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As an art history teacher, I've seen the works of art once titled things like "The Rape of the Sabines" change to things like "The Abduction of the Sabines." What is really going on here? It appears to be a politically correct move on the part of the educational establishment to avoid perpetuating misogynistic language. But what is the actual background? What do I tell my students? Did Christian authors indeed insert the term "rape" in place of "ritual seduction" in the Greek myths (such as the *abduction* of Persephone or Europa) as a way of "demonizing" the pagan myths? What was the original sense of the stories? Does anyone have insight into the Homeric Greek and/or later Roman Latin language actually used in antiquity - what words were used and what they meant? And or can anyone shed more light on the historical-cultural circumstances here?

If what Cliadne says in the previous thread on this topic is true ("Persephone, Was she really raped"), than the change from "rape" to "abduction" in my art history texts is quite misleading and would seem to gloss over an important point of history, the clarification and cultural "memory" of which would, far from perpetuating misogynistic attitudes, rather help us to learn from the mistakes of history than otherwise. See previous thread below.


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Bernice
Posted: December 14, 2005 | 20:00 GMT

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I am doing a research topic on "rape" and i ran across a website stating that Persephone was the first raped victim. i have studied alot of Greek mythology and never heard of this...before i share this information i would like to know if it is true or where there is information that says she was raped and not just abducted and made to eat a promogradnate seeds to then consumate her to Hades.

Caliadne
Posted: December 14, 2005 | 20:37 GMT

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For the Greeks the bloody-red seeds of the pomegranate symbolised the loss of virginity on the bridal night.
The fruit was especially sacred to Hera as the goddess of the consumation of marriage.

Many of the elements of the story of Persephone are highly symbolic, reflecting the rituals of the Mystery religion associated with the story.

Bridal abduction/rape appears in a huge number of Greek myths: Peleus & Thetis, Theseus & Helene, Zeus & Hera, Poseidon & Demeter, the Dioskouroi & the Leukippides, and so forth.
Its still practised in many third-world countries, a raped girl is forced by her parents to marry the perpetrator - where the mysoginistic cultural belief is that the non-virginal girl is "spoiled property" and no longer suitable for another marriage.
The ancient Greek concept was similar, a raped girl was regarded as spoiled for a suitable arranged marriage. If the rapist could not be forced to marry her, then she might be sold off into slavery, killed by male family members, or pressured to commit suicide.

In the case of Persephone, her rape necessarily binds her to Hades. Her mother Demeter cannot receive her completely back into the parental home.

Bernice
Posted: December 14, 2005 | 20:44 GMT

Thank you so much! I needed the information today and was very happy to see that i received a reply so fast! Thanks again, I believe I can use the information now! Again and Again thank you



Frida
Posted: December 14, 2005 | 20:46 GMT


Then we are also using the word "rape" about these stories when there was originally a "seduction" involved instead. It was one way of the Christians to put down a compeating religion and it's stories. A ritual intercourse or a seduction tale was turned into a rape.

If we are specifically talking about the Persephone story, she was forcibly abducted to the underworld by Haides to be his bride. The rape is represented in the Homeric Hymn, when the god forces pomegranate seeds into her mouth before she is able to return to her mother.
Later versions of the story describe her as being tempted to taste the seeds, rather than being forced - in other words, in classical times, the bridal rape motif was replaced by one of seduction.

Other myths are more clear cut: the "seduction" of a mortal girl by a god is frequently rape: eg when Daphne is fleeing from Apollon, she is fleeing rape. Other stories involve the abduction of girl to be a bride, or the rape of women during war (which was standard in the ancient world - the men were slain the women raped and carried off into slavery).

The word rape is avoided in many modern versions of the stories to make them more suitable for children.

Actual seduction stories, where the god or hero tries to persuade the girl to have intercourse, are much less common.
But the ancient world is not comparable with the modern - women were mostly regarded as chattel: men's property, ranked only slightly higher than slaves.
Although there were exceptions.
The Greeks seem to have had a huge problem with the portrayal of goddesses: they were not women, or ranked like women, but rather the equal of the gods. On the other hand, they were sometimes depicted in the roles of Greek women: especially when it came to arranged marriages - even Aphrodite who was unwillingly betrothed by her father Zeus to the god Hephaistos (see: Homer's, Odyssey) - Zeus received the traditional Greek bridal payment from Hephaistos. In ancient Greece there was a reverse form of dowry: the husband essentially purchased his bride from the father, and could return her and demand his money's back if she proved to be non-virginal or committed adultery. Hephaistos in Homer's story, threatens to return Aphrodite to Zeus and demand the return of the bride-price when he discovers her adultery with Ares.