chapter four

MARRIAGES WITH THE GODS

Gods Abducting Mortals

This part of the book is concerned with death at a young age often being seen as a symbolic marriage to the gods of the underworld; occasionally, the conclusion of the marriage was preceded by abduction. The  rst chapters included in this section deliver a brief, critical survey of modern scholar- ship. It appears that—contrary to a number of scholarly opinions—in the context of elevating the dead to the level of supernatural beings on verse- inscriptions, the meaning of wedding imagery was neither mystic (Orphic) nor eschatological (Eleusinian mysteries). My intent is to demonstrate that it was rather an embellishment and/or dramatisation (sometimes a highly sophisticated one, as was the case of the epigram for Theophile, discussed at length in the fourth chapter) of the basic idea of divine abduction, con- veying the message of the beauty of mortals prompting the gods themselves to descend and embrace them. When death occurred late in life, it was usually regarded to be in the nat- ural order of things. However, when death came early, this order appeared to be disrupted, and the ancient Greeks frequently attributed it to the inter- vention of celestial or chthonic powers.1 Epigrams frequently spoke of the deceased being abducted by deities, but other scenarios were also possi- ble. The usual causers of death included Moira or the Moirai,2 or Hades.3 It was frequently a δαίµων or δαίµονες4 as well as the personi cation of ‘envy,’ Phthonos,5 or a βάσκανος δέ τις.6 Less frequent abductors included Heimarmene and Tyche, Thanatos, Eileithyia, Ares, Persephone, Charon, Ge

1 Herkenrath 1896, 17–19 and 21; Festugière 1932, 152–160; Lattimore 1942, 146–151; Vérilhac 1978(2), 173–185; Pfohl 1983, 472–473; Le Bris 2001, 103–106; Peres 2003, 180–196. 2 Mayer 1927, 16–18. 3 Kaibel EG, no., ‘Index II’ s.v.; SGO(5), s.v. 4 Nowak 1960; Clairmont 1970, 84, n. 45; Stichel 1982, 193, n. 58; Garland 1985, 162. 5 Peek GV, no. 583; IGUR(3), no. 1275; Peek GV, no. 858; Bousquet 1981; SEG(31), nos. 289– 291; SEG(35), no. 630. See the references in Ehrhardt 1994, 48–49. 6 MAMA(3), no. 556 (prose). 98 chapter four

(Earth), Hermes, Chronos,7 Hora,8 and even—in exceptional instances— Ananke.9 Therefore the perpetrators were most often deities associated with fate or the underworld as well as various lesser deities or ‘daemonic’ powers. In Archaic times the dead were usually received by Hades and Persephone in the underworld, whereas death itself was caused by more abstract powers, such as µοῖρα, κήρ and θάνατος˘ . In Hellenistic times, on the other hand, the abducting was more frequently attributed to the chthonic deities; this role was also performed by daemons, Moira and Tyche.10 In most cases responsi- bility for the abduction of the deceased to the other world, from which they did not return, was attributed to the hostile or at best indiferent Hades. He could ‘abduct’ a wedding itself,11 he could even abduct representatives of his own sex, e.g. a deceased male who was sent (πένψας) to the θαλά- µοις of Persephone,12 or Hades could even take a husband from his own wife.13 Nevertheless, the most widespread mythical paradigm for the abduction of the dead was the actual kidnapping of Persephone by Hades. Numerous depictions of this myth have survived on Greek vases from the Classical period, ones which quite frequently originate from tombs.14 By the Greco- Roman period they became almost exclusively an aspect of funerary art. They appear on over a hundred sarcophagi, funerary paintings and mosaics. They are a particularly common feature on sarcophagi (including those of men). There are also urns and funerary reliefs showing the characteristic image of an overturned basket and a bird ying out of it, images which most likely refer to the Persephone myth. The girl was picking owers on a meadow and putting them in her basket, which was next overturned when Hades abducted her. In this way the basket came to symbolise the deceased or her soul, which was abducted by the god of the underworld. There were many variations on this theme. For instance, a Hellenistic relief

7 As πανδαµάτωρ, Peek GV, no. 850; Bernand 1969, no. 16; Horbury, Noy 1992, no. 39. 8 Dunant, Pouilloux 1954–1958(2), 196–197, no. 370; Feissel 1983, no. 265. 9 Kaibel EG, no. 156; Peek GV, no. 1759; Vérilhac 1978(1), no. 195. The Fate (εἷλε µόρος) in Al Muzzeini, et al. 2003, see SEG(51), no. 2212; AE 2003, nos. 1883–1885; SEG(53.2), no. 2057; BE 2004, no. 447. 10 Díaz de Cerio 1998, 59–62, 66, n. 52. 11 MAMA(8), no. 65; SGO(3), no. 14/11/01. 12 Kaibel EG, no. 201; Peek GV, no. 1541. 13 As Πλουτεὺς, MAMA(10), no. 169; SGO(3), no. 16/31/83. 14 For the Classical λήκυθοι, see the references in Wrede 1981, 12. For the wedding imagery in funerary context, Jenkins 1983; Evans-Grubbs 1989; Reilly 1989; Foley 1994, 81–82.