Love Rejected: Some Notes on the Mesopotamian "Epic of Gilgamesh" and the Greek Myth of "Hippolytus" Author(s): Fumi

Karahashi and Carolina Lpez-Ruiz Source: Journal of Cuneiform Studies, Vol. 58 (2006), pp. 97-107 Published by: The American Schools of Oriental Research Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40025225 . Accessed: 26/09/2013 12:10
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LOVE
AND
THE

REJECTED: SOME
OF GREEK
MYTH

NOTES
OF

ON

THE

MESOPOTAMIAN EPIC

GILGAMESH HIPPOLYTUS

Fumi Karahashi (University of Pennsylvania) and Carolina Lopez-Ruiz (The Ohio State University)
I am called the GoddessCypris: I am mighty among men and they honor me by many names. All those that live and see the light of sun FromAtlas7pillars to the tide of Pontus Are mine to rule1

Scholarshave long puzzled over why, in Euripides' Hippolytus, the fatal end of the hero is bull as the last blow broughtaboutby Poseidon's in a chain of tragicevents triggeredby the youth's spurning of the goddess Aphrodite.Despite an increase in Near Easternand Greekcomparative work in recent decades,a strikingparallel to this story seems to have escaped the eye of classicists so far.We are referring to the well-known Near Eastern myth in which a similar rejection by a mortalman of the goddess of Love, Ishtar,leads to the hero having to confront a celestial bull. This myth is most clearly enunciatedin the epic narrativeof Gilgamesh, passed down from the Sumerians to the Assyriansand Babylonians. This was the best known story in epic probably single the ancient Near East and had a proven track

record of jumping from one cultural setting to another, even across different languages. Even though in Euripides'tragedythe bull is not sent at the direct request of Aphrodite (rather it is Theseus, Hippolytuss father,who asks for it), the coincidenceof these specific elements at the two ends of the story is remarkable;in both stories a man who spurns the goddess of love ends up having to face a bull sent by anothergod. The connection that we are about to propose shouldbe seen againstthe background of the flourcultural between the ancient Near ishing exchange East and the Greekworld duringthe Late Bronze Age (in the Late Helladicor Mycenaeanperiodin which climaxed Greece)and subsequentcenturies, the so-called during orientalizing period of the (see mid-eighthto the mid-seventhcenturies B.C. e.g., Burkert 1992; Morris 1992; West 1997).2

We are deeplythankfulto T.Collins,C.A. Faraone, E Jones, A. Kaldellis, T.Sharlach, and T.P.J.van den Houtfor their insightfulcommentsand suggestions. 1. Aphroditeswords in Euripides'Hippolytus1-5 (Grene and Lattimore1955).Subsequentexcerptsof Hippolytuswill also be cited fromthis translation.

2. For the interactionbetween the Near East and Greece in the Mycenaeanperiod,see the articlesin Cline and HarrisCline (1998). Forthe centuries followingthe Mycenaean period down to the Archaicperiodin Greece (ca.1200-479 B.C.), see

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JCS58 (2006)

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AND CAROLINALOPEZ-RUIZ FUMI KARAHASHI and Gilgameshcherish the recollectionof shared hardship. Achilles through the extraordinary meeting with Priam and Gilgameshthroughthe meeting with Ut-napishtimlearn the humancondition.As for the Huwawaepisode,some scholars (Forsyth1981: 17; Lord 1990:374-76) compareit with the Polyphemosepisode in the Odyssey,and recently B. Gufler (2002) has shown its close relationshipto the Perseus-Gorgonmyth.4 In the following pages, we will first outline the Ishtar-Gilgamesh episode as recounted in TabletVI of the AkkadianGilgameshEpic (Standard Babylonian version = SB) and Euripides' tragedy Hippolytus, and then focus on several motifs that suggest that a Near Eastern theme ultimately lies behind the version of the Greek myth used by Euripides. Gilgamesh Epic Tablet VI TabletVI of the GilgameshEpic begins with a scene in which Ishtar,watchingGilgameshwashing himself and putting on clean clothes,falls in shall love with him and proposesmarriage:"You be my husband,and I your wife!' (VI 9 atta lu Until recently,it was mutt-maandku lu assatka).5 not clear whether a similar motif was also to be found in the Sumerianpoem Gilgameshand the Bull of Heaven, due to the corruptionand fragandAl-Rawi mentarystateof the text (Cavigneaux 1993).Now, however,A. George has been able to show, on the basis of a newly discoveredtablet,

Decades of comparativeresearch have made it clear that Greekpoetryand myth sharenumerous motifs with the literature of the Near Eastern cultureswith which the Greekswere in contactfor hundredsof years before we even have written testimoniesof Greekliterature. Although there are many other examples, one of the most striking cases is the close parallel between the Hurro-HittiteSong of Kumarbiand Both deal with the succession Hesiods Theogony. to divine kingship: the former, from Alalu, to and finally Tessub,and the latter, Anu, Kumarbi, from Uranos, to Kronos,and Zeus (West 1966; 1997: 276-305).3 Some motifs of the Gilgamesh M. L. storyalso found a way into Greekliterature. West has shown that some aspects of the story of Achilles in the Iliad reveal very suggestive parallelswith the storyof Gilgamesh(1997:33447). For example, both Achilles and Gilgamesh have a divine mother;Achilles is as devastatedby as Gilgamesh the deathof his best friendPatroclus is by the death of Enkidu;Patroclusappearsin a dreamto Achilles,tries to embracehim but cannot, whereas Gilgamesh does embrace Enkidu, who comes up from the netherworld and tells him about the conditions of the dead. Both Achilles

(1999).Fora (1980),Osborne(1996),andBoardman Snodgrass criticaldiscussionon the historyof scholarshippertainingto studiesandthe neighboring betweenClassical the relationship and the political culturesof Europe and the Mediterranean and ideologicalconditionsthat determinedthe changingtendencies,see Bernal(1987).His workBlackAthena(1987,1991) no doubt provokedpositive and negative reactions among and scholars of the ancientNearEast,which in any Classicists case opened up a healthy discussionand a more open forum the for this kindof study. Amongotherworksthathavemarked areAstour(1967),Gordon fieldof east-westconnections (1962), Dodds(1951),Kirk(1970),Burkert (1979),andPenglase(1994). New voices are continuouslyadded to this multidisciplinary academictrend, such as Bachvarova (2002), Haubold (20022003),and others.A new but perhapstoo "vague" conceptthat is guiding some of the comparativeworks lately is that of "arealfeature"or "arealdiffusion"(see Watkins2001; Bachfor the "diffusion" or "borrowvarova 2002:5), as an alternative ing" scheme. For this concept applied to Sumerianreligion, see Michalowski(1998). 3. A moredetailedstudyof the connectionsbetween Near Easternand Greekcosmogonicand theogonicmotifs and the culturalcontactunderlyingthose connectionsis forthcoming in a monograph by Lopez-Ruiz.

4. For an iconographicrepresentationof the killing of Gorgonby Perseusthat is clearly modeled on the slaying of motifs see Burkert Humbaba (1992:86).Parallel by Gilgamesh, s journeyfor questof immortality and rolesbetweenGilgamsh and Odysseuss wandering and between Shiduri, a tavernkeeper living by the seashore,for Gilgameshand Circe and Calypsofor Odysseus (Lord 1990: 375; West 1997: 402-37; Abush 2001) have been pointed out. See George (2003: 5457), for his criticismof West (1997). 5. Abusch(1986:148-61) positsthatthis unilateral marriage offerspromisedby Ishtar formulationand the accompanying suggest that Ishtar was inviting Gilgamesh to become her His analysishas been criticized husbandin the netherworld. (1990:48, n. 13) and most recentlyby George by Vanstiphout (2003:471, n. 98). For this line, see also Cooper(1993:83-84, n. 16).

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LOVE REJECTED that the goddess Inanna indeed did also propose in the Sumerian (2003:472): marriage composition "OGilgamesh,may you be its lord, let me be its (SC2652/2 obv.6 dbil-ga-mes [zaFe1 [u-m]ulady!" un-bi de-men [ga-e]ga-sa-an-bi de-men).6 To Ishtar'sdismay,Gilgameshrejects her love, listing the unruly, undomestic, destructive,and chaotic characteristicsthat make her unsuitable for marriage(Frymer-Kensky 1989;Bahrani2000; 2001)andremindingher of her unfortunate lovers, Dumuzi and the Isullanu, including gardener whom she lovedwith tragicconsequences(George 2003: 473-74). Insulted and enraged by Gilgameshs scornful comments, a weeping Ishtar ascends to heaven and complainsto her fatherAnu and motherAntu. Althoughher fatherremindsIshtarthatit was she who provokedGilgamesh (VI 89), she nevertheless demands that Anu send the Bull of Heaven to punishGilgamesh. she threatens, she Otherwise, will raise the dead so that they will overwhelm the living.7Anu reluctantlygives Ishtar the Bull of Heaven,which causeshavocin the city of Uruk until Gilgamesh,with Enkidu'shelp, kills it.

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goddess.The tragedybegins by telling how Hipof the naturalpleasures polytuss arrogant rejection of love deeply woundsthe prideof Aphrodite, the Goddessof Love.Aphroditedecides to prove her power and avenge his offense against her by means of a plot that will end in the tragic death of both Hippolytusand his stepmotherPhaedra. Aphroditecauses Phaedrato be possessed by a burning desire for her stepson Hippolytuswhile his father and her husbandTheseus is away from home. Phaedra,unable to contain a passion that would disgraceher childrenand husband,decides to kill herself.Her nurse,in a desperateattemptto prevent her mistress'sdeath, reaches Hippolytus andtriesto persuadehim to complywith Phaedra's desires.The nurse'sunfortunate interventiononly however,and he angrilyconoutragesHippolytus, fronts Phaedra.Driven by fear that Theseus will findoutandthather honorandthatof her children will be compromised, Phaedra hangsherself as she had intended, but before doing so she writes a tablet slanderingHippolytusand accusinghim of rapingher. The aim of tragedyis served. Theseus returns from his journey to find this shockingscene and interprets Phaedra'sbody and farewell note just Hippolytus as she intended.Hippolytus,keeping his vow, reUnlikehis fatherTheseus,Hippolytusis not one fuses to reveal the truth to Theseus and humbly of the more popular figures in Greek literature accepts the exile to which his father condemns and figurativearts.Most of what we know about him. He takeshis chariotand rides alongthe coast B.C. fromthe royalabodein Troezen. Theseus,not conHippolytuscomes from the late-fifth-century bears his that name.8 tent with his calls son, tragedyby Euripides Euripexiling upon his father, ides portraysHippolytusas an impeccableyouth the god Poseidon,to grant him one of the three of outstanding beauty and virtue, who is pas- wishes long ago promisedto him (Hipp.887-990). sionately dedicated to hunting and thus devoted Theseus prays that Poseidon will send a beast to the patrongoddess of this activity,the maiden against Hippolytus to kill him that very day.An Artemis.He decides to renounce sexual pleasure odd episode then follows in which a roaringbull and boasts of his chastity,which he flaunts as a comes out from a huge wave and causes Hipposign of his strengthand of devotionto his patron lytus'shorsesto go mad.The bull chargesafterthe chariotteam and during the pursuitthe reins get caughtin a tree branch.The chariotand its chari6. We follow George's interpretation that the pronoun oteer are smashed,first againstthe tree and then "its" standsfor E-anna,Inanna's temple at Uruk. 7. The motifof the threatof the risendeadfromthe Netheragainst a pile of rocks nearby.The mysterious world is a well-knowntopic in Babylonianliteratureand the pursuervanishes,and Hippolytuslies between life Ishtars to make (George2003:474-75). threatis traditionally and death until he is broughtby servants to his in 428 B.C. 8. Firstperformed Fora brief introduction to the father who, having learned of his son'sinnocence play,see Greneand Lattimore(1955:158-60); see also below n.9. from Artemis'sintervention,is given a chance to

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AND CAROLINALOPEZ-RUIZ FUMI KARAHASHI Ishtar and Aproditeplay quite different roles in our stories.In the GilgameshEpic, Ishtarherself, charmed by Gilgamesh's physical beauty, falls in love with him and proposes marriageto him directly11In contrast,we find in Hippolytus an with the who has no directcontact aloof Aphrodite she because herobutmeticulously plansvengeance is offended by his disrespectfulattitudetowards andthe her andby his devotionto chastity, hunting, goddess Artemis.Aphroditeplays with love from a distant height, using Hippolytuss stepmother Phaedra:12
But for his sins againstme I shall punish Hippolytusthis day. I have no need to toil to win my end: Muchof the taskhas been alreadydone (.. .) Phaedrasaw him and her heartwas filled with the longingsof love. This was my work (Hipp.21-23, 26-28)

bid farewell to his son and reachsome reconciliation with him.9 Main Parallels and FurtherConnections These brief sketches of the Ishtar-Gilgamesh episode and of Hippolytusshow that both stories share the same basic framework. In both, the Goddessof Love is directlyrejectedand offended by the hero and seeks to punish him, and the punishment takes the form of a bull that is sent by a god one level above her in the divine hierarchy eleand which comes from a primordial-cosmic ment,either sky or sea.These main featuresapart, manydetailsdiffer,and some pieces of the scheme or substituted have been transformed by othersin the Greek version to fit into different traditions. This is, of course,only to be expected from two literaryworksso distantin spaceand time,belonging to differentgenres and respondingto different sites of culturalproduction.In what follows, we will commenton the main similaritiesand differences between the stories and at the same time point out other,more subtle,connectionsbetween them.

The Rejection

Why does Gilgamesh reject Ishtar's offer of marriage? In an anthropological explanation, W.Burkert(1992:99) postulatesthat "Gilgameshs rejection of Ishtar corresponds to the hunter's taboo: It is sexual restraint that ensures a sucThe Proposal cessful hunt.Hence the denial of love causes the Although the same principle of Aphro- bull to appear."13 Althoughthe NearEasternderivation in both Gilgameshs and a role comes to play dite as goddessof love has been widely accepted,10 reaction.14 Gilgamesh, in other reHippolytuss

9. Euripides The earlier wrotetwo versionsof Hippolytus. one, now lost, apparently focused more on the shameless behavior of Phaedra.The later version, which is our text, presents Phaedra's passion as a sickness induced by Aphrodite andaggravated chastity. Sophocles perhapsby Hippolytuss also wrote a Phaedra (only a summarytells us aboutits content) and, much later,Senecawrote a play on the same topic. In bothlaterversions,the firstdepictionof Phaedraprevailed (Ganz 1993: 286-88). For other sources for the myth in antiquitysee Gantz(1993:285-88). 10. Already in Herodotus (1.105) Aphroditewas given a Phoenicianorigin. For an extensive work on the origins of see Budin (2003),who arguesthatthe goddesswas Aphrodite, introduced into Greekcultureby the Phoeniciansin the Early IronAge. (Thename"Phoenicians" as used by ancientsources, included a varietyof other peoples of the Late BronzeAge, including Syrians,Amorites,and Canaanites;see especially Budin'schapters9 and 10.) For an overview of the mythical andculticaspectsof the goddessin Greekreligion,see Burkert (1985:152-56) and Penglase(1994:chapter7), who arguesfor influenceon the Greekgoddess. Mesopotamian

11. The motif of marriage by a goddessora female proposal of high statuswho falls in love with a handsomemale is also The closestparallelcan be foundin foundin Greekliterature. falls in love with the HomericHymn to Aphrodite: Aphrodite hero,and proposesa marriage, Anchises,the beautifulTrojan a lavishdowry (h.Aphr.53-142; for the storys conpromising tinuationsee furtherbelow).Anotherexampleis the Nausikaa episode, where Nausikaa,looking at the cleaned Odysseus, wants to marryhim (West1997:413). Book5 of the Odyssey offersOdysseus alsocomesto mind,where the goddessKalypso an immortallife by her side. is one 12. Farnell (1970:66) has suggestedthat "Phaedra" of the names of Aphrodite. This suggestionwould reinforce the thematicresonanceand coherenceof the "hero-goddess" in Hippolytus. confrontation 13. For the connectionbetween sexualityand huntingsee Burkert (1983:58-72).OnHippolytus especiallypp.60-61 with n. 12. 14. See n. 21 furtherbelow.

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LOVE REJECTED spects, seems to be quite the opposite of Hippolytus. He is not a hunter but a king who, during his immatureyouth, misbehaved and oppressed his city, Uruk (SB Tablet I 63-72; Old Babylonian version Tablet P 159-160).15As A. George his people (2003:7) puts it, Gilgamesh"tyrannized with his excessiveappetitesfor sex and play?He is far removedfrom the chastefigureof Hippolytus. B. R. Foster (1987: 22, 36) writes that Gilgameshs rejectionof the sexual advancesof Ishtar, here a personification of unproductiveattraction to the opposite sex, affirmsand asserts the unity of his relationship with Enkidu and his own self-identity,which marksthe beginning of selfknowledge.H. L. J. Vanstiphout(1990: 48, n. 13, 62-65) takesGilgamesh's rejectionas a refusal to submit to the SacredMarriageRitual,16 to which Ishtarhas invited him in quite outspokenterms, and grounds his refusal in his exclusive friendship for Enkidu:"He refuses to allow social and cultural stricturesto control his life and that of his friend."However, this reasoning,whether it implies a homosexualrelationship between the two or not,17 does not seem to fit with Gilgamesh's of catalogue her mistreated former lovers and final argumentin the form of a rhetoricalquestion, "Will you treat me like them?" (SB Tablet VI 79). Z. Bahrani (2001: 153), focusing on Mesopotamian views of feminine sexuality and its potentially destructivepower, argues that the hero is afraidof being destroyedas a result of the seduction,like the rest of Ishtars lovers:"Herfrightening aspect is often the threat of sexuality joined with death77 (Bahrani 2000: 99).18This point is dealt with in the Greek Aphroditeexplicitly

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Anchises episode,19where, unlike Gilgamesh, Anchises falls in love so passionately with the seducing Goddess (disguisedas a mortalwoman) that he does not even care aboutdeath.But when Aphrodite reveals herself after they have slept together, the hero fears the disastrous consequence, and implores her not to make him impotent (h.Aphr.185-190). In addition to fearing the tragic consequence of amorous relationswith Ishtar, Gilgameshseems to detest her because she has caused death and suffering among mortals, especially heroes like him. But why exactly does Hippolytus reject Aphrodite?Chastity as a superior value for the hunter and the fear of the loss of power and strength that inevitably follows sexual intercourse with a woman/goddessis a core motif of the tragedyof Hippolytus.20 His chastity and his devotionto Artemisinevitablylead him to despise Aphroditeand he gives vent to this feeling in a misogynousspeech (Hipp.615-668) in which he describeswomen as a curse for the humanrace.21 Many other voices referring to the destructive power of love are also put in the mouth of the chorusandof the othercharacters at severalpoints of the drama. Artemisspeaksill of her rivalAphrodite as she reveals to a dying Hippolytuswho is to blame for his disgrace: Art.: theworker of mischief, so contrived Cypris, whodestroyed me! Alas,I knowthegoddess Hipp.: Art.: Sheblamed hatedyourchastity yourdisrespect, Sheclaimed us threeasvictims, didCypris ... Hipp.: 1400-1403) {Hipp. As we have already suggested, chastity is not the issue in the episode of Ishtar-Gilgamesh
19. For the firsthalf of the story,see aboven. 11. 20. The idea that sexual intercourseis inevitably debilitating for men seems to be widespreadin Greekthought,as it alreadyappearsin Pythagorean philosophy(West,1971:160 with n. 1). West (1971: 161 with n. 2) also suggests that the same idea is behind Hesiods descriptionof high summeras the seasonwhen women are most attractive and men in turn weakest(Works and Days 586, echoedby Spartan archaic poet Alcmanin fragment347.4). 21. "Women! This coin, which men find counterfeit! Why, why, LordZeus,did you put them in the world,in the light of sun? If you were so determinedto breed the raceof men, the sourceof it shouldnot have been women.. . ."

15. For the much-debatedissue of Gilgamesh'sabuse of the past power,see George(2003:448-49), which summarizes discussionwith references.See also George (2003: 13), for a referenceto somekindof game,andGeorge(2003:167-69),for an implicationof droitde seigneur. 16. Forthe sacredmarriage ritual,see Cooper(1993);most Jones (2003). recently, 17. Forthe implications in the Gilgamesh of homosexuality in general,see Cooper and in Mesopotamia Epic in particular (2002). 18. Bahrani's commentson Groneberg(1986) and Harris (1990-1991)are in Bahrani(2000).

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AND CAROLINALOPEZ-RUIZ FUMI KARAHASHI from the sea. For the passage to parallel the Gilgameshepisode exactly,Aphrodite,called "the daughterof Zeus,"should have asked Zeus for a celestial bull. It is, however,Theseus, not Aphrodite, who implores his father Poseidon {Hipp. 1315-1319) for the hero's punishment. As we have already mentioned above, this scenario is strangebecause"itdoes not usuallytake two gods to kill a man"(Burkert1979: 112).Aphroditedid not need Poseidonor the bull to destroy Hippolytus if she wanted, neither did she ask for it. As we pointed out at the beginning of this paper, Aphroditeseems content with punishing Hippolytus by ruining his reputationin the eyes of his father; she does not ask for the hero'sdeath and with the neitherdoes EuripidesconnectAphrodite these fact that The bull to for the appear. request elements are present in the same story and indirectly linked by the chain of events suggests that the motif of the Love goddess and the bull punishment belonged together in some versions of the myth,someof which mighthavebeen much closer to the "original"Ishtar-Gilgamesh story. Proof of this is the above-mentionedepisode of Aphoditeand Diomedesin the Iliad,which seems to reflecta differentpart of the same narrativein a more archaic source, namely, Homer. In that version we have precisely that part of the episode that is missing in Euripides'version:in the Iliad Aphroditedoes ask her fatherto avengeher, and the equivalence of the gods Zeus and Dione with the Mesopotamian counterparts Anu and Antu, as alreadynoted, is perfect.The parallel is incomplete,however, for in the Homericversion thereis no celestialbull sent to punishthe goddess' offender. This is one example of the selection and adaptationof specific elements from a Near Eastern-derivedstory to complement,enrich, or adorna given Greekmyth or epic narrative. In order better to understand how the bull fits into Hippolytus's story, a brief summary of the backgroundof Theseus, which links him to is priPoseidon Poseidonand the bull,is necessary. his the of (hence marily epithet god earthquakes "shaker of the earth")and of the waters,namely, rivers,springs,and especially the sea, and also of horses. He is certainly an especially important

confrontation.22 However, both Gilgamesh and from the fear that the act similarly Hippolytus Goddess'slove might impede their own way of life or cause their destruction.23 The Punishment In the GilgameshEpic, Ishtar begs her father to punish the Anu to send the Bull of Heaven24 hero. Anu reluctantlyaccedes to the demand of and sends the animal down from the sky. Ishtar25 Incidentally, her attitude and mood- that of an offendedcapriciousgirl who seeks help from her powerful father- is mirroredin the Iliad when Aphrodite, wounded by Diomedes, goes up to complain to Zeus and Dione, asking for revenge (5.352-430).Dione is the feminine form of Zeuss name (GenitiveDios), exactly as Antu is for Anu (Burkert 1992: 96-100, with n. 5; West 1997: 361-62). In the story adapted by Euripides, in contrast, Aphroditeacts as a self-sufficient goddess and plots her own vengeance throughthe tragic love of Phaedratowardher stepson Hippolytus. Hippolytus's punishment is two-fold. He is exiled from Troezen (southeast Argolis across Athensin the Saronic Gulf),and receivesa further which comes from the god Poseidon. punishment, out Theseus's moral Carrying imperativeto punish his son thoroughly,Poseidon sends the bull up

22. The motif of sexualintercourse the huntersreaffecting lationshipwith animalsratherfits the Enkidu-Prostitute episode:Enkidu, of Gilgamesh, createdto becomethe companion has sex with a prostitute, and after that the animalsrun away fromhim (Westenholz and Koch-Westenholz 2000).A similar motif can be found in the Hurro-Hittite tale of the hunter Kessiwho, after marryinga beautifulwoman,stoppedgoing to the mountainsto hunt (Hoffner1998:87-89). 23. Cooper(2002:82, n. 56) cites E. Neumanns interpretation (1954:63) of the conflictbetween a consciousmasculine ego and the all-powerfulGreatGoddess. 24. The Bull of Heaven might be associated,in the later astronomicaltradition, with the constellation Taurus; see Hungerand Pingree(1999:105),Horowitz(2005:176). 25. She makesit clear that if her wish is not fulfilled,she will bring up the dead (see above n. 7). The reversethreatis madeby the Sun-god Heliosin the Odyssey(12.382-83): thatis, if Zeus does not punish Odysseus s men for eating his divine cattle,he will leave the upperworld and shine over the dead 1992:96-100 with a 5; West 1997:417). (Burkert

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LOVE REJECTED deity at Knossos in Crete and also in Troezen (Hippolytus'scult place), in addition to Athens itself and other places in Greece.26Tradition tells us that, althoughTheseus is the son of the Athenianking Aigeus, his real father is Poseidon (Gantz 1993: 248).27 He, in turn, begets Hippowith an Amazon (which explains the lads lytus devotionto Artemis,the huntingmaidengoddess). Theseuss most famous exploit is perhaps his who journeyto Cretein orderto kill the Minotaur, devours seven maidens and seven youths every nine years broughtfrom Athens by commandof the legendaryking Minos of Crete. Minos was born from the union of Zeus and the Phoenician princess Europa,whom he had kidnappedwhile disguised as a white bull and brought to Crete. (Minos was therefore himself the son of a bull of quite heavenly nature.)28 At one point, Minos prayed to Poseidonto be sent a bull from the sea in order to make a sacrificein honorof the god.Minos,however,likedthe animal so much that he kept it, disregardinghis promise Library 3.1.3-4; anotherversion in (Apollodorus DiodorusSiculus 4.77.1-4).Poseidon,then, sent a love. that,again,involvedan unnatural punishment He made Pasiphae,Minoss wife, fall passionately in love with the bull. The outcomeof this union was the Minotaur, half man, half bull, whom Theseusultimatelykilled with the aid of Ariadne, Minos'sdaughter.29 This Theseus-Minotaurepi26. For Poseidon, see Burkert(1985:136-39). 27. Forthe versionsand sourcesfor Theseuss exploitsand the storyof Minosandthe Minotaur, see Gantz(1993:chapters 8 and 9). For a workon Theseus and his role in the Athenian imagery,see Calame(1996). 28. S.Morris(1992:176with n. 108)notesthatthe coupleof PhoenicianEuropaand the Bull Zeus might be equatedwith Baal (stormgod represented the Canaanite/Syro-Palestinian as a bull) and Anat.The stormgod Baal is also said to have mated with a cow in the Ugaritic texts (Parker1997: 148 with n. 170),andin the PhoenicianHistoryof Philo of Byblos Ashtarte"placedupon her own head a bulls head as an emblem of kingship"(1.10.31; see Attridgeand Oden 1981:55). As for Minos himself, Morrisalso points out severalfeatures that portrayhim as an orientalking ratherthan a Greekone (1992:177).The divinely sanctionedkingshipand the power to sit as a judgeare some of them. was also connectedin some traditions to 29. The Minotaur the bull of Marathon againstwhom Theseus (andin another storyHerakles)fought (see Gantz 1993:263).

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sode itself vaguely reminds us of that of Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven, in which the Bull is successfully destroyed by the hero and his helper Enkidu.30 There is a crucialreference from a later author that might reinforcethis connection.Apollodoros gives us the importantdetail that the actualname of the Minotaur(literally"thebull of Minos") was "celestial."31 Asterios,that is, "heavenly," "starry" This may suggest that the oriental tradition of Bull of Heaven was taken in, merged with a preand thus existing mythologyof the Poseidon-bull, moved into his domain.The closest associationof Poseidonwith bulls near the sea is in Odyssey 3. 4-8, where Nestorand his troopsare said to make a sacrificeof nine black bulls to him on the seashore.Also in ArchaicGreekpoetry,we find that Hesiod calls Poseidon "the bull-like (taureos) Earth-Shaker."32 We believe thatthe bulls involvement in Hippos is not accidental.Hippolytuss lytus punishment rejectionof Aphrodite,which echoes Gilgameshs rejection of Ishtar, and Hippolytuss connection to Poseidonthroughhis father Theseus, probably invited the bull into the Greek myth. These elements of the storywere linked throughTheseuss marriageto Phaedra(sisterof Ariadne,Theseuss

30. The earliesticonographic of the "royal" representation bull hunt is found on a cylinder seal from the Uruk period 2000: 1151).We would like to mention,in passing, (Watanabe the widespreadpracticeof bull-leapingpracticein Anatolian and Mediterranean cultures.For Anatolia,see Soysal (2003). For the bull-leaping ritual and painting from the Minoan in Crete,see Burkert (1985:36-40). A fresco periodat Knossos painting of bull-leapingscene in the Knossosstyle is found in Tell el Dabcain the Nile delta (a Hyksosfortressat Avaris; Bietak1996). 31. Apollodorus Library 3.1.4. This name is associated with the legendary Cretan king that married Europa,thus becominga foster fatherof Minos.It seems possible that this Asteriosmightbe an "alias" for the bull-Zeus who matedwith Europaand that the Monitaurwas anothermanifestationof Zeus (Calame1996:210; West 1997:451).Calamesees in the creature a more recent form of the bull-god venerated originally in Crete (1996: 210-13). See also there the comparisonwith other Egyptianand Canaanitefigures (Calame 1996:233).Forthe possibleWest Semiticoriginof the figures and names of Europaand Asterios,see West (1997:451-52) and referencesthere. 32. Hesiod Shield,104.

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AND CAROLINALOPEZ-RUIZ FUMI KARAHASHI only in the long passageof undocumentedcenturies could the elements of the originalNear Eastern story have been divided from each other and redistributedamong different tales in the Greek tradition (e.g.,in Homer,Hesiod, and Euripides), takingon new narrativemeanings and legendary We are not trying to postulate a diassociations. rect link between the two sources.On the contrary, the specific narrative and tragic use of these motifs by Euripides can only be explained own terms througha close reading in Euripides7 of his plays,and it is very doubtfulthat the tragedian would have been at all aware of the arcane originsof these peculiaraspectsof what he probably regarded as (one version of) a local myth It is preciselythe distance thatinspiredhis tragedy. between our sources,and nonetheless the astonishing similarityof the motifs,that makethe case interesting.This parallelis one of many tokensof a complex exchangeof ideas takingplace at least a millennium prior to Euripidesbetween Greekspeaking peoples and their Levantine neighbors many of which have surfacedin preserved classical sources,even if it is impossibleto tracewith any precision the moment or way in which the interferencebetween the storieshappened. At most, we can postulate that the myths of Theseus and Hippolytusmight have taken shape under the influence of the Mesopotamianmotifs of Ishtar-Gilgamesh-Anu-the Bull of Heaven. The Theseus-Poseidon-Minotaur story echoes that of Gilgamesh-Anu-the Bull of Heaven, and the Aprodite-Hippolytus confrontation that of Ishtar-Gilgamesh.Hippolytuss tragedy is built upon his filial relationto Theseus,who killed the Minotaur(createdas a punishmentof "celestial" Minos by Poseidon)and marriedone of Minoss daughters, Phaedra, who, in turn, fell in love with Hippolytus.The bull of Poseidon,in turn,is somehow a reflex of the Minotaur.Hippolytuss punishment is, seemingly inevitably,inflicted by a bull sent by Poseidon,as if, by a certaincircular logic to the killings, the god was makingup for a long unpaid family debt Thus what has been in a fifth-centuryB.C. usually seen as an "oddity77 Greek text might be now understoodas a necessary element tightly linking Hippolytuss fate to that of his family lineage.

helper in his fight against the Minotaur,and so sister of the Minotauras well), who falls in love with his son Hippolytus. Gilgamesh and his companion Enkidu skillfully destroy the Bull of Heaven sent by Anu at Ishtars request. Hippolytus, on the contrary,is by the beastsent by utterlydefeatedand destroyed Poseidonat Theseuss request, which is planned by Aphrodite.33 Conclusions Although the motif of a powerful woman or goddess becoming angry and vengeful when rejected by a man of inferior status appears to be universal,the use of a bull as the means of punishment certainly is not. That is, the similarity between crucialelements in the structureof both stories, linking the conflict and its ultimate consequence, is too specific and too strange to be purely coincidental:a goddess of Love rejected by a mortal man, leading the hero to confront a bull sent by anothermale god from a place that is not the animals normal habitat (i.e.,the heavens or the waves).We believe that applying the comparativemethodis justifiedin explaininghow this extraordinary punishment of Hippolytus for his of rejection Aphroditecame into the composition, the culespeciallywhen takinginto consideration Mediterranean turalclimateof the eastern during the Late BronzeAge and the firsthalf of the first millennium B.C. As we have suggestedabove,Hippolytussstory connectedwith Cretethroughhis father is strongly Theseus. After all, Theseus, Poseidon,and bulls are all related to Crete. Crete, in turn, was one of the most fertile soils for Orientaland Hellenic hybridizationfrom the earliest times, as we can tell by archaeologicaland historical records.Adthereis a discouraging mittedly, geochronological, graphical,and culturalgap between the original versions of the GilgameshEpic and the classical AtheniantragedianEuripides.The chronological gap, at any rate, is requiredby our argument,for
33. The connection of Hippolytus s mythandherocultwith camebackto life must thatHippolytus horses,andthe tradition be treatedseparately.

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