Aphrodite and the realm of magic in the Homeric epics

• Grant number: 23/04508-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: October 01, 2023
• End date: September 30, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Classical Literatures
• Principal Investigator: Christian Werner
• Grantee: Juarez Carlos de Oliveira Pinto
• Supervisor: Cleo Carastro
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), France
• Associated to the scholarship: 20/15048-2 - Desire and other works: Aphrodite in Homeric epic, BP.DR

Abstract

Magic in ancient Greece is a phenomenon of Greek religion that has recently attracted the attention of many scholars. Nevertheless, its presence in the Homeric epics has not received as much attention as other of its manifestations. If magic has been neglected, the relationship of the goddess Aphrodite with it has been even more so. In the Iliad, this deity wears an ornate girdle, her kestós himás, where all the magical charms of love and erotism are located and which is central in the episode of the Díos apáte. In addition, Aphrodite is caught in a trap of magical chains tricked by her husband Hephaestus, an episode told in "The Loves of Ares and Aphrodite" in the Odyssey. In view of these episodes, the proposed research aims to understand how Aphrodite acts in the realm of magic at the heart of the Homeric epics. To do so, we will pursue the microanalysis proposed by Marcel Detienne within the framework of comparatism, a methodology that aims at analyzing the way in which a deity relates to the several elements and characters that surround her. (AU)