CLA 2323 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Asclepius, Aeacus, Hylas
Document Summary
Overview: the underworld and the afterlife, the boundary between gods and humans, homosexuality in greek myth and in ancient greek society. Regarding the goddess aphrodite, one symbol or attribute not mentioned at buxton page 69 is a lady"s hand- mirror which in ancient greece might be polished bronze or copper rather than glass. Over time, an abstract hand-mirror came to symbolize the aphrodite: . It also came to symbolize her planet, which we call venus. Similarly for aphrodite"s extramarital lover, the war god ares (or mars to the ancient romans). His symbol came to be an abstract shield and spear: . Today those two signs live on, as medical symbols for gender and as astronomical symbols for the planets venus and mars. The underworld and the afterlife: buxton pp. 52 (the orphic mysteries), 30 (the eleusinian mysteries), 72 73 (the goddess.