Polythesim, Power and Aphrodite

Jupiter and Juno on Mount Ida by James Barry, 1773 (City Art Galleries, Sheffield.)

Arguably one of the most interesting aspects of ancient Greek religion is polytheism, as it is the feature most distinct from the Christianised view of religion which we are surrounded by in the west. The gods and goddesses are what first attracted me to the study of Classical Civilization, specifically the complex, delicate and often tense relationships which they built between themselves. One aspect of these relationships which was brought up in the polytheism lecture and I would like to further explore is power, specifically power struggles. As this blog is focusing on the ‘personage’ of Aphrodite I wish to focus on the power struggle between the goddess and Zeus and, also using Aphrodite to steer the discussion, how power could be gained through association between the gods/goddesses.

It is a common thought, indeed one I admit to holding myself in the past, that each god is powerful in their own right but that there is also a strict hierarchy of power; with Zeus at the top, followed by the remaining ‘Great 12’ Olympians, then the lesser gods, Nymphs .etc. However, Homeric Hymn 5 illustrates that power amongst the gods was not so straightforward. Homeric Hymn 5 states that Aphrodite, herself one of the ‘Great 12’ has power, through her affinity with love/lust, over 8 of the remaining 11 Olympians, including Zeus, along with all other creatures; immortal, mortal and in between. This illuminates an interesting power struggle between Zeus and Aphrodite; it could be argued that Zeus was always more powerful because he did not have limitations on his power as Aphrodite did, in that she had no power over Athena, Artemis and Hestia. However, as I will move onto next, gods could always find ways around their power limits. The fact that Aphrodite proved a real threat to Zeus’ authority could be argued through the final parts of Homeric Hymn 5 in which Zeus makes Aphrodite lust after a mortal man (how is unknown) so that she can no longer mock the other gods for the pairings with mortals that she forces upon them. Essentially what Zeus does is to ‘bring her down a peg or two’, he regains some of the power over himself and the other gods that Aphrodite had and which Zeus may have felt was rightfully his.

As I have mentioned, power amongst the Greek gods was not a simple chain of command, both with regards to who and what each god held power over. It may be best to lead by example with this point; In Homer’s Iliad Hera, as the wife of Zeus, holds no power over the King of the gods. She can implore him to make decisions which match her objectives but she cannot command him or physically over power him to do so. However, in book 14 Hera tricks Aphrodite to gain a temporary power over Zeus, in effect ‘borrowing’ Aphrodite’s power over her husband for her own gain.

So then the Ox-eyed queen Hera wondered how she might fuddle the mind of Zeus...she set out from her room, and called Aphrodite aside from the other gods, and said to her: 'Now, dear child, will you do something for me that I tell you- or will you refuse out of anger that I side with the Danaans while you help the Trojans? Then Aphrodite, daughter of Zeus, answered her: 'Hera, queenly goddess, daughter of great Kronos, say what is in your mind. My heart prompts me to do it, if I can and it is something possible.' Queen Hera answered with deceitful intent: 'Give me then Love and Desire, the power with which you overcome all the immortals and mortal men alike...' (Iliad:14:150-230)

 This episode was captured rather well by James Barry (picture at the start of this posting), who's portrait could be argued to show Hera in quite a dominant stance, which may suggest the power she has over Zeus at that particular moment in time. It is arguable that the 'Seduction of Zeus' scenes in the Iliad illustrate how complex, contradictory and manipulative the Greek polytheistic system could be regarding power play between the immortals.

References:

Homer, (1987) The Iliad, Hammond, M. (trans.)  London: Penguin Group

Parker, R., (2011) On Greek Religion,  New York: Cornell University, p89

Homeric hymns: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0138