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Related: blasphemy - Venus - goddess - diva - Aphrodite - religion - supernatural

Aphrodite is well-known in popular culture by her better known Roman name Venus.

Venus, c. 1485 - Botticelli

Time magazine cover, April 8, 1966

Detail of the The Birth of Venus (also known as Aphrodite) by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1879.


The proper noun God, with a capital "G", refers to a single ultimate, infinite source (immanent and/or transcendent) of being in the universe. This is in contrast with the common noun god (used in lower case), which refers to a class of typically immortal, supernatural beings with great powers. The word "God" comes from the Old English/Deutsch/Norse language family and is (in Western culture ) equivalent to the Latin-based derivatives Deus. All current monotheist concepts of a "God" decend from the Abrahamic tradition of YHVH ("I am that I am", "I am the One Who Is," "He who cannot be named").

Conflicted interpretations arise regarding the name of "God", and what the name actually means -- often the "true God" concept is mixed with "pagan" or non-infinite personifications of "God" (i.e. God as an old man, a Zeus or Odin.) A belief in a "God" or gods is found in most cultures, although followers of a particular God or gods may consider other gods to be inferior. Likewise many people hold non-literal, sometimes even secular interpretations of God -- few of which may actually contradict the pure concept of an "infinite God," despite any contradictions these may have with any particular religious tradition. --http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/God

Thesmophoriazousae and Deus ex machina

Thesmophoriazousae - translated as "Women Celebrating the Thesmophoria" - is a comedy written by the Greek playwright Aristophanes. It was first produced in 411 BC.

In the fantasy, the character of Euripides learns that the women of Athens are secretly holding a trial of sorts to decide his fate. The female population is up in arms over the playwright's continual portrayal of women as mad, murderous, erotomaniac and suicidal (even as his most sympathetic protagonists), and they are using the festival of Thesmophoria, an annual fertility celebration dedicated to Demeter, as a cover for their plot to hold Euripides accountable for his slanderous words.

Euripides, panicked by this turn of events, sends his aged relative Mnesilochus into the debate, dressed as a woman, to get information and to advocate on his behalf. But the female jury quickly discovers the spy and his identity, and in the end, Euripides himself, dressed up as the legendary hero Perseus, must intervene to save his kinsman, swooping into the scene on a device used frequently by Greek playwrights to allow for a deus ex machina plot twist.

Euripides finally promises to stop giving the women of Athens a bad name in his writing, saving himself and Mnesilochus from the wrath of the female population, and the comedy ends happily. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thesmophoriazousae [Apr 2005]

fantasy - plot - device - deus ex machina

Deus ex machina is Latin for "god from the machine" and is a calque from the Greek [...], (pronounced "apo mekhanes theos"). It originated with Greek and Roman theater, when a mechane would lower a god or gods onstage to resolve a hopeless situation. Thus, "god comes from the machine". The phrase Deus ex machina has been extended to refer to any resolution to a story which does not pay due regard to the story's internal logic and is so unlikely it challenges suspension of disbelief, and presumably allows the author to end it in the way he or she wanted.

The pronunciation of the phrase is a problem in English. Traditional ways of saying Latin would have it something like DAY-us ex MAK-in-a, while more modern ways of pronouncing Latin would give perhaps DAY-oos ex MAH-kin-ah, but many people naturally bring in the modern English m'SHEEN, resulting in a mixed pronunciation.

The Greek tragedian Euripides was notorious for using this plot device. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_ex_machina [Apr 2005]

fantasy - plot - device - machine

Euripides Euripides (c. 480 BC-406 BC) was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, along with Aeschylus and Sophocles; he was the youngest of the three and was born c. 480 BC. His mother's name was Cleito, and his father's either Mnesarchus or Mnesarchides. Evidence suggests that Euripides' family was comfortable financially. He had a wife named Melito, and together they had three sons. It is rumored that he also had a daughter, but she was killed after a rabid dog attacked her. Some call this rumor a joke that Aristophanes, a comic writer who often poked fun at Euripides, wrote about him. However, many historians fail to see the humor in this and believe it is indeed true.

According to ancient sources, he wrote over 90 plays, 18 of which are extant (since it is now widely agreed that the play Rhesus was actually written by someone else). Fragments of most of the other plays survive, some of them substantial. The number of Euripides' plays that have survived is more than that of Aeschylus and Sophocles together, partly due to the chance preservation of a manuscript that was likely part of a complete collection of his works.

The record of Euripides' public life, other than his involvement in dramatic competitions, is almost non-existent. There is no reason or historical evidence to believe that he travelled to Syracuse, Sicily or engaged himself in any other public or political activities during his lifetime, or left Athens at the invitation of Archelaus II and stayed with him in Macedonia after 408 BC.

Euripides first competed in the famous Athenian dramatic festival (the Dionysia) in 455, one year after the death of Aeschylus. He came in third. It was not until 441 that he won first place, and over the course of his lifetime, Euripides claimed a mere four victories.

From his plays it is apparent that he was very skeptical of Greek religion, and was aware of intellectual movements of his time, such as the Sophists. He reshaped the formal structure of traditional Attic tragedy by showing strong women characters and smart slaves, and by satirizing many heroes of Greek myths.

Euripides was a frequent target of Aristophanes' humor. He appears as a character in The Acharnians, Thesmophoriazousae, and most memorably in The Frogs, where Dionysus travels to Hades to bring Euripides back from the dead. After a competition of poetry, Dionysus opts to bring Aeschylus instead.

Euripides' final competition in Athens was in 408. Although there is a story that he left Athens embittered because of his defeats, there is no real evidence to support it. He died in 406, probably in Athens or nearby, and not in Macedon, as some biographers repeatedly state.

When compared with Aeschylus, who won thirteen times, and Sophocles, with eighteen victories, Euripides was the least honored, though not necessarily the least popular, of the three - at least in his lifetime. Later, in the 4th century BC, the dramas of Euripides became more popular than those of Aeschylus and Sophocles. His works influenced New Comedy and Roman drama, and were later idolized by the French classicists; his influence on drama reaches modern times.

Euripides' greatest works are considered to be Alcestis, Medea, Electra and The Bacchae. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euripides [Apr 2005]

The Love Goddesses (1965) - Saul J. Turell

The Love Goddesses (1965) - Saul J. Turell [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

The story of The Love Goddesses is itself a history of sex in the movies beginning with America still in the shadow of the Victorian era and the movie heroine bound by the same conventions as any young lady of society. This brilliant documentary chronicles the massive changes in women's film sexuality from the beginnings of the motion picture at the turn of the century to the newfound frankness of the 1960s with clips of more than 100 actresses.

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