InGreek mythology,Ganymede (/ˈɡænɪmiːd/GAN-im-eed)[1] orGanymedes (/ˌɡænɪˈmiːdiːz/GAN-im-EE-deez;[2]Ancient Greek:Γανυμήδης,romanized: Ganymēdēs) is adivine hero whose homeland wasTroy.Homer describes Ganymede as the most handsome of mortals and tells the story of how he was abducted by the gods to serve asZeus'scup-bearer inOlympus. The Latin form of the name wasCatamitus (and also "Ganymedes"), from which the English wordcatamite is derived.[3] The earliest forms of the myth have no erotic content, but by the 5th century BCE it was believed that Zeus had a sexual passion for him.[4] Socrates says that Zeus was in love with Ganymede, called "desire" inPlato'sPhaedrus;[5] but inXenophon'sSymposium, Socrates argues Zeus loved him for his mind and their relationship was not sexual. By the early modern period, the event was termed a "rape" with little distinction from equivalent female abductees likeIo,Europa, orCallisto.
According toDictys Cretensis, Ganymede was instead abducted by the Cretans.[6]
Roman-erarelief depicting the eagle of Zeus abducting Ganymede, hisPhrygian cap denoting an eastern origin, and a river god
The story of Ganymede first appears inHomer'sIliad without any suggestion of a sexual connection, but later became associated with male same-sex relationships and homoerotic passion.[21] The myth as given by Homer (8th century BCE) simply relates how the gods recognized Ganymede's beauty and brought him to Olympus to be Zeus' cupbearer. By the 6th century BCE, however, the story was given as Zeus falling in love with Ganymede and taking him to be his lover.[21] Ganymede was abducted byZeus fromMount Ida near Troy inPhrygia.[a] Ganymede had been tending sheep, a rustic or humble pursuit characteristic of a hero's boyhood before his privileged status is revealed, when aneagle transported the youth toMount Olympus. The bird is sometimes described as being under the command of Zeus and sometimes as being Zeus himself.[23] InHomer's account of the abduction in theIliad, the poet writes:
[Ganymedes] was the loveliest born of the race of mortals, and therefore the gods caught him away to themselves, to be Zeus' wine-pourer, for the sake of his beauty, so he might be among the immortals.
On Olympus, Zeus granted Ganymede eternal youth and immortality as the official cup bearer to the gods, in place ofHebe, who was relieved of cup-bearing duties upon her marriage toHerakles. Alternatively, theIliad presented Hebe (and at one instance,Hephaestus) as the cup bearer of the Olympians in general, with Ganymede acting as Zeus's personal cup bearer.[25][26]Edmund Veckenstedt associated Ganymede with the creation ofmead, which had a traditional origin in Phrygia.[27] In various literature such as theAeneid,Hera, Zeus's wife, regards Ganymede as a rival for her husband's affection.[28] In various stories, Zeus later put Ganymede in the sky as theconstellationAquarius (the "water-carrier" or "cup-carrier"), which is adjacent toAquila (the Eagle).[29] In recognition of this myth, the largest moon of the planetJupiter (named after Zeus's Roman counterpart) was namedGanymede by the German astronomerSimon Marius.[30]
Ganymede pouring Zeus a libation (Attic red-figure calyx krater by theEucharides Painter, c. 490–480 BCE)
In theIliad and other sources, Zeus is said to have compensated Ganymede's father Tros with the gift of a pair of fine horses,[31] "the same that carry the immortals"[32] and so swift they could run "over water and standing airs of grain",[33] delivered by the messenger godHermes. Tros was consoled that his son was now immortal and would be the cupbearer for the gods, a position of much distinction.[32]
Plato accounts for the pederastic aspect of the myth by attributing its origin toCrete, where the social custom ofpaiderastía was supposed to have originated (see "Cretan pederasty").[34]Athenaeus recorded a version of the myth where Ganymede was abducted not by Zeus but instead by the legendaryKing Minos to serve as his cup-bearer.[35] Some authors have equated this version of the myth to Cretan pederasty practices, as recorded byStrabo andEphoros, which involved abduction of a youth by an older lover for a period of two months before the youth was able to re-enter society as a man.[35]Xenophon portraysSocrates denying that Ganymede was thecatamite of Zeus, instead asserting that the god loved him for hispsychē, "mind" or "soul", giving the etymology of his name asganu- "taking pleasure" andmēd- "mind." Xenophon's Socrates points out that Zeus did not grant any of his lovers immortality, but that he did grant immortality to Ganymede.[36]
In poetry, Ganymede became a symbol for the beautiful young male who attracted homosexual desire and love. He is not always portrayed as acquiescent. However, in theArgonautica ofApollonius of Rhodes, Ganymede is furious at the godEros for having cheated him at the game of chance played withknucklebones, andAphrodite scolds her son for "cheating a beginner".[37] TheAugustan poetVirgil portrays the abduction with pathos: the boy's aged tutors try in vain to draw him back to Earth, and his hounds bay uselessly at the sky.[38] The loyal hounds left calling after their abducted master is a frequent motif in visual depictions and is referenced byStatius:
Here the Phrygian hunter is borne aloft on tawny wings,Gargara's range sinks downwards as he rises, and Troy grows dim beneath him; sadly stand his comrades; vainly the hounds weary their throats with barking, pursue his shadow or bay at the clouds.[39]
In 5th-century Athens, the story of Ganymede became popular among vase-painters, which was suited to the all-malesymposium.[41] Ganymede was usually depicted as a muscular young man, although Greek and Roman sculpture typically depicted his physique as less developed than athletes'.[42]
One of the earliest depictions of Ganymede is a red-figurekrater by theBerlin Painter in theMusée du Louvre.[43] Zeus pursues Ganymede on one side, while the youth runs away on the other side,rolling along a hoop while holding aloft a crowing cock. The Ganymede myth was depicted in recognizable contemporary terms, illustrated with common behavior of homoerotic courtship rituals, as on a vase by the "Achilles Painter" where Ganymede also flees with a cock. Cocks were common gifts from older male suitors to younger men they were interested in romantically in 5th-century Athens.[41]Leochares (c. 350 BCE), a Greek sculptor of Athens who was engaged withScopas on theMausoleum at Halicarnassus, cast a lost bronze group of Ganymede and the Eagle, a work that was held remarkable for its ingenious composition.[41] It is apparently copied in awell-known marble group in theVatican.[44] SuchHellenistic gravity-defying feats were influential in the sculpture of theBaroque.
Ganymede and Zeus in the guise of an eagle were a popular subject on Roman funerary monuments with at least 16 sarcophagi depicting this scene.[42]
In Shakespeare'sAs You Like It (1599), a comedy about misunderstandings in the magical setting of theForest of Arden,Celia, dressed as a shepherdess, becomes "Aliena" (Latin for "stranger", Ganymede's sister) andRosalind, because she is "more than common tall", dresses up as a boy, Ganymede, a well-known image to the audience. She plays on her ambiguous charm to seduceOrlando, but also (inadvertently) the shepherdess Phoebe. Thus behind the conventions of Elizabethan theater in its original setting, the young boy played the girl Rosalind who dresses up as a boy and is then courted by another boy playing Phoebe. Ganymede also appears in the opening ofChristopher Marlowe's playDido, Queen of Carthage, where his and Zeus's affectionate banter is interrupted by an angry Aphrodite (Venus).[47] In the laterJacobean tragedyWomen Beware Women byThomas Middleton, Ganymede,Hebe, andHymen briefly appear to serve as cup bearers to the court, one of which has been poisoned in an assassination attempt, although the plan goes awry.[48]
Allusions to Ganymede occur with some frequency in 17th-century Spanish theater. InEl castigo sin venganza (1631) byLope de Vega, Federico, the son of the Duke of Mantua, rescues Casandra, his future stepmother, and the pair will later develop an incestuous relationship. To emphasize the non-normative relation, the work includes a long passage, possibly anekphrasis derived from Italian art, in which Jupiter in the form of an eagle abducts Ganymede.[49] Two plays byTirso de Molina, in particularLa prudencia en la mujer, include intriguing references to Ganymede. In this particular play, a Jewish doctor who seeks to poison the future king, carries a cup which is compared to Ganymede's.[50]
One of the earliest surviving non-ancient depictions of Ganymede is a woodcut from the first edition ofEmblemata (c. 1531), which shows the youth riding the eagle as opposed to being carried away. However, this composition is uncommon, with only sketches byMichelangelo that survived depicting Ganymede being carried.[51] The painter-architectBaldassare Peruzzi included a panel ofThe Rape of Ganymede in a ceiling at the Villa Farnesina, Rome, (c. 1509–1514), with Ganymede's long blond hair and girlish pose making him identifiable at first glance, grasping the eagle's wing without resistance. InAntonio Allegri Correggio'sGanymede Abducted by the Eagle (Vienna) Ganymede's grasp is more intimate.Rubens painted two well-known versions, the earlier dating to 1611–1612 (Fürstlich Schwarzenbergische Kunststiftung, on permanent loan to theLiechtenstein Museum), portrays the young Ganymede in the embrace of the eagle being handed his cup,[52] while a later version dating to 1636–1638, painted for the Spanish king'shunting lodge (Museo del Prado), shows the young man being swept up violently by the eagle.[53]Johann Wilhelm Baur portrays a full-grown Ganymede confidently riding the eagle towards Olympus inGanymede Triumphant (c. 1640s).[51] On the other hand, whenRembrandt paintedThe Rape of Ganymede for a DutchCalvinist patron in 1635, a dark eagle carries aloft a plump cherubic baby (Paintings Gallery, Dresden) who is bawling and urinating in fright.[54] A 1685 statue of Ganymede and Zeus entitledGanymède Médicis by Pierre Laviron stands in the gardens ofVersailles.
Examples of Ganymede in 18th-century France have been studied by Michael Preston Worley.[55] The image of Ganymede was always that of a naive adolescent accompanied by an eagle, and the homoerotic aspects of the legend were rarely dealt with. In fact, the story was often more sexualized. The Neoplatonic interpretation of the myth, also common in the Italian Renaissance, the rape of Ganymede, represented the ascent to spiritual perfection. These however seemed to be of no interest to Enlightenment philosophers and mythographers.Jean-Baptiste Marie Pierre,Charles-Joseph Natoire,Guillaume II Coustou,Pierre Julien,Jean-Baptiste Regnault and others contributed images of Ganymede to French art during this period.
José Álvarez Cubero's sculpture of Ganymede, executed in Paris in 1804, brought the Spanish sculptor immediate recognition as one of the leading sculptors of his day.[56]
Vollmer'sWörterbuch der Mythologie aller Völker,[57] (Stuttgart, 1874) illustrates "Ganymede" by an engraving of a "Roman relief", showing a seated bearded Zeus who holds the cup aside to draw a naked Ganymede into his embrace. That engraving however was nothing but a copy ofRaphael Mengs's counterfeit Roman fresco, painted as a practical joke on the eighteenth-century art criticJohann Winckelmann who was growing desperate in his search for homoerotic Greek and Roman antiquities. This story is very briefly told byGoethe in hisItalienische Reise.[58]
AtChatsworth in the nineteenth century the bachelorDuke of Devonshire added to his sculpture galleryAdamo Tadolini'sNeoclassic "Ganymede and the Eagle", in which a luxuriously reclining Ganymede, embraced by one wing, prepares to exchange a peck with the eagle. The delicate cup in his hand is made of gilt-bronze, lending an unsettling immediacy and realism to the white marble group.
In the early years of the twentieth century, the topos of Ganymede's abduction by Zeus was drafted into the service of commercial enterprise. Adapting an 1892 lithograph byFrank Kirchbach, the brewery ofAnheuser-Busch launched in 1904 an ad campaign publicizing the successes ofBudweiser beer. Collectibles featuring the graphics of the poster continued to be produced into the early 1990s.
The poem "Ganymed" byGoethe was set to music byFranz Schubert in 1817; published in his Opus 19, no. 3 (D. 544). Also set by Hugo Wolf.
^Veckenstedt, Johann Albrecht Edmund (1882).Ganymedes: Als Beilage Zu D. Nachrichten uber den Bestand und die Thatigkeit des Nicolai-Gymnasiums zu Liben im Laufe des Jahres 1881. Liepaja: Verlag von Rudolph Puhze. p. 10.
^abMark, Joshua J. (23 June 2021)."Ganymede".World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved18 February 2025.
^Strabo."Geography 13.1.11".Perseus Digital Library. Tufts University. Retrieved19 March 2020.
^Marshall, David Weston (2018).Ancient Skies: Constellation Mythology of the Greeks. New York, NY: The Countryman Press. pp. 45–46.ISBN978-1682682111.
^Marius/Schlör,Mundus Iovialis, p. 78 f. (with misprintIn forIo)
^TheAchaeanDiomedes is keen to capture the horses ofAeneas because "...they are of that stock wherefrom Zeus, whose voice is borne afar, gave to Tros recompense for his son Ganymedes, for that they were the best of all horses that are beneath the dawn and the sun.": Homer,Iliad5.265ff.
^For the cockerel as an emblematic gift to theeromenos, see, for example, H. A. Shapiro, "Courtship scenes in Attic vase-painting",American Journal of Archaeology, 1981; the gift is "gender specific, and it is clear that the cock had significance as evocative of male potency", T. J. Figueira observes, in reviewing two recent works on Greek pederasty, inAmerican Journal of Archaeology, 1981.
^abcWoodford, Susan (1993).The Trojan War in Ancient Art. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. p. 39.ISBN978-0801481642.
^abBartman, Elizabeth (2002). "Eros's Flame: Images of Sexy Boys in Roman Ideal Sculpture".Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome. Supplementary Volumes 1:249–271.doi:10.2307/4238454.JSTOR4238454.
^D'Souza, J.P. (1947). "The Story of Vasu Uparichara and Its Sumerian, Greek and Roman Parallels".Proceedings of the Indian History Congress.10:171–176.JSTOR44137123.
^Waters, Sarah (1995). ""The Most Famous Fairy in History": Antinous and Homosexual Fantasy".Journal of the History of Sexuality.6 (2):194–230.JSTOR3704122.
^Levin, Richard A. (1997). "The Dark Color of a Cardinal's Discontentment: The Political Plot of "Women Beware Women"".Medieval & Renaissance Drama in England.10:201–217.JSTOR24322350.
^Felipe E. Rojas, "Representing An-'Other' Ganymede: The Multi-Faceted Character of Ismael inTirso de Molina'sLa prudencia en la mujer (1634),"Bulletin of Hispanic Studies (2014): 347–64.
^Barfoot, C. C.; Todd, Richard.The Great Emporium : the Low Countries as cultural crossroads in the Renaissance and the eighteenth century. Amsterdam: Editions Rodopi B.V.
^Worley, "The Image of Ganymede in France, 1730–1820: The Survival of a Homoerotic Myth,"Art Bulletin76 (December 1994: 630–643).
_Ganymede.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
_MRABASF_01.jpg)
