Aphrodite the She-Wolf

Written by thehouseofvines

Oh shit. I’ve been making a fairly large assumption with this Αφροδίτη Λύκαινα business. Namely that she’s an indigenous, localized Anatolian Goddess.

But what if she’s not? What if the She-Wolf is actually the opposite of that – a Greek expression of a Roman Goddess.

Hear me out.

We have the Orphic Hymn and the coin from Laodicea placing her in Asia Minor – but that evidence is post-annexation.

The Homeric Hymn also puts her in the area – but links her to the founding dynasty of Rome. She seduces Anchísēs, giving birth to Aineías who flees Ilium during its sacking and leads a group of Trojan refugees to central Italy where they set up a colony. In time his descendants Romulus and Remus establish the city of Rome which develops an empire that eventually swallows up even their ancestral homeland. But not before they are abandoned and then rescued by a she-wolf, who fosters them in the Lupercal cave.

That’s a very elegant solution – and one with some interesting implications. By identifying Aphrodite with the surrogate mother of Romulus and Remus the author of the hymn used by the Orphic community in Asia Minor is expressing pro-Roman sentiment, suggesting he belonged to the local cultural elite. Dionysians and especially Bacchic Orphics are often represented as marginal, antisocial figures – even when we have plenty of evidence to the contrary.  

18 thoughts on “Aphrodite the She-Wolf”

  1. You won’t be surprised by my angle on this. ;)

    If we can narrow down where the Orphic Hymns were written, there’s another element here that may come into this emerging picture.

    I’m thinking of Bithynion-Claudiopolis, which was Antinous’ birthplace, but which was originally a colony founded by the Mantineians of Arcadia. Arcadia and werewolves…well, ’nuff said, right? But some of the Romans of that period believed the Lupercalia in particular came from Arcadia.

    Whether the connections are purported or actual, there is something there, definitely!

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    1. I was thinking along those same lines – unfortunately I’m not sure they’ve narrowed it down beyond “Asia Minor – some time in the first or second century CE” and that’s based on the inclusion of Phrygian deities (Hipta, Antaia, Melinoe, Sabazios, Meter, etc.) and some provincial terminology as well as stylistic elements from that period. There may be other reasons, but that’s what I recall reading.

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    2. My personal theory – based on the use of boukoloi and other cult terminology, as well as the festivals mentioned and the proliferation of Bacchic mysteries of the Orphic type in the area – is that the Hymns come from a thiasos operating out of Pergamon.

      The only reference to Melinoe outside the Hymns is a handful of inscriptions from Asia Minor. I wonder if it’s possible to narrow their find site down further. That might be an indication of where the Hymns were composed.

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        1. Well, that has cleared something up! Antinous, it has emerged in our practice with Him, is married to various Goddesses, and one of Them is Melinoe. So, in that, He was marrying a “local” girl, so to speak! ;)

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          1. Which makes sense since the Hymn refers to her as nymphe which means “bride.” And I think Antinous would be a kind, generous and understanding spouse, which she would need after the traumatic experiences she’s been through.

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            1. I had not seen that triangular magical tablet, though (or, if I had, I hadn’t studied it closely)…I am wondering now who “Nyche” is–maybe a form of Nyx? Hmm…

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              1. It’s quite the piece. Current theory holds that it’s a divination tool, though I’m not entirely sure. And yet, I take Nyche to be either Nyx or Nike.

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                1. Spit-balling here (even though it isn’t safe to do that in the era of COVID-19…so, get our your mask, and not the Bacchic kind that only covers your eyes!)…

                  Maybe there’s some “spelling syncretism” going on there. What if it is an otherwise unattested syncretism of Nyx and Tyche? Or, Nike and Tyche? Or, if it was even more powerful and Nyx, Nike, and Tyche.were all in the mix…? Imagine how powerful such a being would be to include in a spell!

                  Maybe we should make a replica and see what the deal is by trying to use it…?!? ;)

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                    2. At least epigraphers didn’t have autocorrect back in those days…imagine how difficult it would be to do voces magicae! (Two words that are never allowed to go through the first time I type them!)

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                    3. I don’t even want to think about that. Especially if you had a phone like a Razor where you had to press the button multiple times to get a certain letter. That would be brutal

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                    4. I am a novice to smartphones…I’ve had one for just over a month, and I already hate it, and am frustrated with some of what it does. Ugh…I still maintain it is one of the worst inventions of humankind ever. I don’t know if any of the supposed benefits that are the result of them actually will prove to be such in the long run in comparison to the social detriments, anxiety and stress increases, and chipping away at our intelligence and attention spans that they have exacerbated.

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                    7. Or, maybe someone “foreign” or with a strange regional accent heard “Nike” with the iota more like an upsilon’s sound, and the kappa more like a chi’s sound…?!?

                      Linguists don’t like to assume new forms, or mishearing, etc. And, it is harder to convince them that even if something is written on stone, it is not “written in stone,” as it were. (I’ve had that discussion with some of them many times, alas…!?!)

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                    8. It would be interesting, though, to see if there is some being called Nyche, and to see if it may respond to divination or offerings, etc., and not be some random daimon that decides now is its time…?!?

                      (You know me: I never met a new or obscure Deity I didn’t try to cultivate!)

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