Why Aphrodite in the Gardens has, among many reasons, a shrine along the Sacred Way to Eleusis? One of the reasons is given by the most venerable Aeschylus in the Danaides (from Athenaeus, XIII 73): The holy Heaven (Ouranos) yearns to permeate the Earth, and yearning seizes the Earth to join in wedlock; the rain, fallen from the amorous Heaven, impregnates the Earth, and She generated for mankind the food of flocks and herds and the vivifying fruit of Demeter; and for mature plants is the result of the most accomplished moist marriage-rite. Of all these things I (Aphrodite) am the cause. In fact, during the twenty-second day of Boedromion, the ritual called ‘Plemochoai’ takes place: “In the Eleusinian rites, the gazed up to the Heaven and cried aloud “rain”, they gazed down upon the Earth and cried “conceive” - “This is the great and ineffable Mystery of the Eleusinians: rain and conceive.” - “They make use of it [ = kotyliskos] in Eleusis on the last day of the Mysteries which they name from it Plemochoai, on which day, after they have filled two plemochoai, making one stand up toward the east and one toward the west, they overturn them while pronouncing a mystic formula. The author of the Peirithus, whether he is Kritias the Tyrant or Euripides, makes mention of them [= plemochoai] by saying the following: ‘That we may pour out these plemochoai into the earthy chasm with propitious speech.” (see Proklos in Tim. 40e; Athen. XI 93; Pollux Onom. 10.73-74; Hipp. Ref. V 7,34) [Leaning Aphrodite known as Aphrodite of the Gardens...this statue belongs to a series of Antique copies (Naples inv. 6396, Heraclion inv. 325, Louvre Ma 420…) reproductions of Aphrodite leaning on a pillar, the composition and treatment of the drapery typical of the late 5th century BC. The best-preserved copy (in Naples) shows a veiled head also seen on 5th century reliefs and bronze elements where the figure, associated with Eros, is clearly identifiable Aphrodite]
Posted on: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 09:31:02 +0000
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