accusativeofexclamation:
kitienen:
I’m still really quite upset that Theoi is not as accurate as I...
I’m still really quite upset that Theoi is not as accurate as I always relied on it being. Or, rather, that the sources that Theoi uses that are not primary sources sometimes have inaccuracies in them.
Case in point: Theoi has a list of epithets on Artemis’ page that are taken from the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Let’s take a look at one that vexed me this week.
MELISSA (Melissa), a surname of Artemis as the goddess of the moon, in which capacity she alleviates the suffering of women in childbed. (Porphyr. De Antr. Nymp,. p. 261.)
Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.However, I know from writing The Beeoi that ‘Melissa’ literally means ‘bee’.
μέλισσα 1 μέλι
I.a bee, Lat. apis, Hom., etc.
2.one of the priestesses of Delphi, Pind.II.= μέλι, honey, Soph.
Source:
Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, An Intermediate Greek-English LexiconWhere does ‘bee’ fit into goddess of the moon? I wasn’t necessarily arguing, but I decided to check the source of that epithet. That brought me to De antro nympharum by Porphyrius.
Quin & mulieres Cereris facerdotes, tanquam inferorum Deæ Antistites, olim apellatæ funt apes, & filia ejus Proserpina mellita. Præterea Luna generationis regina, apis nomenclaturam apud priscos habebat, Sed alia quoque ratione: invehitur enim tauro, & exaltatio Lunaæ taurus Est. Apes vero e bubus procreantur, inde.
Unless you know a language related to Latin or Latin itself, that’s going to be a bit difficult to read, so let’s find a translation:
8. The priestesses of Ceres, also, as being initiated into the mysteries of the terrene Goddess, were called by the ancients bees; and Proserpine herself was denominated by |24 them honied. The moon, likewise, who presides over generation, was called by them a bee, and also a bull. And Taurus is the exaltation of the moon. But bees are ox-begotten.Basically it said “The moon [Artemis] was called by the ancients a bee and also a bull.”
This was even more confusing.
How does the definition of the epithet given by the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology?Poryphrius called Artemis the moon, yes, but he didn’t state that the epithet of Melissa referred to her as goddess of the moon. He just said that she, going by the name of the Moon/Luna (probably Artemis-Selene, if you want to be specific) was also called ‘bee’, which would be Melissa in Greek.
My best guess as to what happened? The secondary source misinterpreted what Porphyrius was saying and drew conclusions that didn’t match the meaning of the epithet itself.
Lesson learned: always check the sources of your sources.What that’s actually saying is this:
Porphyrius: Priestesses of Demeter (Ceres via interpretatio Romana) were called Bees.
Porphyrius: These priestesses also referred to Persephone as The Honied One.
Porphyrius: These priestesses also called the moon a Bee because a) bees are associated with creation of life and honey, which never goes bad, is associated with immortality; and b) because the moon never dies but always returns, and is associated with cycles of crop generation as well as cycles of life.
(Porphyrius’ side note regarding bulls: there was an old belief that bees were born magically out of bovine carcasses, because bees tended to make hives in those carcasses and sometimes humans jump to conclusions. So bulls give birth to bees. Astrologically, the sign Taurus is the constellation in which the Moon is exalted. So bulls, and deities associated with bulls, automatically have bee, and therefore lunar, associations.)
Not Porphyrius: we know that Artemis was given the epithet “Melissa,” meaning “bee,” in various iterations of Her cultus.
By associative property: Artemis has connections, via bees, to the moon, and via the moon, to the bulls that give “birth” to the bees, AND, via bees and bulls and the moon, to the creation of new life.Ancient religion is fucking amazing!
