The validity of some concepts and interpretative categories for the study of ancient societies, such as those of ‘‘myth,’’ ‘‘rite,’’ and ‘‘religion,’’ has recently been called into question. ‘‘Sexuality,’’ which is defined as the set practices and imagery associated with sex, belongs amongst such concepts. The term had no exact correlate in the vocabulary of the communities studied, and its application to them is accordingly anachronistic (Davidson 1998; Halperin, Winkler, and Zeitlin 1990; Winkler 1990a). A good part of the discussion of such questions consists of echoes of and reactions, positive and negative, to Michel Foucault’s three-volume History of Sexuality (Foucault 1976-84). Without entering into this particular debate, which remains outside our purview here, two remarks may serve to introduce this chapter.
First, one means of avoiding the danger of over-interpretation and anachronism is to privilege the semantic field of the Greek term ta aphrodisia. Secondly, this phrase, ta aphrodisia, in its very form evokes the figure of Aphrodite. The recognition of this in itself justifies us in investigating the relationship that obtained between sexuality and religious imagery in a Greek context. The goddess is the only one amongst the Olympians whose name generates the common noun that designates her sphere of intervention and prerogatives. The generation of polytheistic deities more naturally flows in the opposite direction, from the manifestation of a specific power to its divine personification (Rudhardt 1999; Stafford 2000). Eros is a very good example: experiencing the powerful effects of‘‘love’’ and sex-drive, the Greeks deployed the word eras to designate the divine power whose presence and action these feelings seemed to indicate. It is our typographical conventions that lead us to capitalize the name’s initial letter. This chapter is therefore devoted to a review of the different facets of Aphrodite and Eros, and the different contexts in which their powers were manifested. Accordingly, it is not a question of investigating the sexual practices of the Greeks, but rather of exploring the religious imagery and practices to which the sphere of sexuality ( ta aphrodisia) gave rise in their communities.
First of all, the language of myth will allow us to define some imagery in Greek thought about sexuality. Then, with a look at Aphrodite’s cults, we will compare this imagery with ritual practice and with the expectations of her worshipers. At the same time this analysis will tackle the problem of a deity’s mode of action and field of action in a polytheistic context (cf. Detienne 1997). Finally, we will pose the question as to whether ‘‘sacred prostitution’’ existed in Greece, and at the same time confront the supposedly ‘‘oriental’’ dimension of the figure of Aphrodite.
World History
