![]() ![]() In so doing, they offered a particularly vivid example of a broader cultural phenomenon: Augustan classicism. They replaced the sober and imposing Venus of the Republic - divine ancestress of Rome, and victory-bringing goddess of Sulla, Pompey, and Caesar - with a more elegant, Hellenized deity. These images, widely popular in Augustan times, marked a distinct break with earlier practice. From the elaborate state-sponsored monuments of the new regime, to more modest private homes, the goddess of love featured prominently in works of art whose idealized naturalism was inspired by the achievements of Classical and Hellenistic Greece. In the Augustan era, Greek-style images of Aphrodite permeated Roman visual culture. It is an analysis of the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite and in it I argue that the hymn demonstrates the historical shift of power that occurred from matrifocal societies in which women – and goddesses as symbolic representations of women – held more power than they did once patriarchy became firmly established. The original essay used untranslated Greek and for the purpose of publication I use Thelma Sargent's The Homeric Hymns: A Verse Translation published in 1975 as the source of the poetic text that I quote. This essay comprises about half of the original and I have altered it only slightly to improve it, but I have not changed the argument in any major way. This work has sat in my drawers for all these decades because at the time there was nowhere to put out such a work. In 1981, I wrote a 10,000 word thesis entitled 'Women and Power: A Feminist Reading of the Homeric Hymns to Aphrodite and Demeter'. Initially it was Modern Greek but after a year of so I decided to learn Ancient Greek as my passion for mythic stories exploded. Travelling to Crete really turned my head and upon returning to Australia I decided to learn Greek. I was a young feminist and had read Helen Diner's Mothers and Amazons and while in Greece I read up on the Greek Myths. In vorliegenden Artikel untersuche ich, mit welchen Mitteln die Bürger von Aphrodisias Im Gegenteil wurde es ein Problem in einer zunehmend christlichen Kultur. In spät antiker Zeit jedoch war die Verbindung mit der heidnischen Göttin für Liebe und Schönheit nicht länger mehr ein Vorteil. ![]() Zusammenfassung Unter römischer Herrschaft profi tierte Aphrodisias im Südwesten der Türkei erheblich von seinem selbst verbreiteten Ruf als Stadt der Aphrodite. Such treatment testifies to the dangerous power of Aphrodite for adherents of the new religion it also offers illuminating insights into the transformation of the Late Antique city in the transition from paganism to Christianity. Her sacrifices were banned, her statues mutilated, and her temples torn down, or converted into Christian churches. In consequence, Aphrodite's cult and images attracted particularly violent responses, not only in Aphrodisias but in other Late Antique towns also. This was due to her visual form – her erotic charm, her frequent nudity – and to her divine 'personality', especially her concern with erotic desire and sexual love. In what ways were pagan goddesses treated differently than their male counterparts? What forms might attacks on their worship take? And were certain goddesses particularly problematic? This paper argues that, while in theory all pagan deities were anathema to Christians, in practice Aphrodite was particularly targeted for attack. What has not been addressed, however, is the dimension of gender. Debate has focused on the extent of these attacks, and the range of attitudes Christians had towards pagan artifacts. Early Christian attacks on pagan cults and images have recently attracted con siderably scholarly attention. Aphrodisias's rich archaeological and epigraphic record, and the prominence of Aphrodite there, make this a useful case study for the dissolution of a pagan goddess's cult in late antiquity. This article examines the means by which the citizens of Aphrodisias eradicated the cult of Aphrodite, and in so doing transformed the visual landscape of their city. By the Late Antique era, however, this association with the pagan goddess of love and beauty was no longer an advantage rather, it was a problem in an increasingly Christian culture. Under Roman rule, Aphrodisias in southwestern Turkey profited considerably from its self-proclaimed status as the city of Aphrodite.
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