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Pasiphaë

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Queen of Crete in Greek mythology
For the moon of Jupiter, seePasiphae (moon).
Not to be confused withPasithea.
Pasiphaë
Sorceress goddess
Pasiphaë sits on a throne, aRoman mosaic fromZeugma Mosaic Museum
AbodeCrete
Genealogy
ParentsHelios andPerse ofCrete
SiblingsCirce,Aeetes,Aloeus,Perses,Phaethon, theHeliades, theHeliadae and others
ConsortMinos,Cretan Bull
ChildrenAcacallis,Ariadne,Androgeus,Glaucus,Deucalion,Phaedra,Xenodice,Catreus and theMinotaur.
Part ofa series on
Ancient Greek religion
Laurel wreath

InGreek mythology,Pasiphaë (/pəˈsɪfiiː/;[1]Ancient Greek:Πασιφάη,romanized: Pāsipháē,lit. 'wide-shining', derived from πᾶσι (dative plural) "for all" and φάος/φῶςphaos/phos "light")[2] was a queen ofCrete. The daughter ofHelios and theOceanidnymphPerse, Pasiphaë is notable as the mother of theMinotaur. Her husband,Minos, failed to sacrifice theCretan Bull toPoseidon as he had promised.Poseidon then cursed Pasiphaë to fall in love with the bull.Athenian inventorDaedalus built a hollow cow for her to hide in so she could mate with the bull, which resulted in her conceiving the Minotaur.

Family

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Parentage

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Pasiphaë was the daughter ofgod of the Sun,Helios,[3][4][5][6] and theOceanidnymph[7]Perse.[8][9][10] She was thus the sister ofAeëtes,Circe andPerses of Colchis. In some accounts, Pasiphaë's mother was identified as the island-nymphCrete herself.[11][12] Like her doublet[clarification needed]Europa, the consort of Zeus, her origins were in the East, in her case at the earliest-knownKartvelian-speaking polity ofColchis (Egrisi (Georgian:ეგრისი), now in westernGeorgia[13][14][15][16]).

Marriage and children

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Pasiphaë was given in marriage to KingMinos ofCrete. With Minos, she was the mother ofAcacallis,Ariadne,Androgeus,Glaucus,Deucalion,[17]Phaedra,Xenodice, andCatreus.

After having sex with the Cretan Bull, she gave birth to the "star-like" Asterion, who became known as theMinotaur.

Mythology

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Daedalus presents the artificial cow to Pasiphaë: Roman fresco in theHouse of the Vettii, Pompeii, 1st century CE.

Birth of the Minotaur

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Minos was required to sacrifice "the fairest bull born in its herd" toPoseidon each year. One year, an extremely beautiful snow-white bull was born: theCretan Bull. Minos refused to sacrifice the animal, and sacrificed another, inferior bull instead. As punishment, Poseidon cursed Pasiphaë to experience lust for the Cretan bull.

Ultimately, Pasiphaë went toDaedalus and asked him to help her mate with the bull. Daedalus then created a hollow wooden cow covered with real cow-skin, so realistic that it fooled the Cretan Bull. Pasiphaë climbed into the structure, allowing the bull to mate with her. Pasiphaë fell pregnant and gave birth to a half-human half-bull creature that fed solely on human flesh. The child was named Asterius, after the previous king, but was commonly called theMinotaur ("the bull of Minos").[18][19][20]

The myth of Pasiphaë's coupling with the bull and the subsequent birth of the Minotaur was the subject ofEuripides's lost play theCretans, of which few fragments survive. Sections include a chorus of priests presenting themselves and addressing Minos, someone (perhaps a wetnurse) informing Minos of the newborn infant's nature (informing Minos and the audience, among others, that Pasiphaë breastfeeds the Minotaur like an infant), and a dialogue between Pasiphaë and Minos where they argue over which between them is responsible.[21] Pasiphaë's speech defending herself is preserved, an answer to Minos's accusations (not preserved) in which she excuses herself on account of acting under the constraint of divine power, and insists that the one to blame is actually Minos, who angered the sea-god.[22]

PASIPHAË:

If I had sold the gifts ofKypris,
given my body in secret to some man,
you would have every right to condemn me
as a whore. But this was no act of the will;
I am suffering from some madness brought on
by agod.
It’s not plausible!
What could I have seen in a bull
to assault my heart with this shameful passion?
Did he look too handsome in his robe?
Did a sea of fire smoulder in his eyes?
Was it the red tint of his hair, his dark beard?[23]

Mythological scholars and authors Ruck and Staples remarked that "the Bull was the old pre-Olympian Poseidon".[24]

Variations on the myth

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Pseudo-Apollodorus mentions a slightly differing reason for why Poseidon cursed Pasiphaë; citing that Minos wanted to be king, and he called upon Poseidon to send him a bull in order to prove to the kingdom that he had received sovereignty from the gods. Upon calling on Poseidon, Minos failed to sacrifice the bull, as Poseidon wished, causing the god to grow angry with him.

According to sixth century BC authorBacchylides, the curse was instead sent byAphrodite[25] and Hyginus says this was because Pasiphaë had neglected Aphrodite's worship for years.[26] In yet another version, Aphrodite cursed Pasiphaë (as well as several of her sisters) with unnatural desires as a revenge against her fatherHelios,[27] for he had revealed to Aphrodite's husbandHephaestus her secret affair withAres, the god of war, earning Aphrodite's eternal hatred for himself and his whole race.[28][29]

Pasiphaë nursing the infantMinotaur, red-figure kylix found atEtruscanVulci, 4th century BC.

In some more obscure traditions, it was not Poseidon's bull but Minos's father Zeus disguised as one who made love to Pasiphaë and sired the Minotaur.[30] An ancient Greek lexicon mentions a tradition where Zeus and Pasiphaë are the parents of the Egyptian godAmun, who was identified with Zeus.[31]

Pasiphaë's curse

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In other aspects, Pasiphaë, like her nieceMedea, was a mistress of magical herbal arts in the Greek imagination. The author ofBibliotheke records the fidelity charm she placed upon Minos that caused him to ejaculate serpents, scorpions, and centipedes whenever he laid with another woman, killing them. However,Procris, after consuming a protectivecircean herb, lay with Minos with impunity.[32]

In another version, this unexplained disease that tormented Minos killed all his concubines and prevented him and Pasiphaë from having any children (the scorpions and serpents did not otherwise harm Pasiphaë, as she was an immortal child of theSun). Procris then inserted agoat's bladder into a woman, told Minos to ejaculate the scorpions in there, and then sent him to Pasiphaë. The couple was thus able to conceive eight children.[5] Records indicate, this became the first modern documentation of a sheath or condom, though working to promote fertility.[33]

Pasiphae entering the hollow cow by Giulio Romano (15th century)

Daedalus and Icarus

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In one version of the story, Pasiphaë suppliedDaedalus and his sonIcarus with a ship in order to escapeMinos andCrete.[34] In another, she helped him hide until he fashioned wings made of wax and bird feathers.[35]

Variations about Pasiphaë's death

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While Pasiphaë is an immortal goddess in some texts, other authors treated her as a mortal woman, likeEuripides who in his playCretans has Minos sentence her to death (her eventual fate is unclear, as no relevant fragment survives). InVirgil'sAeneid,Aeneas sees her when he visits theUnderworld, describing Pasiphae residing in the Mournful Fields, a place inhabited by sinful lovers.[36]

Personae of Pasiphaë

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Daedalus presents the hollow cow to Pasiphae, Campana relief in the Louvre.

In the general understanding of the Minoan myth,[37] Pasiphaë andDaedalus'[38] construction of the wooden cow allowed her to satisfy her desire[39] for the Cretan Bull. Through this interpretation she was reduced from a near-divine figure (daughter of the Sun) to a stereotype of grotesquebestiality and the shocking excesses of lust and deceit.[40]

Pasiphaë appeared inVirgil'sEclogue VI (45–60), in Silenus's list of suitable mythological subjects, on which Virgil lingers in such detail that he gives the sixteen-line episode the weight of a brief inset myth.[41]

In Ovid'sArs Amatoria, Pasiphaë is framed in zoophilic terms:

Pasiphae fieri gaudebat adultera tauri—"Pasiphaë took pleasure in becoming an adulteress with a bull."[42]

Pasiphaë is often included on lists among mythical women ruled bylust; other women includePhaedra,Byblis,Myrrha,Scylla andSemiramis. Scholars see her as a personified sin of bestiality.[43]

Ars Amatoria shows Pasiphaë's jealousy of the cows; she's primping in front of a mirror while she laments that she is not a cow and killing her rivals.[43]

Cult of Pasiphaë

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Pasiphaë and the Cretan Bull on a cow-filled field (13th century)

On divination

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In mainland Greece, Pasiphaë was worshipped as an oracular goddess atThalamae, one of the originalkoine ofSparta. The geographerPausanias describes the shrine as small, situated near a clear stream, and flanked by bronze statues of Helios and Pasiphaë. His account also equates Pasiphaë withIno and the lunar goddessSelene.

Cicero writes inDe Divinatione 1.96 that the Spartanephors would sleep at the shrine of Pasiphaë, seeking prophetic dreams to aid them in governance. According toPlutarch,[44] Spartan society twice underwent major upheavals sparked by the ephors' dreams at the shrine during the Hellenistic era. In one case, an ephor dreamed that some of his colleagues' chairs were removed from theagora, and that a voice called out "this is better for Sparta"; inspired by this, KingCleomenes acted to consolidate royal power. Again during the reign of KingAgis, several ephors brought the people into revolt with oracles from Pasiphaë's shrine promising remission of debts and redistribution of land.

Celestial deity

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InDescription of Greece,Pausanias equates Pasiphaë withSelene, implying that the figure was worshipped as alunar deity.[45] However, further studies onMinoan religion indicate that the sun was a female figure, suggesting instead that Pasiphaë was originally asolar goddess, an interpretation consistent with her depiction asHelios's daughter.[46] Poseidon's bull may in turn be vestigial of thelunar bull prevalent inAncient Mesopotamian religion.[47]

Nowadays, Pasiphaë and her son, the Minotaur, are associated with the astrological sign of Taurus.

Other representations

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Pasiphae, a moon ofJupiter, photographed by theHaute-Provence Observatory

In art

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The myth of Pasiphaë and the Cretan Bull became widely depicted in art throughout history.[citation needed] Pasiphaë was most often depicted with a bull near her, signifying the connection to the myth.[citation needed]

Scientific representation

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One ofJupiter's 79 moons, discovered in 1908, is named afterPasiphaë, the woman of the myth of the Minotaur.

Literary representation

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Pasiphaé is mentioned in Canto 12 ofDante Alighieri'sInferno. When Dante encounters the Minotaur, he describes the unnatural and deceptive manner of the beast's conception.

Fiona Benson's third collection of poetry,Ephemeron, contains a long section entitledTranslations from the Pasiphaë in which she retells the Minotaur myth from the point of view of the bull-child's mother.

In popular culture

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Daedalus constructing the wooden cow which Pasiphaë uses to mate with the Cretan Bull (17th cent)
Pasiphaë and the Cretan Bull (19th cent.) byGustave Moreau
  • Pasiphaë is a major antagonist inRick Riordan's2013 fantasy novelThe House of Hades. In this novel, she is portrayed as an immortal sorceress and former wife of the lateKing Minos. Having grown bitter towards the gods after the events of the Minoan myth, Pasiphaë allies with the goddessGaea and hergiant army to overthrow theOlympian gods. She is confronted and defeated by Hazel Levesque, a demigod daughter ofPluto, who had been trained in sorcery by the goddessHecate. In this novel, it is revealed that the Labyrinth is tied to her life force as much as Daedalus's, thereby rendering the infamous inventor's sacrifice in the previous series useless.[48]
  • Pasiphaë appears inMadeline Miller's2018 novelCirce, the sister of the book's protagonistCirce, the daughter ofHelios andPerse. A witch just like her, she and Circe have an antagonistic and sour relationship; after Pasiphaë has intercourse with theCretan Bull, she calls in Circe to assist her in theMinotaur's birth though the two sisters hardly reconcile their differences.

Genealogy

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Pasiphaë's family tree
Gaia
Uranus
HyperionTheiaOceanusTethys
HeliosPerse
CirceAeëtesPASIPHAËPersesAloeus

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^Wells, John C. (2009). "Pasiphae, Pasiphaë".Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. London: Pearson Longman.ISBN 978-1-4058-8118-0.
  2. ^An attribute of the Moon, asPausanias remarked in passing (i.43.96): compareEuryphaessa; if Pasipháē is an ancient conventional Minoanepithet translated into Greek, it would be a "loan translation", orcalque.
  3. ^Apollonius Rhodius,Argonautica3.999
  4. ^Ovid,Metamorphoses9.735
  5. ^abAntoninus Liberalis,41
  6. ^Seneca,Phaedra112
  7. ^Hesiod,Theogony355
  8. ^Apollodorus,1.9.1
  9. ^Hyginus,FabulaePreface
  10. ^Cicero,De Natura Deorum48.4
  11. ^Diodorus Siculus,Bibliotheca historica4.60.4
  12. ^Tzetzes,Chiliades4.361
  13. ^David Marshall Lang.The Georgians. p. 59. Frederick A. Praeger. New York (1966).
  14. ^Antiquity 1994. p. 359.The Great Soviet Encyclopedia: Значение слова "Колхи" в Большой Советской Энциклопедии
  15. ^The Cambridge Ancient History, John Anthony Crook,Elizabeth Rawson, p. 255
  16. ^David Marshall Lang.The Georgians. p. 75, 76-88. Frederick A. Praeger. New York (1966).
  17. ^Hyginus,Fabulae14
  18. ^Apollodorus,3.1.4
  19. ^Diodorus Siculus,Historic Library4.77.1
  20. ^Philostratus the Elder,Imagines1.16.1
  21. ^Johan Tralau,Cannibalism, Vegetarianism, and the Community of Sacrifice: Rediscovering Euripides' Cretans and the Beginnings of Political Philosophy, the University of Chicago Press Journals[1].
  22. ^Sansone, David. “Euripides, Cretans Frag. 472e.16—26 Kannicht.” Zeitschrift Für Papyrologie Und Epigraphik, vol. 184, Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, 2013, pp.58–65.
  23. ^Euripides,CretansFr. 472e K, translation by P. T. Rourke viaDiotíma.
  24. ^Ruck and Staples 1994:213.
  25. ^Bacchylides"frag 26".
  26. ^Hyginus,Fabulae40
  27. ^Libanius,Progymnasmata2.21
  28. ^Seneca,Phaedra124
  29. ^Scholia onEuripides'Hippolytus47.
  30. ^Porphyry,On Abstinence from Animal Food3.16
  31. ^Lexicon of Greek Languages.v. Ἄμμων
  32. ^Apollodorus,3.15.1
  33. ^Peel, John; Finch, B. E.; Green, Hugh (March 1965)."Contraception through the Ages".Population Studies.18 (3): 330.doi:10.2307/2173294.JSTOR 2173294.
  34. ^Diodorus Siculus,Historic Library4.77.5
  35. ^Diodorus Siculus,Historic Library4.77.7
  36. ^Virgil,Aeneid6.447
  37. ^Specific astrological or calendrical interpretations of themystic mating of the "wide-shining" daughter of the Sun with amythological bull, transformed into an unnatural curse in Hellene myth, are prone to variability and debate.
  38. ^Daedalus was of the line of the chthonic king at AthensErechtheus.
  39. ^Greek myth characteristically emphasizes the accursed unnaturalness of a mystical marriage conceived literally as merely carnal: a fragment ofBacchylides alludes to "her unspeakable sickness" andHyginus (inFabulae40) to "an unnatural love for a bull".
  40. ^This was the commonplace of brief notices of Pasiphaë among Latin poets, too, Rebecca Armstrong notes, inCretan Women: Pasiphae, Ariadne, and Phaedra in Latin Poetry (Oxford University Press) 2006:169. Ruck and Staples (1994:9) argue that "the suspension of linear chronology" is a common feature in Greek myths.
  41. ^Armstrong 2006:171.
  42. ^Ovid,Ars Amatoria1.9.33
  43. ^abBlumenfeld-Kosinski, Renate (1996)."The Scandal of Pasiphae: Narration and Interpretation in the "Ovide moralisé"".Modern Philology.93 (3):307–326.doi:10.1086/392321.ISSN 0026-8232.JSTOR 438324.S2CID 162197853.
  44. ^Plutarch,Parallel LivesAgis and Cleomenes.
  45. ^Pausanias,3.26.1
  46. ^Goodison, L. “From Tholos Tomb to Throne Room: Perceptions of the Sun in Minoan Ritual”. In: R. LAFFINEUR and R. HÄGG (eds.).Potnia: Deities and Religion in the Aegean Bronze Age. 2001. pp. 77-88.
  47. ^"Bull (Mythology)". Archived fromthe original on 2015-12-08. Retrieved2015-11-30.
  48. ^Riordan, Rick (2013).The House of Hades.New York City:Disney-Hyperion.ISBN 978-1-4231-4672-8.

References

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