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Aphrodite and the Xopo~

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Aphrodite and the Xopo~ CHAPTER TWO APHRODITE AND THE XOPO~ In Greek epic Aphrodite is frequently associated with themes of dance and song, especially through formulas including the word xop6c;. 1 She dances with other goddesses on Olympus (H. A p. 194- 196), joins the dances of the Charites (cr 194), and claims to have been snatched away from a dance in honor of Artemis (H. Aph. n7- u8). Furthermore, patterns of diction, such as frequent colloca­ tions with tµepoc; and related words, connect the xop6c; with the role of Aphrodite as goddess of love. Aphrodite's connection with the xop6c; arises from several sources, including but not limited to diction associated with the Indo­ European Dawn-goddess. The xop6c; passages in Greek epic also reflect aspects of cult history, and Aphrodite's association with the xop6c; is due in part to her cult function as a fertility goddess. An analysis of her relation to the xop6c; will draw on many types of evidence, therefore, and thus may provide some insight into the complex nature of Aphrodite in epic. Because some contexts of xop6c; in Greek epic apparently refer to actual cult dances, it will be useful to review briefly the history of dancing and dancing-places in pre-Greek and archaic Greek religion. Sacred dances seem to have been an important feature of the Minoan religion, to have persisted in Crete through historical times, and perhaps to have influenced the development of cult dances among the Greeks. 2 1 Aphrodite was commonly associated with dancing in later times too. Lucian, On the Dance 11, refers to the Spartan dances 'dear to Dionysus and Aphrodite'. A verse from modern Sicily suggests a long duration of her connection with the dance on that island, where there was a flourishing cult of Venus Erycina, successor to Aphrodite in Roman times, who apparently was metathesized into a Christian saint: 0 santa Venera, Si bella, si tenera, Che in Paradiso Tripa avanti Gesu. (Quoted in William Ridgeway, The Dramas and Religious Dances of non­ European Races [Cambridge 1915] p. 10.) 2 The Minoan dance forms and their historical influence are discussed by Lillian B. Lawler, The Dance in Ancient Greece (London, Black, 1964), Ch. 2. 44 APHRODITE AND THE x_op6c., One Minoan dance form was a simple circle-dance, apparently performed by women, as illustrated on the famous lsopata ring (ca. 1500 B. C.) .1 (In fact this dance type is amply illustrated from all periods of pre-Greek and Greek art, a fact which indicates its long history in Greek religion.) The ring shows three women dancing among flowers, with a smaller female figure near them. This figure, variously interpreted by religious historians, is most frequently considered a representation of the goddess the women are invoking by their dance. 2 Several local traditions, as well as a passage in the Iliad, indicate the importance of the dance in connection with the Cretan figure Ariadne, whose cult may have given way to Aphrodite's. In the Iliad, a dance-floor shown on the shield of Achilles is compared to the one made by Daedalus for Ariadne in Cnossus (~ 590-592). Pausanias mentions a -njc., 'ApLoc~v")c., x_op6c., carved in white marble by Daedalus and still to be seen at Cnossus (9.40.3). Another artifact attributed to Daedalus is mentioned by Pausanias in the same context. It is a small wooden image of Aphrodite on Delos, which Theseus got from Ariadne. After her death he dedicated it to 'to the god' (presumably Apollo). dancing with his rescued youths the labyrinthine geranos. 3 This legend suggests a direct connection between Aphrodite's worship and the Cretan cult dances. Aphrodite appears to be replacing, in part, the old Minoan goddess Ariadne, who is in turn reduced to mortal status.4 1 The Isopata ring has been frequently reproduced, e.g. in Sir Arthur Evans' monumental work, The Palace of Minos (London, Macmillan, 1935), vol. III, Fig. 38, p. 68. Contemporary Minoan illustrations of circle-dances in paved areas, surrounded by spectators, complement the documentation of the dance provided by the Isopata ring. Cf. e.g. the fresco reproduced in Evans, op. cit., vol. III, plate xviii. 2 As in Lawler, op. cit., p. 32, and Martin Nilsson, The Minoan-Mycenaean Religion and its Survival in Greek Religion, second edition (New York, Biblo and Tannen, 1971), pp. 279-280. But T. B. L. Webster, The Greek Chorus (London, Methuen, 1970), p. 5, remarks that 'it is uncertain whether she is the leader of the dancers or the epiphany of the goddess whom they are invoking.' The figure could also be interpreted as a bell-shaped image of the goddess, cf. Axel W. Persson, The Religion of Greece in Prehistoric Times, (Berkeley, Univ. of Calif. Press, 1942), p. 49. 3 The geranos dance is often associated with the unusual dance of alternate boys and girls on the Francois vase, cf. Lawler, op. cit., pp. 46-7. ' This replacement theory is discussed by Lewis Richard Farnell, Cults of the Greek States, vol. II, pp. 631-4. Nilsson, op. cit., p. 524 note 61, is reluc­ tant to accept a theory of cult replacement, on the grounds that 'the 'fable may be an invention attached to the myth of Theseus' to exalt the cult and .
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