὐτῷ ὑβρίσας ἐς τὴν τελετήν, καὶ τοῦτον ἐτιμωρήσατο ἢ καταδήσας τοῖς κλήμασιν ἢ διασπασθῆναι ποιήσας ὑπὸ τῆς μητρὸς ὥσπερ νεβρόν. ὁρᾷς ὡς ἀνδρεῖα ταῦτα καὶ οὐκ ἀνάξια τοῦ πατρός; εἰ δὲ παιδιὰ καὶ τρυφὴ πρόσεστιν αὐτοῖς, οὐδεὶς φθόνος, καὶ μάλιστα εἰ λογίσαιτό τις, οἷος ἂν οὗτος νήφων ἦν, ὅπου ταῦτα μεθύων ποιεῖ.

 

Ἥρα

[2] σύ μοι δοκεῖς ἐπαινέσεσθαι καὶ τὸ εὕρημα αὐτοῦ, τὴν ἄμπελον καὶ τὸν οἶνον, καὶ ταῦτα ὁρῶν οἷα οἱ μεθυσθέντες ποιοῦσι σφαλλόμενοι καὶ πρὸς ὕβριν τρεπόμενοι καὶ ὅλως μεμηνότες ὑπὸ τοῦ ποτοῦ: τὸν γοῦν Ἰκάριον, ᾧ πρώτῳ ἔδωκε τὸ κλῆμα, οἱ ξυμπόται αὐτοὶ διέφθειραν παίοντες ταῖς δικέλλαις.

Ζεύς

οὐδὲν τοῦτο φής: οὐ γὰρ ὁ οἶνος ταῦτα οὐδὲ ὁ Διόνυσος ποιεῖ, τὸ δὲ ἄμετρον τῆς πόσεως καὶ τὸ πέρα τοῦ καλῶς ἔχοντος ἐμφορεῖσθαι τοῦ ἀκράτου. ὃς δ᾽ ἂν ἔμμετρα πίνῃ, ἱλαρώτερος μὲν καὶ ἡδίων γένοιτ᾽ ἄν: οἷον δὲ ὁ Ἰκάριος ἔπαθεν, οὐδὲν ἂν ἐργάσαιτο οὐδένα τῶν ξυμποτῶν. ἀλλὰ σὺ ἔτι ζηλοτυπεῖν ἔοικας, ὦ Ἥρα, καὶ τῆς Σεμέλης μνημονεύειν, ἥ γε διαβάλλεις τοῦ Διονύσου τὰ κάλλιστα.

--Lucian, Dialogi Deorum XVIII, Translated into Latin by Tiberius Hemsterhusius & Ioannis Fredericus Reitzius (1789)

Juno: Jupiter, I’m so embarrassed by how effeminate & drunk your son is! He wears his hair all dolled up in a mitra, he spends all his time with rampaging women, but yet he’s more womanly than them. He’s always playing his little tambourine, his flutes, his cymbals, and he’s NOTHING like you.

Jupiter: And yet, Juno, this womanly mitra-wearing man who’s “more womanly than women,” not only conquered Lydia, captured Tmolus, and subjugated Thrace, but he also assembled an army of women and conquered all of India, including their war elephants, and brought the whole region under his control. When their king dared to resist him, he led him away as his captive. He did all this singing & dancing, whirling his ivy-covered thyrsus, drunk, and raging mad (as you say). And yet, if someone has it in mind to slander him, bringing disrespect to his sacred acts, they’ll pay the punishment, whether it’s being bound by vines, or be torn limb-from-limb by their own mother. Isn’t that manly, and worthy of his father?  Who cares if he does it while playing around and flirting—there’s nothing shameful in it. And who would naysay him, if he can do all this drunk—what would he be if he were sober?

JUNO:  You seem to me to praise the vine and wine he’s invented—although you should see the kind of things that happen to drunk fools & rampaging with drink. For Icarius—the first person he gave the vine—his fellow partygoers killed him with garden tools.

Jupiter: What you’re saying wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t wine, it wasn’t Bacchus [Dionysus] who did it, but the person who drank too much, more than was fitting. A person who has self-control in drinking is more cheerful and cooler, and they don’t let what happened to Icarius happen to their fellow drinking buddies. But Juno, you seem to be jealous of Semele in your criticism of Bacchus.

LUCIAN

MAP:

Name:  Lucianus Samosatensis

Date:  125 – 180 CE

Works: Dialogue of the Courtesans*

               True History, etc.

REGION  4

BIO:

Timeline:

 Lucian was a Turkish-born Roman satirist who wrote in ancient Greek. His works are a mixture of sarcasm, wit, and biting social criticism. He is without a doubt one of the most popular authors of the later Roman empire.

 ROMAN GREECE

Minerva, Diana, and the Muses: Free of Cupid's Influence, Lucian, Dialogi Deorum XIX

The Roman Author Lucian imagines a conversation between Venus [Aphrodite] and her son Cupid [Eros]:

VENUS: Quid tandem in causa est, Cupido, ut quum reliquos Deos omnes adortus expugnaris, Iovem ipsum, Neptunum, Apollinem, Iunonem, me denique matrem, ab una Minerva temperes, utque adversus hanc nec ullum habeat incendium tua fax, e tiaculis vacua sit pharetra, tum et ipse arcu careas, neque iaculari noris?

CUPIDO: Equidem hanc metuo, mater: est enim formidabilis, truculentoque aspectu, ac ferocitate quadam supra modum virili: proinde siquando tenso arcu petam illam, galeae cristam quatiens expavefacit me, moxque, formidine tremere occipio, sic ut arma mihi e manibus excidant.

VEN: Atqui Mars an non erat hac formidabilior: et hunc tamen superatum exarmasti.

CUP: imo ille cupide me recipit, atque ultro etiam invitat: verum Minerva semper adductis superciliis observat. quin aliquando temere ad illam advolavi, facem propius admovens: at illa, si quidem ad me accesseris, inquit, per parentem Iovem, quovis modo te confecero, aut lancea te transfigat, aut pedibus arreptum in tartara dabo praecipitem, aut ipsa te discerpam. Plurima item id genus cominabatur. Ad haec acribus obtuetur oculis: postremo & in pectore faciem quandam gestat horrendam, viperis capillorum vice comatam. hanc nimirum magnopere formido. territat enim me, fugioque quoties eam aspicio.

VEN: esto sane, Minervam metuis, ut ais, atque huius gestamen Gorgona reformidas, idque quum Iovis ipsius fulmen non formidaveris: caeterum Musae quam ob causam abs te non feriuntur, atque a tuis iaculis tutae agunt?num & hae cristas quatiunt, aut Gorgonas praetendunt?

CUP: has quidem revereor mater: sunt enim vultu pudico ac reverendo: praeterea semper aliquo tenentur studio, semper cantionibus animum intentum gerunt: quin ipse etiam non raro illis assisto, carminis suavitate delinitus.

VEN: esto, nec has adoriris, propterea quod sint reverendae: at Dianam, quo tandem gratia non vulneras?

CUP: Ut breviter dicam, hanc ne deprehendere quidem usquam sum potis, quippe perpetuo per montes fugitantem. ad haec alterius cuiusdam sui Cupidinis illa tenetur cupidine.

VEN: Cuius o gnate?

CUP: Nempe venatu cervorum et hinnulorum, quos insetatur ut capiat, ac iaculo figat. Ac prorsum tota rerum huiusmodi studio tenetur: tametsi fratrem eius, qui nimirum arcu valet et ipse, feritque eminus.

VEN: Teneo gnate, eum saepenumero sagitta vulnerasti.

Ἀφροδίτη

τί δήποτε, ὦ Ἔρως, τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους θεοὺς κατηγωνίσω ἅπαντας, τὸν Δία, τὸν Ποσειδῶ, τὸν Ἀπόλλω, τὴν Ῥέαν, ἐμὲ τὴν μητέρα, μόνης δὲ ἀπέχῃ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς καὶ ἐπ᾽ ἐκείνης ἄπυρος μέν σοι ἡ δᾴς, κενὴ δὲ οἰστῶν ἡ φαρέτρα, σὺ δὲ ἄτοξος εἶ καὶ ἄστοχος;

Ἔρως

δέδια, ὦ μῆτερ, αὐτήν: φοβερὰ γάρ ἐστι καὶ χαροπὴ καὶ δεινῶς ἀνδρική: ὁπόταν γοῦν ἐντεινάμενος τὸ τόξον ἴω ἐπ᾽ αὐτήν, ἐπισείουσα τὸν λόφον ἐκπλήττει με καὶ ὑπότρομος γίνομαι καὶ ἀπορρεῖ μου τὰ τοξεύματα ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν.

Ἀφροδίτη

ὁ Ἄρης γὰρ οὐ φοβερώτερος ἦν; καὶ ὅμως ἀφώπλισας αὐτὸν καὶ νενίκηκας.

Ἔρως

ἀλλὰ ἐκεῖνος ἑκὼν προσίεταί με καὶ προσκαλεῖται, ἡ Ἀθηνᾶ δὲ ὑφορᾶται ἀεί, καί ποτε ἐγὼ μὲν ἄλλως [p. 99] παρέπτην πλησίον ἔχων τὴν λαμπάδα, ἡ δέ, εἴ μοι πρόσει, φησί, νὴ τὸν πατέρα, τῷ δορατίῳ σε διαπείρασα ἢ τοῦ ποδὸς λαβομένη καὶ ἐς τὸν Τάρταρον ἐμβαλοῦσα ἢ αὐτὴ διασπασαμένη διαφθερῶ. πολλὰ τοιαῦτα ἠπείλησε: καὶ ὁρᾷ δὲ δριμὺ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ στήθους ἔχει πρόσωπόν τι φοβερὸν ἐχίδναις κατάκομον, ὅπερ ἐγὼ μάλιστα δέδια: μορμολύττεται γάρ με καὶ φεύγω, ὅταν ἴδω αὐτό.

Ἀφροδίτη

[2] ἀλλὰ τὴν μὲν Ἀθηνᾶν δέδιας, ὡς φής, καὶ τὴν Γοργόνα, καὶ ταῦτα μὴ φοβηθεὶς τὸν κεραυνὸν τοῦ Διός. αἱ δὲ Μοῦσαι διὰ τί σοι ἄτρωτοι καὶ ἔξω βελῶν εἰσιν; ἢ κἀκεῖναι λόφους ἐπισείουσι καὶ Γοργόνας προφαίνουσιν;

Ἔρως

αἰδοῦμαι αὐτάς, ὦ μῆτερ: σεμναὶ γάρ εἰσι καὶ ἀεί τι φροντίζουσι καὶ περὶ ᾠδὴν ἔχουσι καὶ ἐγὼ παρίσταμαι πολλάκις αὐταῖς κηλούμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ μέλους.

Ἀφροδίτη

ἔα καὶ ταύτας, ὅτι σεμναί: τὴν δὲ Ἄρτεμιν τίνος ἕνεκα οὐ τιτρώσκεις;

Ἔρως

τὸ μὲν ὅλον οὐδὲ καταλαβεῖν αὐτὴν οἷόν τε φεύγουσαν ἀεὶ διὰ τῶν ὀρῶν: εἶτα καὶ ἴδιόν τινα ἔρωτα ἤδη ἐρᾷ.

Ἀφροδίτη

τίνος, ὦ τέκνον;

Ἔρως

θήρας καὶ ἐλάφων καὶ νεβρῶν, αἱρεῖν τε διώκουσα καὶ κατατοξεύειν, καὶ ὅλως πρὸς τῷ τοιούτῳ ἐστίν: ἐπεὶ τόν γε ἀδελφὸν αὐτῆς, καίτοι τοξότην καὶ αὐτὸν ὄντα καὶ ἑκηβόλον —

Ἀφροδίτη

οἶδα, ὦ τέκνον, πολλὰ ἐκεῖνον ἐτόξευσας.

--Lucian, Diologi Deorum XIX; Translated into Latin by Erasino Roterdamo (1546) 

Venus: Cupid, why have you stalked & conquered all of the other gods—Jupiter, Neptune, Apollo, Juno—and even me, your own mother!—but you hold off from attacking Minerva? Your torch holds no power over her, your quiver is empty of love-darts for her. You don’t even carry your bow around her, you don’t even know how to aim?

 

Cupid: I’m afraid of her, mother! She is frightening! She has a ferocious scowl, and a manly intensity. Whenever I aim my bow at her, the rustling of her helmet’s crest terrifies me, and then my hands shake so much I drop my weapons.

 

Venus: But isn’t Mars more frightening to you than her? You were able to overpower him.

 

Cupid:  Yeah, but he likes me, and welcomes me to his side. Minerva always gives me an angry frown. One time, I rashly rushed her, brandishing my torch; but as soon as I approached her, she yelled at me, “I swear by my father Jupiter, I’ll either stab you with my spear, or grab you by your foot and toss you into Tartarus, or pluck your feathers off myself.” She threatened me with even more threats like this. She watches me with a discerning gaze. And finally, she carries that fear-inspiring Gorgon face on her chest [her Aegis], with its snaky-hair. I’m incredibly afraid of her. Every time I see her, I run.

 

Venus: Ok, I get it: you’re afraid of Minerva, and her Aegis, too. But yet you’re not afraid of Jupiter’s Lightning Bolt? And why don’t you go after the Muses? Why are they safe from your love darts? Do they shake their helmet crests at you, or show you their own aegis?

 

Cupid: Mom, I respect them. They’re demure and chaste. And they love what they do: their hearts are full of their art, and I get enchanted by their alluring songs.

 

Venus: Ok, I get it. You don’t go after them, because of their dedication to their art. But what about Diana? Why don’t you go after her?

 

Cupid: Well, to put it succinctly, I can’t go after her, because she’s always wandering over the mountains. She’s lovestruck by a desire [pun on Cupid’s name] of her own.

 

Venus: OOOH! WHO?!!!!

 

Cupid:   She’s lovestruck by hunting deer: tracking them and shooting them. That’s her one and only love. But her brother [Apollo], an archer too (and not half bad!). he…

 

Venus: Yes, I know, son. You’ve wounded him a bunch of times with your love darts.

LUCIAN	MAP:
Name:  Lucianus Samosatensis Date:  125 – 180 CE Works: Dialogue of the Courtesans*                True History, etc.	REGION  4
BIO:	Timeline:
Lucian was a Turkish-born Roman satirist who wrote in ancient Greek. His works are a mixture of sarcasm, wit, and biting social criticism. He is without a doubt one of the most popular authors of the later Roman empire.	ROMAN GREECE

 

Dangerous Beauty: Ganymede in Olympus, Apollonius Rhodes III.314-318

 Trigger Warning: abduction

Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite ask Eros to help Jason obtain the Golden Fleece:

Invenit autem ipsum seorsim Iovis florenti in campo,

non solum, sed una etiam Ganymedem, ( quem olim Jupiter

In coaelum transtulerat, contubernalem Deorum

Pulchritudinis desiderio perculsus) cum talis autem illi

aureis, utpote pueri familiares, ludebant.

εὗρε δὲ τόνγ᾽ ἀπάνευθε Διὸς θαλερῇ ἐν ἀλωῇ,

οὐκ οἶον, μετα καὶ Γανυμήδεα, τόν ῥά ποτε Ζεὺς

οὐρανῷ ἐγκατένασσεν ἐφέστιον ἀθανάτοισιν,

κάλλεος ἱμερθείς. ἀμφ᾽ ἀστραγάλοισι δὲ τώγε

χρυσείοις, ἅ τε κοῦροι ὁμήθεες, ἑψιόωντο.

--Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica III.314-318; translated into Latin by Joannes Shaw (1777)

She found Cupid in the blossoming fields of Olympus,

Not alone, but together with Ganymede.

Struck by the youth’s beauty,

Jupiter had  brought him to Olympus

as a squire for the gods.

Cupid & Ganymede were playing with golden dice like childhood friends.

 

APOLLONIUS OF RHODES	MAP:
Name:  Apollonius of Rhodes Date:  3rd century BCE Works:  Argonautica	REGION  4
BIO:	Timeline:
Little is known of this Hellenistic poet, but what is clear is that his surviving epic, the Argonautica, was wildly influential to later epic poets. According to the Suda, he was the Director of the Library of Alexandria and was a contemporary of the poet Callimachus (α.4319).	HELLENISTIC GREEK

Unwounded by Eros: Athena, Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica III.32-35

 When Athena and Hera plot to help the Argonaut Jason to find the Golden Fleece, Hera recommends recruiting Aphrodite to elicit Eros' aid. 

Juno, insciam me pater genuit huius ictuum,

nec rem aliquam novi quae vim habeat demulcendi amorem.

Si autem tibi ipsi haec sententia arridet, certe ego

assensum praebitura sum; tu vero compellandi vicem geres,

ubi conveneris.

‘Ἥρη, νήιδα μέν με πατὴρ τέκε τοῖο βολάων,

οὐδέ τινα χρειὼ θελκτήριον οἶδα πόθοιο.

εἰ δέ σοι αὐτῇ μῦθος ἐφανδάνει, ἦ τ᾽ ἂν ἔγωγε

ἑσποίμην: σὺ δέ κεν φαίης ἔπος ἀντιόωσα.’

--Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica III.32-35, Translated into Latin by Joannes Shaw (1777)

“Juno, Father Jupiter bore me to be inexperienced with [Cupid’s] arrows,

Nor do I know any way to manage desire.

If you like this idea, then of course I will agree with it;

But you will have to do all of the talking

When you meet [with Venus].

APOLLONIUS OF RHODES

MAP:

Name:  Apollonius of Rhodes

Date:  3^rd century BCE

Works:  Argonautica

 

REGION  4

BIO:

Timeline:

 Little is known of this Hellenistic poet, but what is clear is that his surviving epic, the Argonautica, was wildly influential to later epic poets. According to the Suda, he was the Director of the Library of Alexandria and was a contemporary of the poet Callimachus (α.4319).

 HELLENISTIC GREEK