chapter fourteen
INTERACTIVE APHRODITE: GREEK RESPONSES TO THE IDEA OF APHRODITE AS ANCESTRESS OF THE ROMANS
Jenny Wallensten
As is well known, the Romans considered Aphrodite to be the ances- tress of their people. Augustan and Julio-Claudian propaganda transmit- ted this lineage widely throughout the empire and made it quite clear that the ruling dynasty held the favor of one of the mightiest goddesses in the Greek and Roman panthea. But even before this period, when Rome’s supremacy was already a matter of fact, stories of Rome’s Tro- jan connections had been circulating in the Greek cultural sphere.1 Dur- ing the Hellenistic centuries (–bc), cities and other political bod- ies frequently used myths and legends as diplomatic tools, and as Rome entered the Mediterranean scene, Greeks as well as Aineias’ Latin descen- dants drew upon these Trojan stories as a means of incorporating the new player—Rome—into their view of the world. On a conceptual level, among the Greeks themselves, Rome’s Trojan past made her a part of their familiar present, whereas on a more practical level, such as in diplo- matic exchanges, the Trojan pedigree became a concrete means of inter- action between Greece and Rome: Greek cities that could claim Trojan descent or other Ilian connections deliberately exploited these to win the attention—and, it was hoped, the goodwill—of the Romans. The present chapter explores the idea that an influence of the image of Aphrodite as ancestress of the Romans can be discerned in the religious as well as the political spheres of Greek cities. Roman expansion and the accom- panying propaganda affected the way the Greeks saw their goddess. In encounters between the two cultures—Greece and Rome—Aphrodite became a means of interaction: in addition to the many and varied func- tions Aphrodite filled in city-states all around the Mediterranean, in this new context, the Greeks could now also use the goddess to communicate
1 See below, nn. –. jenny wallensten an acknowledgment of Roman power.2 This phenomenon is visible from theepigraphicsources.HereIanalyzethisinteraction,evidencedby Hellenistic and Early Imperial inscriptions, predominantly dedications, which attest responses to a changing world. Aphrodite was not just any other Greek goddess to the Romans. Through her son Aineias, fathered by the mortal Anchises, she was Rome’s ancestral mother.3 The first Roman emperor, Augustus, emphat- ically promoted this divine family tree, but he was not the first, nor the last, mighty Roman to do so. Augustus’ claim to special ties with Aphrodite came through his status as a member of the Julian family (into which Augustus had been adopted by his uncle, Gaius Julius Caesar), and this clan famously traced their ancestry to the goddess not only as Romans, but also as members of this particular family. Their eponym Iulus was none other than Aineias’/Aeneas’ son (Iulus was also known as Ascanius).4 This tradition can be identified long before Augustus’ reign (bc–ad), at least as early as bc, when a member of the gens Julia(theJulianfamily)chosetheimageofVenusforthereverseofhis denarii coins (see also figure .).5 Two mighty generals of the Roman Republic, Pompey and Sulla, also claimed Aphrodite as their special pro- tectress, the latter with more success: Sulla referred to himself as Επα- ρ'διτς (‘Beloved of Aphrodite’).6 Imperial generations long after the
2 As surely shown by this volume, Aphrodite was not only “the goddess of love” in the Greek world. Other major aspects of Aphrodite include protection at sea and protection of public officials. For a recent contribution enriching our view of the goddess, see Pironti, Entre ciel et guerre. 3 Dion. Hal., Ant. Rom. .–; Livy, Epit. .–; Verg., Aen.; Ov., Met. .– . For Poseidon’s prophecy that Aeneas descendants will rule the Trojans, see Hom., Il. .–, and the comment of Dionysios of Halikarnassos, Dion. Hal., Ant. Rom. ... For the meeting of Aphrodite and Anchises, see Hymn. Hom. Ven. For lost sources, see, for example, Andrew Erskine, Troy between Greece and Rome: Local Tradition and Imperial Power (Oxford, ), pp. –. 4 Other prominent families also claimed descent from Troy, perhaps as early as the fifth and fourth centuries bc, as noted by T.P.Wiseman, The Myths of Rome (Exeter, ), p. . 5 Michael H. Crawford, RomanRepublicanCoinage(London, ), p. , no. ; Erskine, Troy between Greece and Rome, p. . 6 Thus, a favorite of the Greek, not the Roman, goddess. See also Arthur Keaveney, Sulla, the Last Republican (London, ), p. ; Arthur Keaveney, “Sulla and the Gods,” in Studies in Latin literature and Roman History,ed.CarlDeroux.CollectionLatomus (Brussels, ), pp. –. See also Aphrodisias and Rome: Documents from the Excavation of the Theatre at Aphrodisias Conducted by Kenan T. Erim, together with Some Related Texts. Journal of Roman Studies Monographs (London, ), pp. –; and Brody, “The Cult of Aphrodite at Aphrodisias,” pp. , –.