Eros, again now, the loosener of limbs troubles me

Greek statue of one of Odysseus' men transforming into a pig

Based on this scene from Homer's Odyssey:

"They called her [Circe] and she came down, unfastened the door, and bade them enter. They, thinking no evil, followed her, all except Eurylochus, who suspected mischief and staid outside. When she had got them into her house, she set them upon benches and seats and mixed them a mess with cheese, honey, meal, and Pramnian wine, but she drugged it with wicked poisons to make them forget their homes, and when they had drunk she turned them into pigs by a stroke of her wand, and shut them up in her pig-styes. They were like pigs—head, hair, and all, and they grunted just as pigs do; but their senses were the same as before, and they remembered everything." (The Odyssey, Book 10, translated by Samuel Butler)

5th century BCE

Tetradrachm of Philip II of Macedon, circa 342-336 BC

Greek dinos (mixing vessel for wine and water) with ships on the inside of the rim, creating the illusion that the ships are sailing on the “wine-dark sea” (Homer, Odyssey). Additionally, other heroic scenes include Herakles wrestling the Nemean lion or Theseus battling the Minotaur.

520 - 515 BCE

❀ . . A Prayer to Aphrodite

On your dappled throne, Aphrodite—deathless, ruse-devising daughter of Zeus: O Lady, never crush my spirit with pain and needless sorrow, I beg you.

Rather come—if ever some moment, years past, hearing from afar my despairing voice, you listened, left your father’s great golden halls, and came to my succor,

Yoking sparrows, lovely and swift, to drive down, leaving heaven, chariot sailing mid- sky over black earth, feather-thick wings densely beating the clear air—

Quick arrival. You, O my Blessed Goddess, ageless lips then beautifully smiling at me, asked me what had caused me such pain and made me cry out again now:

. . . “What’s the secret wish of your crazy, wild heart? Whom must Love compel with Her wily ruses back into the glittering net of your arms? Sappho, who hurts you?"

. . . “If she flees, she’ll follow you soon as I say. If she snubs your gifts, she will give you much more If she loves you not, then I swear she will love— Even unwilling.”

Come to me now, free me from bitter worry, all I long for, deep in my spirit— do it! You yourself be, here on this field of battle, Sappho’s lone ally.

— Sappho (the only poem preserved in its entirety that was written by her. It was quoted in full in Literary Composition by the Greek rhetor Dionysos of Halikarnassos). Translated by David Bowles.

I Shall