THE POETIC DARKNESS OF APHRODITE AND ITS RECEPTION IN VERGIL’S AENEID . A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Natasha Marta Binek December 2018 © 2018 Natasha Marta Binek ALL RIGHTS RESERVED i THE POETIC DARKNESS OF APHRODITE AND ITS RECEPTION IN VERGIL’S AENEID . Natasha Marta Binek, Ph.D. Cornell University 2018 This dissertation examines the figuring of Aphrodite in the Greek poetic tradition and its reception in Vergil’s Aeneid . In particular, it considers the unflattering depictions of the goddess of love, along with her powers and complements, that, on the one hand, conceptualize her as a chaotic elemental force at odds with civilized existence, and, on the other, repeatedly subject her to humiliating disempowerment. Drawing on J. Mira Seo’s reading of characters as “nodes of intertextuality” (2013: 4) and extending to divine figures the insights of recent scholarship on the interpretative value of the dynamics of fama , I contend that the dark fama of the goddess of love is an intertextual presence in the Aeneid that shapes and dramatizes the process of the characterization of its Venus to an extent that has not been previously appreciated. In Vergil’s poem, we find fragments of Venus’ dark poetic past embedded within new narratives and reconfigured to new, often oppositional, effects. In turn, this composite make-up undermines the stability of her character, as past and present voices compete in a dialectical process that ultimately denies a fixed identity to this profoundly referential figure. I also posit that Vergil dramatizes the doubleness inherent in his Venus by “relocating” some of the dark elements that typify the poetic articulation of the goddess of love into the articulation of his Juno. In turn, this resonance of Juno’s characterization with Venus’ fama destabilizes the oppositional relationship between the Aeneid ’s divine antagonists, whose conflict in many ways ii shapes the poem. Finally, I show that the deep affinity between Juno and Venus is both dramatized in the seamless merging of their influence within Dido’s experience of an “odi et amo ” passion and amplified by the parallel erotic coloring that marks their preoccupation with Aeneas. In blurring the distinctness of the goddesses’ identities, Vergil invites critical reflection on poetic apprehensions of divine individuality and on other oppositional configurations, both within the world of his poem and within the historical realities with which it is engaged. iii BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Natasha M. Binek received both her B.A. and her M.A. from the University of Toronto. During her time as a graduate student at Cornell, Natasha presented her research at a number of international conferences. She also published an article on the controversial last segment of the Dipylon Oinochoe graffito. Currently, she holds the position of Classics Fellow at Marlboro College in Vermont. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank the chair of my advisory committee, Hayden Pelliccia. With brilliant insight, thoughtfulness, and much-needed humor, he has guided my – sometimes storm-tossed – journey from Aphrodite of the Fifth Homeric Hymn all the way to Vergil’s Venus. I also owe a debt of gratitude to Caitlin Barrett for her unfailing encouragement, generosity, and kindness, and to Dave Makin, Verity Platt, and Joseph Reed for their invaluable comments, suggestions, and overall assistance. Warm thanks are likewise due to the Classics Department at Cornell for facilitating my academic growth in a constructive and caring environment. In particular, I would like to thank Eric Rebillard for his advice and unwavering support. Finally, I must acknowledge how much I owe to my husband Jeff, who left his comfortable life in Toronto to start from scratch in a small city in upstate New York. Eternally patient and positive, he has faithfully accompanied me on my academic adventures while keeping me grounded in the “real” world. Of course, this dissertation is dedicated to him! v TABLE OF CONTENTS Biographical Sketch iii Acknowledgements iv INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 1 Reconfiguring a Shabby Greek Fama into a New Roman Goddess: The Multivocal Composition of Venus 1.1. The anagnorisis of Aphrodite 12 1.2. Aphrodite: a threat to civilized existence 16 1.3. Aphrodite: hateful and disempowered 31 1.4. A window into Venus’ dark fama 44 1.5. The Reconfigurations 49 Iliad 5 and the HHA 51 Iliad 3 66 Odyssey 8 and Iliad 14 74 Apollonius’ Argonautica 84 Bion’s Epitath on Adonis 87 1.6. Concluding remarks 96 CHAPTER 2 Juno and the Goddess of Love: The Enemy Within 2.1. When the dark self is someone else 98 2.2. Mechanics of influence: from Venus to Juno 101 2.3. Aphrodite: a force of nature 105 2.4. Juno: a force of nature 117 2.5. Juno: a threat to civilized existence 132 2.6. Juno: hateful and disempowered 156 2.7. Concluding remarks 161 vi CHAPTER 3 Loving or Hating Aeneas: “Same Difference” 3.1. Dido: odi et amo 163 3.2. Juno's erotic hate 166 3.3. The erotic mother 169 3.4. Concluding remarks 173 CONCLUSION 175 APPENDIX 1 Venus, the Good Roman Mother 179 APPENDIX 2 Dark AMOR in the Eclogues and Georgics 185 APPENDIX 3 The Anatomy of the Helen Episode Debate 196 and New Arguments for Vergilian Authorship BIBLIOGRAPHY 243 1 INTRODUCTION As the divine mother of the poem’s eponymous hero, Venus has a vital and sustained role in the Aeneid . Her assiduous involvement in the storyline frames the narrative: she intervenes on behalf of her son on three occasions in both the first and last book. In fact, the poem's very title underscores her importance, for according to the longer Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, Aeneas' name reifies the goddess' terrible pain, αἰνὸν ἄχος (198-199) at having conceived a child in the bed of a mortal. 1 At a certain level, then, the Aeneid is actually the story of Venus's suffering, rooted in her ongoing participation in the mortal condition via her son and his descendants. Along with Jupiter and Juno, Venus is also a principal agent of the Aeneid ’s divine machinery, one of the formal features through which the Roman work signals its generic identity and close alignment with the Homeric tradition and in so doing activates Venus’ epic heritage. In fact, through her identity as a major Olympian goddess Vergil’s Venus also attracts sources beyond the epic genre. It is with a view of the complex ways in which the Aeneid ’s negotiates the extensive literary past of its Venus that this study considers the goddess of love in the Greek poetic tradition and her characterization in the Aeneid . Interpretations of Vergil’s Venus: the good, the bad, and the (un)sexy Like the Aeneid itself, the character of Vergil’s Venus has generated a wide range of interpretations. To begin with, it is a long-standing point of disagreement whether she constitutes a continuation of the Greek goddess of love in her function of embodied sexuality. Thus, in the middle of the 20 th century, Anderson felt compelled to counter the judgements presenting Venus 1 For the strong likelihood of Vergil’s familiarity with this text, see Sec. 1.5, note 128 and Sec. 3.3, pp. 171-172. 2 as “a colorless paragon of matronly respectability,” 2 by pointing to “traces of the old, capricious Aphrodite” (whom he terms a “disturbing lady of easy virtue”) in Venus’ encounter with her son in Book 1. 3 A comparison of scholarly views on what happens at the conclusion of this encounter vividly illustrates this interpretative disparity. Before she departs, Venus reveals herself to Aeneas as his mother through a change in form; her divine loveliness becomes apparent and pedes vestis defluxit ad imos (1.404). Harrison argues that the downward flow of her dress works to minimize the initial sensuality of her divine splendor and lends the goddess “a matronly gravity.” 4 The same scene, however, has also inspired Reckford to propose that Venus’ clothes slide off her body to foreground her “overwhelming erotic appeal.” 5 Scholars like Wlosok and Paschalis contend – on Harrison’s side – that Vergil very much downplays the goddess’ traditional nature, while Gutting, for instance, argues that the poet presents her as a relentless champion of the erotic. 6 A lack of scholarly consensus also attends two intersecting aspects of Vergil’s Venus: her role as mother and her ideological significance. In terms of the first, some stress Venus’ devotion to Aeneas, while others view her as sorely-lacking in her maternal function. The former group stresses her ardent concern and unrelenting assistance to her son throughout the poem; the latter focuses on her encounter with Aeneas in Book 1, seemingly adopting the emotional vantage point of the Trojan at the moment of her divine transformation: he accuses his mother of cruelty in her deceptions (1.407-409). Detractors of Venus see a deficiency of affection in the mother- son relationship and contrast this emotional distance with the warm interactions between Thetis 2 Anderson 1955: 233, citing Cartault (1926: 88) and Bailey (1935: 314). 3 Anderson 1955: 237 & 233. 4 Harrison 1972-73: 12-13. 5 Reckford 1995-96: 3. 6 Wlosok 1967: 108 et passim ; Paschalis: 1984; Gutting 2006: 11 et passim . 3 and Achilles in the Iliad .7 As for the ideological assessments of Vergil’s goddess, the divide in opinions is well illustrated by the stances of Wlosok and Lyne. The former writes of Venus in overwhelmingly positive terms, 8 seeing her as the advocate of peace and tranquility, who nevertheless – in her role as Aeneadenmutter and patron of what is beautiful – champions her people as they are called to fight “im Namen der göttlichen Ordnung und des Rechts zur Ahndung von Gewalt und Frevel.” 9 Lyne – to use his own words – takes “a very different view of Vergil’s Venus.” 10 In keeping with his anti-imperialist approach, Lyne sees Vergil’s portrayal of Augustus’ reputed ancestress as predominately negative: “One might expect Rome's great epic to defer to her and assign to her dignity, benevolence, magnificence.