Statues, celibates and goddesses in Ovid’s "Metamorphoses" 10 and Euripides’ "Hippolytus"

• Rachel Bruzzone ^[1]
  1. [1] University of Virginia

     University of Virginia

     Estados Unidos

     
• Localización: Classical journal, ISSN 0009-8353, Vol. 108, Nº 1, 2012, págs. 65-85
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Ovid’s story of Pygmalion contains allusions to the diatribe against women in Euripides’ Hippolytus, particularly Hippolytus’ comparison of a wife to a statue. These allusions underscore shared and unusual attributes of Pygmalion and Hippolytus, the only obvious examples of adult male celibacy in Graeco-Roman literature. Although Orpheus’' misogyny distorts the story, Pygmalion and his family mimic the narrative of Euripides’ play. Pygmalion acts as a second Hippolytus while Myrrha is a doublet of Phaedra, similarly tortured with incestuous lust because of her male relative’s insult to Venus. Adonis’ death, promised by Artemis at the end of Hippolytus, punishes Venus for her cruel treatment of both Phaedra and Myrrha.