Persephone and Aphrodite at Locri: a model for personality definitions in Greek religion

Abstract

Too often in the study of Greek divine personalities assumptions about deities' nature and development have been reflected in the methodology adopted and have thus introduced distortions, forcing the evidence into inflexible interpretative frameworks which may be logical without being correct. I believe we must aim at a ‘neutral’, bias-free approach which does not allow the operator's convictions to distort the evidence by casting it into a preconceived mould. I shall first set out the factors which, in my opinion, determine the definition and development of Greek divine personalities; these can be established by considering detectable historical developments in these personalities. I then propose an open-ended and flexible methodological framework which will take account of this model but will not depend on its validity.The first determining factor is clearly the worshipping group and its specific realities and needs as they develop in the course of time. Deities are shaped by the societies that constitute the worshipping group and develop with them. A second factor to be taken into account is the pantheon to which they belong and the spheres of activity of its members. For a pantheon is an articulated religious system within which divine beings catering for the needs of the worshipping group are associated and differentiated; and this nexus of relationships contributes to the definition of each divine personality.