Aphrodisia

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the settlement, see
Aphrodisia (town)
.

The Aphrodisia festival (

Cythera, Sparta, Thebes, Delos, and Elis, and her most ancient temple was at Paphos. Textual sources explicitly mention Aphrodisia festivals in Corinth and in Athens, where the many prostitutes that resided in the city celebrated the festival as a means of worshipping their patron goddess.[2] Though no textual sources expressly mention an Aphrodisia festival in Cythera, Thebes, or Elis, it likely occurred since textual and iconographical sources indicate that Aphrodite Pandemos had a cult following in these areas. The Aphrodisia festival was one of the most important ceremonies in Delos, though not much is known about the details of the celebration. The inscriptions merely indicate that the festival required the purchase of ropes, torches and wood, which were customary expenses of all Delian festivals.[3]

Festival rituals

What is known about the rituals of the Aphrodisia festival is consistent with Aphrodite's representation in iconography and text. For example, the first ritual of the festival would be to purify the temple with the blood from a dove, the sacred bird of Aphrodite. Afterwards, worshipers would carry sacred images of the goddess, as well as Peitho, in a procession to be washed. Aphrodite's connection to the sea is well-documented, and originates in Hesiod's Theogony, where he refers to her as the "foam-born goddess."[4] During the festival it was not permitted to make bloody sacrifices, since the altar could not be polluted with the blood of the sacrifice victims, which were usually white male goats. This of course excludes the blood of the sacred dove, made at the beginning of the ritual to purify the altar. In addition to live male goats, worshipers would offer fire, flowers, and incense.[5] The white male goat is also a consistent symbol in the worship of Aphrodite Pandemos. She was often represented in iconography riding on a male goat, which was known to be a carnal symbol. Pausanias wittily reports, "The meaning of the tortoise and of the he-goat I leave to those who care to guess,"[6] slyly implying the sensual nature of Aphrodite's representation.

Aphrodite Pandemos

In the 4th century,

synoikismos ("dwelling together").[7] Peitho, the goddess of persuasion, was also worshipped during the Attic Aphrodisia.[2] Preparations for the festival may have included the sacrifice of doves to purify the temple and alter, washing the statues, coating the temple roof in pitch, and the acquiring purple cloth. Some scholars speculate that the festival took place on the fourth day of Hekatombaion (mid July-mid August), near the beginning of the Attic new year.[2]

See also

References

  1. ^ Wikipedia article | (Attic calendar)
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-0472113323
    .
  3. ^ Irene Ringwood Arnold, Local Festivals at Delos, American Journal of Archaeology Vol. 37, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1933), pp. 452-458 (viewed through JSTOR)
  4. ^ Hesiod, Theogony, (lines 173-205), Perseus Digital Library
  5. ^ Lucian, Dial. Meret. 7; comp. Xenoph. Sympos.
  6. ^ Andrea Alciato, Emblemata / Les emblemes (1584).
  7. ^ Walker, Henry J., Theseus and Athens, Oxford University Press (US 1995)
  • Richard L. Hunter, Plato's Symposium, Oxford University Press: 2004, p. 44
  • Arnold, Irene Ringwood. Local Festivals at Delos: American Journal of Archaeology 1993.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Pandemos". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

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