RAPE AND REVENGE IN THE HOMERIC HYMN TO APHRODITE

I assess the gender and power dynamics at play in the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite with methodologies drawn from feminist scholarship on rape in Greek and Roman myth, such as that of Rosanna Lauriola, and on rape-revenge films by Carol Clover, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, and Claire Henry. I show that Anchises' so-called "seduction" by Aphrodite ought to be read as sexualized violence committed by deception. I then demonstrate that Aphrodite is able to enact her exploitation of Anchises by enticing him into completing what he thinks will be a "heroic rape," a common trope of classical myth in which a god or hero acts as rapist. By applying some insights about the rape-revenge film genre, I show how archaic Greek notions of sex, gender, and power are, and are not, challenged by the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite.