A Moment's Ornament: The Poetics of Nympholepsy in Ancient GreeceFrom Hesiod's first person account of his encounters with the Muses on Mount Helikon to Theokritos' nymphs, love between goddesses and mortal men provides the ancient Greeks with a way of articulating both the genealogical and cultic connection to their gods and to their past. A Moment'sOrnament examines the theme of nympholepsy - the experience of being "seized" by a nymph or a goddess - in ancient Greek cult and poetry from the Archaic to the Hellenistic period. In poetry, this topos, which is ubiquitous in many of the most well-known ancient Greek sources, focuses on the figureof the goddess, or nymph, who falls in love with a mortal man and subsequently bears a mortal child. The theme also finds its way in ritual as stories of encounters between divinities and mortal men give rise to sanctuaries centering on nymphs and nympholepts. Beyond the individual dimension of thenympholeptic experience, these narratives are also integrated within the community through both poetry and shrines. Nympholeptic narratives thus articulate key elements of the bond between mortals and immortals and the connection between myth and ritual in ancient Greece. Both the cave sanctuariesfounded by ancient nympholepts and the poets' narratives of love between goddesses and their mortal lovers function as "a moment's ornament" by preserving the memory of an encounter with the otherworldly at the intersection between myth and cult. |
Contents
Introduction | 3 |
1 Nympholeptic Goddesses at the End of the Theogony | 13 |
2 Nympholepts in Ancient Greece | 37 |
3 Goddesses in Love and Nympholeptic Heroes | 71 |
4 Odysseus Nympholeptos | 93 |
5 Kephalos in the City | 123 |
6 Hellenistic Nympholeptoi | 155 |
Conclusion | 183 |
| 187 | |
| 201 | |
| 209 | |
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A Moment's Ornament: The Poetics of Nympholepsy in Ancient Greece Corinne Ondine Pache Limited preview - 2011 |
Common terms and phrases
abduction Anchises ancient appears argues aspect associated Athene Athenian beautiful becomes beginning birth bond catalogue cave central chapter child Classical connection context cult Daphnis daughter death depicted describes desire discussion divine encounter epic erotic established evokes example experience fall figure follows gives goddess gods Greece Greek Hermes hero Hesiod Homeric Hymn human Hylas Hymn to Aphrodite Idyll Iliad immortals Inscribed inscriptions Kafizin Kalypso Kephalos Kirke Larson lives lovers mentioned Mitford mortals and immortals motif mourning Muses Myth narrative nympholepts nymphs object Odysseus Odysseus’s offers passage past pattern perspective Phaiakians Phaithon play poem poet poetic poetry present Prokris realms relationship ritual role sanctuary scenes seized sing song sources status story suggests takes tells Theogony Theokritos tion Tithonos traditions transformation turn Vari vase wife women young Zeus