Pothos (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Pothos (Ancient Greek: Πόθος, lit. 'yearning, desire') is the personification of erotic desire.[1] He is one of deities who accompanies Aphrodite, alongside Eros and Himeros.[2]
Greek literature
According to Jan Bažant, the use of "desire" in a fragment of Archilochus (7th century BC) may refer to the personification of the word.[3] Pothos first appears clearly personified in Aeschylus (6th to 5th centuries BC), where he and Peitho are described as children and attendent of Aphrodite.[4] In Sophocles (5th century BC), he appears to be the personification of the yearning for someone who is not present.[5] Euripides's Bacchae (5th century BC) associates him with Dionysus, as a god pertaining to ecstasy and pleasure.[6] In his Symposium, Plato (5th to 4th centuries BC) describes him as the child of Eros.[7] In the Dionysiaca of Nonnus (6th century AD), Pothos is described as the son of Zephyrus and Iris.[8]
Pothos does not appear in any mythological stories.[9]
Ancient art
In the temple of Aphrodite at Megara, there was a sculpture that represented Pothos together with Eros and Himeros which has been credited to Scopas.[10]
Other references
According to Henning Börm, an "association of death" is indicated by the use of the Pothos flower to adorn graves in ancient times.[11] In Syrian sources, he is described as the offspring of Cronus and Astarte.[12]
Notes
- ^ Bažant, p. 501.
- ^ Hanfmann, Pollard, & Arafat, para. 2; Grimal, s.v. Pothos, p. 389.
- ^ Bažant, p. 501.
- ^ Hard, p. 198.
- ^ Bažant, p. 501.
- ^ Bažant, p. 501.
- ^ Bažant, p. 501.
- ^ Nonnus. Dionysiaca. 47.340.
- ^ Hard, p. 198; Grimal, s.v. Pothos, p. 389.
- ^ Pausanias. Description of Greece. 1.43.6.
- ^ Börm, para. 1.
- ^ Grimal, s.v. Pothos, p. 389.
References
- Bažant, Jan, "Pothos", in Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC). VII.1: Oidipous – Theseus, Zurich and Munich, Artemis Verlag, 1994. ISBN 3760887511. Internet Archive.
- Grimal, Pierre, The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Malden, Oxford, and Carlton, Blackwell Publishing, 1986. ISBN 0631201025. Internet Archive.
- Hanfmann, George M. A., John Richard Thornhill Pollard, and Karim Arafatin, "Eros", in Oxford Classical Dictionary, edited by Tim Whitmarsh, New York, Oxford University Press, 2015. ISBN 9780199381135.
- Hard, Robin, The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", London and New York, Routledge, 2004. ISBN 020344633X. doi:10.4324/9780203446331.
Further reading
- "Pothos", in Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, Band XXII, Halbband 1, Stuttgart, J. B. Metzler, 1953. Wikisource.