3. When Phaedra sees Hippolytus for the very first time in the narrative of Pausanias 2.32.3, as I noted in the posting for 2018.06.21, she is already falling in love with the youthful hero. In that posting, I was worrying about the translation ‘fall in love’ for erân/erâsthai in the “present” or imperfective aspect of the relevant verb used by Pausanias—and for erasthênai in its aorist aspect, as he uses it elsewhere. In the present posting, 2018.08.03, I still worry about that translation—and I continue to prefer the wording ‘conceive an erotic passion’ as a more accurate way to capture the moment—but now I worry more about the actual moment of erotic passion in Pausanias 2.32.3. As we will see, that moment is really a recurrence of moments. The storytelling of Pausanias points to an untold number of moments for experiencing the erotic passion—as expressed by the “present” or imperfective aspect of the verb, erân, and by the imperfect tense of the verb apo-blepein ‘gaze away, look off into the distance’. Further, there is a divine force that presides over all these moments, embodied in the sacralized role of Aphrodite as the kataskopiā, ‘the one who is looking down from on high’.
Annotation about Phaedra and Hippolytus Author: David Sanchez CC License: CC BY-NC
Euripides' Hippolytus offers us different perspectives for the study of gender politics and the construction of the hero in ancient Greek culture. In the narrative, we can see how Phaedra visualizes herself fantasizing about being like Hippolytus and Artemis, and her desire to represent a manly hunter. Still, at the same time, she wishes to be seen as a feminine figure who would highlight the qualities of the goddess Artemis. Phaedra's fantasies generate gender tension as she attempts to perform purely masculine acts, in keeping with the context of the situation and the culture of ancient Greece. Gender politics generate a cultural conflict that Phaedra was willing to ignore by setting aside her femininity by idealizing herself as a hunter, and relegating her femininity by following the masculine and heroic tendencies culturally contextualized in ancient Greece and its gender politics that predominated its culture and social beliefs. At this point, Phaedra was having an internal conflict in trying to ignore what she was, because she fantasized about being something different from femininity and feeling desired as a woman, which was a somewhat complex and tragic situation for her.
References: “More on The Love Story of Phaedra and Hippolytus: Comparing the References in Pausanias and Euripides.” Classical Inquiries, 5 Feb. 2022, classical-inquiries.chs.harvard.edu/more-on-the-love-story-of-phaedra-and-hippolytus-comparing-the-references-in-pausanias-and-euripides/.