{"id":70,"date":"2026-06-28T10:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T08:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/guskraus.net\/blog\/?p=70"},"modified":"2026-07-02T10:28:38","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T08:28:38","slug":"aphrodite-in-iliad-v-a-plotinian-approach-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/guskraus.net\/blog\/2026\/06\/28\/aphrodite-in-iliad-v-a-plotinian-approach-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Aphrodite in Iliad V: A Plotinian Approach [Part 2]"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Plotinus certainly loved reading Homer. He frequently quotes from him for rhetorical flourish, to elevate his speech and enjoin the reader to undertake the spiritual philosophical ascent which he describes. One beautiful example can be seen in the first treatise he ever wrote, En. <\/em>I.6.8.16-21:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cSomeone would be better advised to say: \u2018let us flee to our beloved fatherland.\u2019 [Iliad<\/em> II.140] But what is this flight, and how is it accomplished? Let us set sail in the way Homer, in an allegorical way, I think, tells us that Odysseus fled from the sorceress Circe or from Calypso. Odysseus was not satisfied to remain there, even though he had visual pleasures and passed his time with sensual beauty. Our fatherland, from where we have actually come, and our father are both in the intelligible world.\u201d\n\n\n\n

Plotinus\u2019 direct quotations from Iliad <\/em>V, however, are quite limited. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At VI.6.18.15, discussing the life of the intelligible world, he writes that \u201cThe life of the Living Beings itself is not without strength [\u1f00\u03bc\u03b5\u03bd\u03b7\u03bd\u1f74]\u201d (Gerson 2018; HS ad loc.), with the word \u201cwithout strength\u201d echoing Iliad <\/em>V.887, the speech of Ares at Olympos having been wounded by Diomedes: \u201cMy quick feet brought me away from there, or else I might have suffered terrible things for longer, down among the gruesome corpses, or I might have been alive but weakened [\u1f00\u03bc\u03b5\u03bd\u03b7\u03bd\u1f78\u03c2] by their bronze spears\u2019 blows\u201d (Wilson 2023, 130). Plotinus\u2019 rhetorical point here is to distinguish the temporary mode of life here in the sensible world from the eternal life of the Beings in the intelligible world, alluding to Ares\u2019 description as a way to highlight the suffering bound up in being a soul in a body. We will return to this passage later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At VI.7.30.28, Plotinus quotes from Iliad <\/em>V.426, \u03bc\u03b5\u03af\u03b4\u03b7\u03c3\u03b5 \u03b4\u1f72 \u03c0\u03b1\u03c4\u1f74\u03c1 (\u201cthe father [of gods and men] smiled]\u201d, Wilson 2023, 112) among many other mythological and poetic idioms to criticize those who misuse these references to argue that \u201cthe good [is] one substrate made […] by mixing pleasure with intellect\u2026\u201d (Gerson 2018). This passage, unfortunately, is not exceptionally helpful for the present purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thankfully, Plotinus devotes extensive sections of other treatises to developing a theological account of Aphrodite, which I have explored in two previous posts and in a conference presentation. This developed \u2018thealogy\u2019 (from thea<\/em>, \u2018Goddess\u2019) gives us a framework to approach the scene of the wounding of Aphrodite. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To begin, we must ask ourselves, which Aphrodite is wounded? Plotinus analyzes Aphrodite into different forms on the basis of epithets provided by Pausanias\u2019 speech in Symposium<\/em>. Because Dione addresses Aphrodite as \u201cmy child\u201d [\u03c4\u03ad\u03ba\u03bd\u03bf\u03bd \u1f10\u03bc\u03cc\u03bd] (Wilson 2023, 112), Homer is holding to the genealogy of Aphrodite as the daughter of Zeus and Dione, who Pausanias (Symposium <\/em>180d-e), and therefore Plotinus (En<\/em>. III.5.2.16-17) identifies as Aphrodite Pandemos, or \u2018Aphrodite of All People\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I have shown in previous posts, Plotinus identifies this form of Aphrodite with the Soul of the Cosmos (giving a new sense to the meaning of \u201cPandemos\u201d), as Nature herself, and as the Soul of Zeus. In Plotinus\u2019 exegesis of Symposium<\/em> and Phaedrus<\/em>, he concludes that each individual soul is a \u2018region\u2019 of this world-soul. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Aphrodite in Iliad <\/em>V represents the Soul of the Cosmos and Nature herself, then what does Aeneas represent? To discuss this, let us quote the scene where he faces Diomedes in full:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cAeneas jumped down off his chariot, bearing his spear and shield. He was afraid the Greeks would strip the armor from the corpse [of Pandarus]. He stood astride to guard it, like a lion [baine le\u014dn<\/em>] trusting his courage, with his spear in hand, ready to kill if anyone attacked, his shield held steady all around his body. He gave a roar like thunder. Diomedes, the son of Tydeus, picked up a boulder that was so large two men, as men are now, could never lift it \u2013 a massive task. He wielded it quite easily alone, and struck Aeneas on the hip, the socket, in which the thighbone turns, the place they call the little cup. The jagged boulder fractured the pelvis, snapped his ligaments, and ripped his skin away. The warrior Aeneas fell to his knees but kept himself propped up with one hand firmly on the ground. Black night covered his eyes. Aeneas, lord of men [anax andr\u014dn<\/em>], would certainly have died there had not his mother Aphrodite noticed. She had conceived Aeneas by Anchises, while he was herding cows [boukoleonti<\/em>], and now the goddess, the child of Zeus, protected her dear son. She threw her white arms round him and embraced him and wrapped him up inside her glimmering dress to keep him safe from weapons, so no Greek would gallop up and hurl a spear of bronze to pierce his chest and take his life [thumon<\/em>] away.\u201d\n\n\n\n

This description of Aeneas accords well with the recounting of the parentage of Aeneas as told in the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite<\/em>, and the characterization of Aeneas in the prologue of Virgil\u2019s Aeneid<\/em>. Aeneas\u2019 father was Anchises, who Aphrodite appeared to \u201cwhile he was herding cows [boukoleonti<\/em>]\u201d. Yet, Aeneas does not take on a cowlike demeanor. Rather \u201cstood astride to guard [the body of Pandarus], like a lion trusting in his courage.\u201d This contrast is even implied in the Greek text. The metrical feet used by the poet loosely alliterate with each other, drawing a connection between the two while clearly distinguishing the son of the shepherd from the cows: b<\/em><\/strong>aine <\/em>l<\/em><\/strong>e\u014d<\/em>n <\/em><\/strong>vs. <\/strong>b<\/em><\/strong>ouko<\/em>l<\/em><\/strong>eo<\/em>n<\/em><\/strong>ti<\/em>. Characterizing Aeneas as a lion and a \u2018lord of men\u2019 recalls the Homeric Hymn to Herakles<\/em>, which addresses this hero as leontothumos<\/em>: \u2018with the thumos <\/em>(spirit, heart) of a lion\u2019: Aphrodite, Aeneas\u2019 mother, protects this lion-like thumos<\/em>, when the poet says \u201cso no Greek would \u2026 take his life [thumon<\/em>] away\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aeneas\u2019 jumping down from his chariot to protect the body of a fallen comrade recalls how Virgil describes him at Aeneid<\/em> I.10: \u201ca man marked by piety\u201d (insignem pietate virum). Piety (pietas), in Greek, is \u03b5\u1f50\u03c3\u03b5\u03b2\u03b5\u03af\u03b1 \u2013 \u2018right reverence\u2019 \u2013 and in both languages conceptually concerns more than just the relationship between men and gods. For example, Euthyphro expresses concern that people will say it is impious for him to be prosecuting his father (Euthyphro <\/em>4d-4e); the relationships between family members were also seen as governed by \u03b5\u1f50\u03c3\u03b5\u03b2\u03b5\u03af\u03b1. Upholding correct burial practices for a close comrade (Aeneas was driving Pandarus\u2019 chariot) is certainly also part of ancient piety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While practicing virtue (courage) and manifesting his pious nature, it is Aeneas\u2019 body, not his soul\/spirit\/life [thumos<\/em>], that fails him. His pelvis is shattered with a stone, and he falls down, trying to prop himself up until \u201cBlack night covered his eyes\u201d. In this moment, in that ‘Black Night’, which comes at the moment of his virtuous expression, \u201cthe divine splendour of virtue shines\u201d (Gerson 2018; \u1f14\u03c9\u03c2 \u1f02\u03bd \u1f10\u03ba\u03bb\u03ac\u03bc\u03c8\u03b5\u03b9\u03ad … \u03c4\u1fc6\u03c2 \u1f00\u03c1\u03b5\u03c4\u1fc6\u03c2 \u1f21 \u03b8\u03b5\u03bf\u03b5\u03b9\u03b4\u1f74\u03c2 \u1f00\u03b3\u03bb\u03b1\u03af\u03b1, En. <\/em>I.6.9.13-14) through Aeneas, a splendor which \u201cnot even the evening nor the morning star [is] so beautiful\u201d (Gerson 2018; \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03bf\u1f54\u03c4\u03b5 \u1f15\u03c3\u03c0\u03b5\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2 \u03bf\u1f54\u03c4\u03b5 \u1f11\u1ff7\u03bf\u03c2 \u03bf\u1f55\u03c4\u03c9 \u03ba\u03b1\u03bb\u03ac; Euripides Melanippe<\/em>, Fr. 486 quoted in En. <\/em>I.6.4.10). Naturally, at such a moment of virtue, of assimilation to the divine, his divine mother appears. Aeneas thus represents the individual soul which has made themselves beautiful within (that is, their soul, their spirit, their thumos<\/em>; cf. the prayer of Socrates in Phaedrus <\/em>279b-c) through the perfection of virtue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does Diomedes represent? In the spirit of the Cratylus<\/em>, we should analyze his name as Dio-m\u0113tis<\/em>: the \u2018Metis\u2019 of Zeus. Metis is a Goddess, \u2018craft\u2019 or \u2018cunning\u2019. She is the daughter of Tethys (Theogony <\/em>358) and Mother of Athena (Theogony <\/em>887; recall that Athena grants Diomedes the ability to discern Gods and Men in Iliad <\/em>V). Through her union with Zeus, she lends to him the epithet Zeus M\u0113tieta<\/em> (\u201cZeus all-wise\u201d; e.g. Iliad<\/em>. I.175). Since Diomedes is counseled (another meaning of Metieta<\/em> is \u2018counselor\u2019) by Athena, who was born through from the head of Zeus having swallowed Metis (who was pregnant with Athena), we can understand Diomedes as an encosmic, particular embodiment of a generalized and cosmic divine providence (pronoia<\/em> or Prom\u0113theus<\/em>, literally \u2018forethought\u2019). This is to say, he represents the demiurgic, cosmogonic activity of Zeus, through whose divine providence mortal bodies come into being and cease to be, such as what nearly happens to Aeneas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The connection of Diomedes to the providential activity of Zeus, the way he represents a force which transcends the sides of the conflict, and the activity which erodes impermanent, sensible and material beauty are all joined together in a powerful Homeric simile in Iliad <\/em>V.84-95: “So [the Greeks and Trojans] were struggling amid the crush of violent fighting. As for Diomedes, you could not even tell which group of men he sided with, the Trojans or the Greeks. Across the plain he hurtled, like a river swollen by winter rain, that overflows and smashes the embankments built to stop it. No dam, no fence around the verdant vineyards can hold its place against the sudden onslaught during a downpour sent by Zeus, and many beautiful human artifacts are ruined. So Diomedes routed the dense ranks of Trojans, forcing them into retreat, although they were so numerous” (Wilson 2023, 100).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, in Plotinian manner, we have provided as diairesis <\/em>(dissection) of the myth into its symbolic components. \u201cAnd when taught in the manner of their symbolic potency the myths thereby allow one who has noesis<\/em> to reassemble them\u201d [\u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03b4\u03b9\u03b4\u03ac\u03be\u03b1\u03bd\u03c4\u03b5\u03c2 \u1f61\u03c2 \u03b4\u03cd\u03bd\u03b1\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9 \u03c4\u1ff7 \u03bd\u03bf\u03ae\u03c3\u03b1\u03bd\u03c4\u03b9 \u1f20\u03b4\u03b7 \u03c3\u03c5\u03b3\u03c7\u03c9\u03c1\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c3\u03b9 \u03c3\u03c5\u03bd\u03b1\u03b9\u03c1\u03b5\u1fd6\u03bd] (En<\/em>. II.5.9.28-29; my translation). The reassembly of this myth is as follows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The individual, embodied soul [Aeneas] faces the destruction and failure of its material body through the providential ordering and structuring of the cosmos [Diomedes], but through the pursuit of godlike virtue to the extent that is possible for a mortal, becomes beautiful, and through participation elevates themself to the cause [ie, the Mother] of the beautiful. This participation and ascent is made possible through the unity of all individual souls in the Soul of the Cosmos [Aphrodite Pandemos, the daughter of Zeus and Dione]. The poet calls her a Goddess \u201cwho lacks all courage on the battlefield,\u201d firstly because the virtues (courage, etc) are practiced by individual Souls and the immortal Gods are beyond virtue, and secondly because she does not take on a particular body on the \u2018battlefield of becoming\u2019, that is to say the sensible cosmos. This reassembly is very much in the spirit of Plotinus\u2019 own allusion to Iliad <\/em>V:887 in VI.7.30.28, which reinforces the distinction between the sensible and supersensible modes of being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this reassembly, then, the wounding of Aphrodite becomes a potent symbol of the distinction and the kinship between Gods and mortals:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cDiomedes, son of valiant Tydeus, chased after [Aphrodite], pushed through the mass of warriors, and reached her, then leapt and hurled his sharp spear at the goddess \u2013 wounding her delicate soft wrist. The weapon pierced through the immortal fabric of her dress, which had been woven for her by the Graces, and cut her skin just underneath her palm. Her deathless blood poured out \u2013 not blood, but \u201cichor,\u201d the liquid that flows through the blessed gods.\u201d\n\n\n\n

This distinction rests on the non-embodiment, the non-materiality, the transcendence and the lack of blood which characterizes Gods and separates them from mortals, as is affirmed by Socrates in Phaedrus<\/em> 246c-d. This distinction is reinforced later by Apollo, who says to the \u2018equal to a daimon\u2019 [\u03b4\u03b1\u03af\u03bc\u03bf\u03bd\u03b9 \u1f36\u03c3\u03bf\u03c2; Iliad<\/em> V.458] Diomedes \u201cwatch out and get out. Do not think yourself equal to gods. There is no common kinship shared by immortal gods and human beings<\/strong> who walk on earth<\/strong>\u201d [\u03c6\u03c1\u03ac\u03b6\u03b5\u03bf \u03a4\u03c5\u03b4\u03b5\u0390\u03b4\u03b7 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03c7\u03ac\u03b6\u03b5\u03bf, \u03bc\u03b7\u03b4\u1f72 \u03b8\u03b5\u03bf\u1fd6\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd \/ \u1f36\u03c3\u1fbd \u1f14\u03b8\u03b5\u03bb\u03b5 \u03c6\u03c1\u03bf\u03bd\u03ad\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd, \u1f10\u03c0\u03b5\u1f76 \u03bf\u1f54 \u03c0\u03bf\u03c4\u03b5 \u03c6\u1fe6\u03bb\u03bf\u03bd \u1f41\u03bc\u03bf\u1fd6\u03bf\u03bd \/ \u1f00\u03b8\u03b1\u03bd\u03ac\u03c4\u03c9\u03bd \u03c4\u03b5 \u03b8\u03b5\u1ff6\u03bd \u03c7\u03b1\u03bc\u03b1\u1f76 \u1f10\u03c1\u03c7\u03bf\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03c9\u03bd \u03c4\u1fbd \u1f00\u03bd\u03b8\u03c1\u03ce\u03c0\u03c9\u03bd<\/strong>.] (Wilson 2023 114; Iliad<\/em> V:440-442). One should note the qualification given to anthr\u014dp\u014dn<\/em>, \u201cwho walk on earth\u201d, does not at the time of speaking apply to Aeneas, who is being carried from the ground. This is to say, there is <\/em>a \u201ccommon kinship shared by immortal gods and human beings\u201d who, unlike Diomedes, have \u201cbeauty, wisdom, goodness, and everything of that sort. These nourish the soul\u2019s wings, which grow best in their presence.\u201d (Phaedrus <\/em>246e). The nonmateriality of the soul, which having regained its wings lifts its metaphorical feet from the material world, is the real kinship between human beings and the immortals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The wounding of Aphrodite as a symbol presents us simultaneously with the difference between embodied mortals and immortal Gods and with the shared nature of embodied, individual souls and the Soul of the Cosmos [Aphrodite Pandemos]. It is most appropriate that a symbol would suggestively use such a contradictory image (a disembodied, immortal person being wounded; which distinguishes it from the prior instance of Aphrodite raising Paris Alexander out of combat at Iliad <\/em>3:369-382) to simultaneously communicate this sameness and difference. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my next post, I will discuss through the hymns of Proclus the theurgic potency of this symbol, which in many ways rests in its contradictoriness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See Part 3 Here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

References<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gerson, Lloyd P. (Ed.) (2018), The Enneads<\/em>. Boys-Stones, George; Dillon, John M.; Gerson, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lloyd P.; King, R.A.H.; Smith, Andrew; Wilberding, James (Trs.). (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Henry, Paul and Schwyzer, Hans-Rudolf (Eds.) (1964), Plotini Opera<\/em>. (Oxford: Oxford University Press). Vol. I<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTheogony\u201d in Evelyn-White, Hugh G. (Tr.) (1914), Hesiod, The Homeric Hymns and Homerica<\/em> with an English Translation<\/em>. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Homer (1920), Homeri Opera in five volumes<\/em>. (Oxford, Oxford University Press).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reeve, C.D.C. (Tr.; Ed.) (2012), A Plato Reader: Eight Essential Dialogues<\/em>. (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greenough, J.B. (Tr.; Ed.) (1900), Bucolics, Aeneid, and Georgics Of Vergil<\/em>. (Boston. Ginn & Co.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wilson, Emily (Tr.) (2023), The Iliad<\/em>. (New York: W.W. Norton).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Plotinus certainly loved reading Homer. He frequently quotes from him for rhetorical flourish, to elevate his speech and enjoin the reader to undertake the spiritual philosophical ascent which he describes. One beautiful example can be seen in the first treatise he ever wrote, En. I.6.8.16-21: Plotinus\u2019 direct quotations from Iliad V, however, are quite limited. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[35,5,32,36,33,8,3,37,14],"class_list":["post-70","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-aeneid","tag-aphrodite","tag-homer","tag-homeric-hymns","tag-iliad","tag-myth","tag-plotinus","tag-poetics","tag-theology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/guskraus.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/guskraus.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/guskraus.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guskraus.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guskraus.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/guskraus.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96,"href":"https:\/\/guskraus.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70\/revisions\/96"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/guskraus.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guskraus.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guskraus.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}