4. καλλίσφυρος and τανίσφυρος in the Homeric Hymns

Once the consistent symbolism emerges in the use of καλλίσφυρος in the Iliad and in the Odyssey, the question arises whether this epithet bears the same connotations, if any at all, in other works and in other genres of archaic Greek poetry. It could be that this use is confined to the artistry of Homer or to the specific tradition of the Homeric epics. But if its use is indeed similar in other words, this fact would serve to confirm the meaning and the importance of the word. Such a correspondence would also be significant for a larger consideration, as an illustration that different poetic genres draw on a common vocabulary and common tradition for their diction and their symbolism.

Not only καλλίσφυρος, but also τανίσφυρος [1] —another epithet deriving from the noun σφυρόν—appear in the Homeric Hymns, works composed much later than the Iliad and the Odyssey. But despite this chronological disparity, and despite the generic difference between the epic and the proemia, there is great similarity between the vocabularies and expressions of the two corpora. The formulae and epithets in the Hymns are for the most part repetitions or combinations of Homeric formulae. [2] So it is not surprising to find the epithet echoing the Homeric epics. Yet beyond the fact of repetition there is also a similarity in usage and thematic implication.

καλλίσφυρος appears in the Hymn to Heracles the Lion-Hearted, where it has the same connotations and even refers to the same character it describes once in the Odyssey, to Hebe. The hymn begins with a summary of Heracles’ mortal career, his labors and sufferings, and then compares these with his translation to Olympos. The contrast is explicitly presented. The reference to his wanderings begins with ὃς πρὶν μὲν and is juxtaposed to the νῦν δ' ἤδη which introduces the fact of his immortality: This line is almost identical to Odyssey xi 603. And as in this passage in the Odyssey, Heracles’ union with Hebe is the symbol of his new state of existence. Hebe appears elsewhere in the Homeric Hymns, but only here does she bear this epithet. She is καλλίσφυρος only because she reflects Heracles’ entrance into the Olympian community.

The context and the connotations of the epithet are therefore identical to those in the Odyssey. It is the miraculous transformation from mortality to immortality that both passages deal with and that is in this case the central narrative and entire point of the hymn. It is only because Heracles became immortal that he is the object of the hymn at all. All of the Homeric Hymns address immortals; this is, in fact, the only hymn where the figure praised is acknowledged to have once been mortal. Heracles’ inclusion in this group emphasizes his hieratic importance.

There are three other hymns addressed to figures of ambiguous origin, figures who appear as gods but are described in other sources as mortals. One of these is the Hymn to Asklepios. The hymn addresses him as the son of Apollo, but in the Iliad he is the father of two ordinary mortals. The Dioskouroi also appear as gods in the two hymns addressed to them, but they too are simply mortal heroes in the Iliad. According to some sources only Polydeukes is the immortal son of Zeus, while Kastor is the mortal son of Tyndareos. According to others the brothers share immortality granted them after death by Zeus. [3] As in the case of Heracles, there is ambiguity surrounding their original identity.

It is in one of the hymns to the Dioskouroi that the epithet καλλίσφυρος appears again. The adjective qualifies their mother Leda and appears within the first three lines, the crucial lines that state the identity of the Dioskouroi: Leda appears only as a point of reference, as a genealogical identification. The epithet pertains as much to her offspring as it does to her. Leda appears elsewhere in the Hymns, but only here is she καλλίσφυρος, in her identity as the mother of the ἀγλαὰ τέκνα and the consort of Zeus. The description of Hebe in the Hymn to Heracles and in the Odyssey illustrated earlier how a quality is transferred from a male to his female counterpart. And certainly the identification of parent and child and the transference of qualities from one to the other is a common feature in Greek poetry. [4] In light of this association, this use of καλλίσφυρος is comparable to its other uses in the Hymns and in Homer. The ambiguity of the Dioskouroi’s origin and their possible translation from mortal to immortal recall the Heraclean tradition and his association with the epithet.

There are other details which associate this appearance of the epithet with its other uses. Leda is a mortal consort of Zeus, seduced by him, and this fact recalls the stories of Marpessa and of Danae in the Iliad. And she, like Danae, gives birth to semi-divine children, a fact that creates a tension between the mortal and the immortal spheres. There are many resonances in this story with themes of the other passages discussed.

Leto is another consort of Zeus and mother of glorious offspring who bears the epithet καλλίσφυρος in the Homeric Hymns. In Hymn to Artemis (XXVII), the goddess travels to Delphi and together with the Muses and Graces sings about Leto: In her union with an Olympian god she is like other recipients of the epithet. Unlike Leda, Danae or Marpessa, however, Leto is not a mortal, but a Titaness. There is no mingling of mortal and immortal, no tension between these two realms of existence. In this respect Leto does not fit into the pattern of the earlier examples.

There are, however, important details of Leto’s story that are omitted. For while this passage refers to the fact of the birth of Apollo and Artemis, it does not describe the circumstances of the birth which appear in detail in the Homeric Hymn to Delian Apollo. It is not unlikely that this story is simply assumed in the Hymn to Artemis, since it appears in another hymn of the same tradition. The Hymn to Delian Apollo relates how Leto is forced to wander through the sea in search of a place to give birth. [5] Then, in addition to this hardship of wandering, she has a difficult birth, torture for nine days by terrible pain. [6] Since she is a goddess she cannot die. But the homelessness and wandering and torturous birth are the closest she can come to a deathlike experience. Even at the triumphant moment of Apollo’s birth, the dark stormy waters where she wandered surround her, emphasizing the sinister circumstances of the event. [7]

If the opening lines of the Hymn to Artemis do allude to these circumstances, then some familiar macabre themes are implied in the use of the epithet. But in any case, Leto only appears as καλλίσφυρος in immediate connection with her giving birth; and it seems that the epithet usually appears in connection with sexual union or procreation.

There is only one character described as τανίσφυρος in the Homeric Hymns, and that is Persephone. This epithet is rarer than καλλίσφυρος and it appears not at all in Homer. But if it is true that σφυρόν has symbolic importance in the Iliad and that καλλίσφυρος has significance that is directly related to its root noun, it would make sense that τανίσφυρος, deriving from the same noun, have a similar symbolic importance for the context in which it appears. καλλίσφυρος and τανίσφυρος are not metrically equivalent epithets—the former begins with a short syllable, the latter with a long one—and this is an important fact. For if the two epithets do seem to have comparable connotations, this connection would indicate that the uses of the word are primarily motivated by thematic and not by metrical concerns.

The one hymn in which τανίσφυρος does appear makes this connection clear. For the story of Persephone seems to combine and emphasize all the thematic strands of the preceding examples, both in the Hymns and in the Iliad and Odyssey—themes of rape, sexuality, reproduction and death. Certainly Persephone’s plight and Demeter’s subsequent sufferings are archetypal embodiments of sexual and eschatological themes. Persephone is raped by an Olympian god, the infernal variant of Zeus, the god of death itself. And she is forced to live half her life in an alien realm, in the very kingdom of death. She is not naturally an infernal deity, but has the constant vision and experience of death before her. τανίσφυρος describes Persephone twice in the single work, and this recurrence suggests that the epithet is not used incidentally and that it is emblematic of the broad themes of the poem.

It is clear why her story is the most explicit illustration of all the themes evoked in the passages discussed above and why the suggested symbolism of τανίσφυρος is appropriate to her. Yet it is not only the general themes but also the specific contexts in which the epithet appears in the Hymn to Demeter that support this view, for it appears in significant points in the narrative.

It first occurs in the opening lines of the hymn, where the poet establishes the basic story and identifies the chief figures of the poem: The crucial facts are all stated, and one of them is that Persephone is τανίσφυρος.

This important initial description also introduces the first action of the narrative, the story of her abduction. The rape is described in detail in this opening passage. And Persephone herself repeats the story later on, as if to reinforce it and to insure its truth. The location of her rape is significant: she is playing in a meadow full of flowers in the company of the daughters of Okeanos. Hades abducts her and the Okeanides witness the event. And it is this place where the rivers of Okeanos meet, at the edge of the world, that is established in myth as the point of entrance to Hades. Kirke’s instructions to Odysseus in Odyssey x, for example, reflect this tradition. [8] The specific circumstances of her rape are the same as of death for all men. Only she does not die.

The other appearance of τανίσφυρος is in Helios’ report to Demeter about her daughter’s fate: τανίσφυρος refers to the same character as it did earlier, but it appears here with another noun. In line 2 it qualifies θύγατρα, while here it qualifies παιδὶ, a word of different metrical value from the first. This discrepancy suggests that it is the character and her situation, and not metrical exigencies, that prompt the use of the epithet.

This second appearance of the epithet is, moreover, in a particularly significant passage. Helios’ report is a turning point in the story, finally informing Demeter of her daughter’s mysterious fate. It is also important because it is the only eyewitness account of events. The poet has narrated what happened to Persephone, but Helios is the only one who actually saw it all, the only good authority. The importance of the difference between hearing and seeing, the significance of witnessing an event, is repeatedly emphasized in the lines preceding Helios’ speech. Hecate, for example, tells Demeter that she heard Persephone’s cries but did not see her rape (57–58). Similarly, ten lines later, Demeter explains to Helios that she too heard the cries, but saw nothing. She contrasts her situation with Helios’ power of sight (67–73). He is the best source of knowledge because he can see everything. Consequently he begins his account with the ponderous εἰδήσεις (76).

The concern with the witnessing of events, with the accuracy of narration, is prevalent in all archaic poetry. There is a great emphasis on the authenticity of sources because it is a way of establishing truth. [9] It is because of this concern that Homer invokes the Muses at the beginning of the Catalogue of the Ships. He establishes the same contrast between his hearing of events and their superior witnessing of it. [10] So when Persephone is τανίσφυρος in Helios’ account, she is so according to the best of authorities. This is how she is introduced both by the poet and by the eyewitness and it must therefore be a significant description.

Additional evidence of the importance of τανίσφυρος is Demeter’s appearance as καλλίσφυρος toward the end of the same poem. If its use is similar to the use of τανίσφυρος, a blatant parallel would emerge, confirming the connection between the two epithets that the use of τανίσφυρος in the passages about Persephone imply.

Demeter is described as καλλίσφυρος in reference to the lifelessness of the earth that she has decreed: Even in its specific isolated context the use of the epithet here is noteworthy. For, as Richardson points out, [11] there are other epithets of identical case, metrical value and position that the poet could employ as easily. Demeter is, for example, χρυσαόρου in line 4 of this same hymn and πολυφόρβης in Hesiod Theog ony 912. The epithet has a functional equivalent in the same poem and so its use ought to be explained on other grounds.

In these lines καλλίσφυρος appears once again in a morbid context, in an image of barrenness and lifelessness. For the deathlike pall that Demeter casts on the land is but a reaction to and parallel of Persephone’s descent into Hades. Demeter identifies herself with her daughter’s experience of death.

This description appears, however, in a context of resurrection, in the passage where Zeus decides that Persephone be freed partially from Hades, that she need live there only a third of each year. Consequently, Demeter reacts by resurrecting the land, further mirroring and identifying with her daughter’s fate. The τότε γ' of the barrenness is contrasted with αὐτὰρ ἔπειτα and with an anticipatory description of the earth’s renewed vigor. This description immediately follows καλλίσφυρος, beginning a new sentence and new idea in the same line. This style is unusual in the hymns and seems to emphasize the contrast and the dramatic, abrupt change from lifelessness to fruitfulness. καλλίσφυρος stands in between the two images and seems associated with both ideas. It once again implies a tension between death and life and the possibility of rebirth. The vivid contrast presented is reminiscent of the passages about Ino and Heracles.

The parallel in this passage between Demeter’s actions and Persephone’s fate lends further significance to the use of καλλίσφυρος and establishes resonances with the two appearances of τανίσφυρος. The identification of mother with daughter is expressed not only in her actions but also in the epithet she bears. The identification of a parent with a child is, as described above, a common feature of Greek poetry. And common, in particular, is the themes of a parent’s equation of his child’s death with his own. In the Hymn to Demeter this theme is central to the narrative and is echoed in the sub-plot about Metaneira and Demophon. [12] The parallel between mother and daughter that the use of καλλίσφυρος implies is an important and complex theme running through the hymn.

καλλίσφυρος and τανίσφυρος, and the themes and associations they suggest, not only are important to the structure of the Hymn to Demeter but are also indicative of the meaning of the myth. For the principal elements of the story of Persephone are the tension between life and death and the sinister aspects of sexuality and marriage, elements associated elsewhere with these epithets. The story is not principally an allegory of nature, but is rather about human themes. Nor does it express a clear-cut victory over death, for death is not obliterated but only incorporated into life, creating a kind of double existence for Persephone. [13] The only cause for hope is the possibility that some answer to death exists. The little that is known about the Eleusinian Mysteries supports this interpretation. For the faith seems to have asserted that a mortal could obtain happiness and immortality by encountering the powers of death during his own life. [14]

The myth of Persephone as presented in the Hymn to Demeter is the most explicit expression of the themes that are implied, in various ways, in the passages both in the other Hymns and in Homer where the epithets appear. And the use of the two epithets in this hymn confirms that there is between them a thematic connection regardless of their metrical difference, one their common root suggests and the similar connotations of their uses elsewhere imply.