Eros the Tyrant in Ancient Greece

Walker, Henry J. (2021) Eros the Tyrant in Ancient Greece. ACTA ANTIQUA ACADEMIAE SCIENTIARUM HUNGARICAE, 61 (4). pp. 353-381. ISSN 0044-5975 (print); 1588-2543 (online)

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Abstract

In the Theogony, Hesiod tells us that there was a primitive, loveless Eros at the beginning of the universe, but later in the poem Eros appears as the god of love and the follower of Aphrodite. Asian kings, Greek tyrants, and Athenian imperialists experienced a loveless desire for absolute power and sexual abuse, but the Greek poets celebrate Eros and Aphrodite as gods of love who bring happiness into their lives. Euripides will later question the benevolence of Eros and Aphrodite, and Plato will violently rejects all physical and sexual love. Plato imagines love as being a manifestation of the primitive loveless god of Hesiod, and he uses this nightmare to attack human love, and the Athenians, and their democracy.

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