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GÇ£By AphroditeGÇÖs arseGÇ¥ called the king through the raucous laughter, his own included, GÇ£the Athenians and their new found allies Thebes have taken the fieldGǪGÇ¥ he thundered as the guffaws stifled and died like so many autumnal Mieza leaves in the smoky palace hall, GÇ£and Philip, Alexander and the flower of Macedon will march to meet them!GÇ¥ he flourished GÇô this last hanging, pregnant in the still and silent air, alongside the wafting stench of the courierGÇÖs emphatic and fetid fart.

Paralus wrote:Athena's nipple Marcus! I'll not have you trample the good graces of this forum with such!

Should you disgrace this forum again, rest assured that I will pursue you 'round Herme's harlots; through seven prostitutes of Perseus and yes, past the heaving hips of Heracles. And, by Dionysus' donger, I will impale thee!

No reply, just shivers with anticipation ...

Paralus wrote:"By Aphrodite's arse" called the king through the raucous laughter, his own included

I really don't believe I'm going to do this, but I'm about to respond to a post originating in the realm of the absurd (nice entry Paralus, btw - I knew you had it in you!) by intimating that there may indeed be an historical context for cursing By Aphrodite's arse.

The ancient expression I'm thinking of is Aphrodite Kallipygos - Aphrodite of the beautiful buttocks; or another variation Aphrodite Kalliglutos - Aphrodite of the beautiful rump!

The link I gave refers to a statue at Syracuse, but there was another one in Cnidus that Lucian, or Pseudo-Lucian speaks of in his Amores. After admiring the goddess from the front, our characters are taken through a locked door to view her from behind.

Lucian, Amores 14 . . . "Heracles!" he exclaimed, "what a well-proportioned back! What generous flanks she has! How satisfying an armful to embrace! How delicately moulded the flesh on the buttocks, neither too thin and close to the bone, nor yet revealing too great an expanse of fat! And as for those precious parts sealed in on either side by the hips, how inexpressibly sweetly they smile! How perfect the proportions of the thighs and the shins as they stretch down in a straight line to the feet! So that's what Ganymede looks like as he pours out the nectar in heaven for Zeus and makes it taste sweeter. For I'd never have taken the cup from Hebe if she served me." While Callicratidas was shouting this under the spell of the goddess, Charicles in the excess of his admiration stood almost petrified, though his emotions showed in the melting tears trickling from his eyes.

Yeah ... well ... er ... Cursing By Aphrodite's arse doesn't sound quite so ridiculous after reading the above, does it? Although I do think such a curse might have been used in the context of witnessing a beautiful courtesan rather than when receiving a letter about warfare!

Best regards,

Nice link ... that gave me a bit of a frisson ...

I had forgotten that Kallipygia was one of Aphrodite's epithets - and it does sound much better than "arse", I have to say. At other times she was Kallimastia; but then she was the goddess of love and beauty.

ATB

That was magnificently execrable! Bravo!

And Amyntoros... trust you to come up with a basis in fact for Aphrodite's posterior.

Paralus and I feel alone, however. Alone, exposed, like two soldiers trapped on a wall with the ladders broken behind us. Will no one join us in our struggle? Will you all leave us to our fate? Will you not stand with us, braving the enemy arrows of ridicule of our literary soul-barings? Do you have no royally purple prose of your own? Do you not know that you risk our eternal wrath... and we can be dark and stormy knights?



Karen

karen wrote:That was magnificently execrable! Bravo!

And Amyntoros... trust you to come up with a basis in fact for Aphrodite's posterior.

Paralus and I feel alone, however. Alone, exposed, like two soldiers trapped on a wall with the ladders broken behind us. Will no one join us in our struggle? Will you all leave us to our fate? Will you not stand with us, braving the enemy arrows of ridicule of our literary soul-barings? Do you have no royally purple prose of your own? Do you not know that you risk our eternal wrath... and we can be dark and stormy knights?



Karen

Don't worry, Karen, I will get round to it at some point. But I'm not going to do it until I can come up with something truly, truly awful, and that takes a lot of drafting and re-drafting (unless you're Jilly Cooper, in which case you get it in one ...).

ATB

Hello,

thought that this would be suitable under the title of this post. Just out of curiosity, I typed in on google, "curiosities Alexander the great" and was directed amongst the 232000 possible pages that had some curiosity or other to offer to one, of all things, regarding scuba diving.

Q. Which ruler of ancient times descended underwater in a diving bell?

After being instructed to scroll to the bottom of the page...

A. Alexander the great.

There is even a picture to accompany the assertion. I don't know but I can't say that I ever remember Arrian writing up the episode, "Scuba diving operations." on the Aegaen- guess I must have missed it... or it could have been a lacuna?
Anyway,

Here is the link.
http://www.maths.uwa.edu.au/~adrian/scubacurio.html

Best regards,
Dean

dean wrote:Hello,

thought that this would be suitable under the title of this post. Just out of curiosity, I typed in on google, "curiosities Alexander the great" and was directed amongst the 232000 possible pages that had some curiosity or other to offer to one, of all things, regarding scuba diving.

Q. Which ruler of ancient times descended underwater in a diving bell?

After being instructed to scroll to the bottom of the page...

A. Alexander the great.

There is even a picture to accompany the assertion. I don't know but I can't say that I ever remember Arrian writing up the episode, "Scuba diving operations." on the Aegaen- guess I must have missed it... or it could have been a lacuna?
Anyway,

Here is the link.
http://www.maths.uwa.edu.au/~adrian/scubacurio.html

Best regards,
Dean

This is, I believe, in the Alexander Romance. I have certainly seen a few pictures of it, including at least one from a Persian or Indian source - so ultimately it almost certainly derives from the Romance in at least one of its forms.

It's in the same vein as the story where he ascends to the heavens in a basket.

ATB

Actually the source of the legend is supposed to be Aristotle's Problemata.

http://www.adventurediveandsnorkel.com/id113.htm

What in hades is the matter with "arse" Marcus??!!

Such a woody word.

Paralus wrote:What in hades is the matter with "arse" Marcus??!!

Such a woody word.

Took me a while to work out what on earth you were talking about, Paralus! A quick scroll back through the posts sorted out that one.

Nothing wrong, per se. But I think Kallipygia sounds better, that's all.

ATB

marcus wrote:Nothing wrong, per se. But I think Kallipygia sounds better, that's all.

Yes, well that would be a matter of perspective then eh? From my poit of view, it would be far more acceptable -- not to mention woody -- to call someone an arrogant arse than a cocky kallipygia.

Others, though, may clearly disagree!

Paralus wrote:

marcus wrote:Nothing wrong, per se. But I think Kallipygia sounds better, that's all.

Yes, well that would be a matter of perspective then eh? From my poit of view, it would be far more acceptable -- not to mention woody -- to call someone an arrogant arse than a cocky kallipygia.

Others, though, may clearly disagree!

Well, that is perfectly true. And, of course, they're not synonymous, as kallipygia is "beautiful-buttocked", whereas arse is just, well, arse! I can hardly see myself rounding on one of my feral Year 8 pupils and calling him (or her) a pygos ... although judging by the amount of trouble I'd be in if I called him/her/it an arse, that might not be such a bad idea - one thing's for sure, use any Greek on the raw-meat-eating little darlings at my school and I'd eat my hat if any of them understood it!

(I laughed at the gasps of wonder and amazement when I wrote down the Greek roots of the word "chronology", and showed how some of the same letters were used in the word "Christos" - it's a Catholic school).

ATB