Question: Hey, myth scholars! What are the cultural meanings behind the love/sex gods/goddesses of each pantheon posted on the pantheon page plus Anne's, besides what's in their character write-ups and the general view of them as dangerous uncontrolled women?
I gotta level with you, anonymous: I'm afraid we talked this over for a while and had to eventually admit that we don't know what you're asking. "Cultural meaning" is such a broad and vague phrase that we couldn't figure out what you wanted to talk about, and were left staring at the question in befuddlement.
But love deities are certainly one of the mainstays of mythology, appearing in wide numbers of myths around the world. They are most often women, probably representing the idea of female sexuality as more alluring or powerfully intoxicating than male sexuality, but there are major male love deities who are just as important.
Scion (including our extra pantheons) currently includes Aengus, Anat, Aphrodite, Astarte, Erzulie, Freya, Hathor, Ishtar, Tlazolteotl, Xochiquetzal and Zhiva among the ranks of love deities that are available as divine parents, but many others around the world - including the Greek Eros (and his Erotes), the Hindu Kama and Rati, the Yoruba Oshun and the Aztec Xochipilli - are equally as important and should not be forgotten. Depending on your definition of "love god", you may also want to add others to that list; gods who represent masculine sexuality like Cernunnos or Tezcatlipoca might be included for some, or deities that represent non-sexual love like Isis or the Arab god Wadd.
Obviously, every culture views its love deities differently according to how they view love, sex and sexuality in that society, but it's pretty fascinating to ponder that almost all major mythologies do have gods dedicated to the idea. There are mythologies without love gods, but there are more that have them; and when they are present, they're almost invariably important in that culture's myths. The idea that love is a major force in the universe and is overseen by powerful gods is one that is clearly common to a lot of different cultures, and it's a place with endless potential for Scion games.
Sorry we couldn't answer your question, but if you're still around, feel free to comment and help us out!
I apologize, what I mean was what is what is the meaning of the cultures view of love/sex based on how it is filtered through each diety. For instance, why is Aphrodite seen as a girly girl, but also as a dangerous wanton woman who had to be married off at once (I don't want to say slut/hoar because I don't want to offend anyone) while Ishtar and Anat are seen as sex goddesses who are also complete ass kickers while Aengus represents youthful love and Tlazoteotl is sex as a bad shaming thing? Why do each of these cultures view the same thing so differently as represented by their dietties. Finally, what would happen if all these love machines got together and tried to hash out who was right as it came to love/sexuality?
ReplyDeleteSpirithound's pretty much right below - mythology is an extension of the culture that spawned it, so you're really asking why different cultures have different ideas of what sex and sexuality mean. That is a question that is so massively huge that there's no way we could really adequately answer it in a blog post for you; there are probably hundreds of entire books written about it and still room to spare afterward. It's too big a question to answer even when you simplify it down to just one god representing all of a culture's ideas of sex, and that's a major mistake in and of itself - for example, Tlazolteotl definitely does represent the shameful nature of inappropriate sex, but the Aztecs also have Xochiquetzal, who represents sex as a joyous event, and Tezcatlipoca, who represents it as a masculine weapon, and Xochipilli, who represents its illicit but also transcendent side, and as a whole the Aztec people surely had more complex views on sexuality than are even involved in their mythology.
DeleteIf you want to get a good general overview that gets more in depth than we could here, I'd suggest grabbing a book or two on the subject, either general or specific (for example, there are whole shelves of books about Dionysus' sexual implications alone, and many other gods have individual books about them as well). If you're not sure what areas you want to look into, you might try The Mythology of Sex by Sarah Dening, Myth and Sexuality by Jamake Highwater or Sexual Morality in the World's Religions by Geoffrey Parrinder to get some of the basics and jump off from there.
I have to agree that is not an easy question to answer but I will throw in my two cents on the topic in the hopes that I can articulate my own understanding of it.
ReplyDeleteMythology is an extension of culture. When that is taken into consideration one can glean insights into the values, morals, ideals and also bias, prejudice and fears of that culture. It is not a complete picture, but when one studies a culture the myths themselves make more sense. In each case you mentioned the deities represent a different aspect of love, whether they are the epitome of feminine beauty (Aphrodite), or the cougar down the street that will steal your husband (Tlazoteotl), or the psychotically devoted (Anat). These aspects are valued, reviled or feared by these cultures, respectively. Each deity only represents one form of love, good or bad. The fact there is a deity shows us which form of love a culture thought more important, either to value or steer away from.
As an example Aphrodite was married off by her father, Zeus (according some). This was a common tradition in Greek culture. Yes, Zeus feared her, but not because she herself was a threat, rather because he and others feared the gods would rival due to jealousy inspired by her beauty, as women were often seen as little more than desirable property or an extension of the man in their life. After all, a man often feels better about themselves when their woman is better than yours. It is my theory that Zeus may have also seen her beauty as a weapon or a bargaining chip to be used against him or others. Marrying her off to Hephaestus was a political move. It is best to give the weapon to the one less likely to have the desire to use it. But I digress.
I think if all the love gods got together there would be one hell of a party. Picking the best would be pointless, though. The beliefs of a culture are important only to that culture. Aphrodite could come out on top (no innuendo intended) but that would not necessarily change the cultural view of love. Indeed, it is more likely that the god(dess) would be redefined to fit the cultural view.
All excellent points, especially the last one. Love gods, I would think, might be especially susceptible to Fatebonds from modern mortals in cultures that no longer share their sexual mores - from an ancient point of view, a deity might be behaving perfectly normally, but from a modern one or a different culture's it might look dangerous or deviant.
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