Okay I’m petitioning help from the community because my research skills have reached its limits. Or well more like I got impatient and figured I’d ask for help instead of smacking myself a few times in the head with my copy of The Iliad.
Does anyone have any historical information on Aphrodite’s epithets Epitumbidia (she upon the graves) and Tumborukhos (gravedigger)??
I found them mention in The Gods of Greece by C. Kerenyi, but there’s no sources listed to indicate where the author got that information.
And whenever I search I either get epithet lists or more articles that don’t list their sources.
I just want some archeological or literary proof of where/how these epithets were used.
Thank you!!! 🥰
In literary sources, the epithet Epitumbia is found in Plutarch’s Lives, Numa, 12.1
The Pontifices also explain and direct the ancestral rites of burial for those who desire it, and they were taught by Numa not to regard any such offices as a pollution, but to honour the gods below also with the customary rites, since they receive into their keeping the most sovereign part of us, and particularly the goddess called Libitina, who presides over the solemn services for the dead, whether she is Proserpina, or, as the most learned Romans maintain, Venus; thereby not inaptly connecting man’s birth and death with the power of one and the same goddess.
οἱ δὲ Ποντίφικες καὶ τὰ περὶ τὰς ταφὰς πάτρια τοῖς χρῄζουσιν ἀφηγοῦνται, Νομᾶ διδάξαντος μηδὲν ἡγεῖσθαι μίασμα τῶν τοιούτων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἐκεῖ θεοὺς σέβεσθαι τοῖς νενομισμένοις, ὡς τὰ κυριώτατα τῶν ἡμετέρων ὑποδεχομένους ἐξαιρέτως δὲ τὴν προσαγορευομένην Λιβίτιναν, ἐπίσκοπον τῶν περὶ τοὺς θνήσκοντας ὁσίων θεὸν οὖσαν, εἴτε Περσεφόνην εἴτε μᾶλλον, ὡς οἱ λογιώτατοι Ῥωμαίων ὑπολαμβάνουσιν, Ἀφροδίτην, οὐ κακῶς εἰς μιᾶς δύναμιν θεοῦ τὰ περὶ τὰς γενέσεις καὶ τὰς τελευτὰς ἀνάπτοντες.
But what interests us is the ibidem linked to it:
First, Vinciane Pirenne-Delforge in L’Aphrodite Grecque comments on this epithet. I won’t be quoting a 3 page long extract so here’s a quick summary (pages 299-301 if you want to read the whole thing). First, there is a case of syncretism between the roman goddess Libitina and Venus/Aphrodite. Libitina is a funerary goddess and it is thought that the syncretism happened through Etruscan influence. That being said, if we trust Plutarch, we have the information that the Delphi Aphrodite was already linked to the afterlife as her statue in Delphi served as a “meeting point” between the inhabitants of Delphi and their deads. Pirenne-Delforge goes on to say that Epitumbia as an epithet raises Aphrodite as a protector of the graves, in which case it would be possible to imagine that the statue was placed close to a cemetary which would explain the mention of libations to honor the dead, most likely in the aim of creating some kind of contact between the two worlds and/or have Aphrodite as an appeasing figure between the two worlds.
This idea is also touched on by Gabriella Pironti in Entre Ciel et Terre: Figures d’Aphrodite en Grèce ancienne (2007, p. 83).
“Le fait qu'Aphrodite soit liée plus que toute autre divinité à la puissance génératrice et à la force vitale ne l'éloigne pas de la mort, ni des puissance divines préposées à la destruction de la vie ou à la destinée mortelle des hommes: la genenis et phthora font partie d'un même processus. Ainsi rien ne s'oppose à ce que cette déesse reçoice une place dans un contexte funéraire: à Delphes, selon Plutarque, Aphrodite portait l'épiclèse d'Epitumbia (“sur le tombeau”) et son image cultuelle recevait les libations destinées aux defunts. S'agissait-il, à l'aide de la puissance d'Aphrodite en matière de régénération de la vie, de revigorer les âmes des défunts, le temps d'un rituel, afin de communiquer avec eux? Peut-être, mais il n'est pas à exclure non plus que, dans ce contexte, on ait faire appel à la puissance d'apaisement d'Aphrodite pour éviter le courroux des défunts, ou que, par ces honneurs, on se soit rendu propice une puissante déesse très proche, par son côté malveillant, des Érinyes. Clément d'Alexandrie noircit davantage ce tableau, en attribuant à l'Aphrodite argienne la troublante épiclèse de Tumboruchos “celle qui creuse la tombe”. Il est difficile d'en conclure qu'il s'agirait d'une déesse aux prérogatives funéraires. En effet, cette sombre appellation pourrait aussi bien ne faire alluse qu'à l'épuisement et à la destruction des forces vitales si souvent rattachés à l'éros et aux aphrodisia.”
Feel free to google translate for a complete translation, but I will paraphrase here quickly: Pironti starts by saying that the strong theme of life that Aphrodite represents doesn’t take her away from the realm of death, as both notions are linked. She then wonders if the extract from Plutarch which introduces us to the idea of Aphrodite Epitumbia in Delphi as a funerary goddess has something to do with the idea of asking the goddess through ritual to strenghten the souls of the dead/revigorate life. However, it is also possible that Aphrodite’s role was one of appeasing the dead and avoid their wrath in the physical realm or, as a way to get closer to the dangerous Erinyes.
The rest of the extract is about the other epithet you asked about, Tumborukhos. First, she tells us this epithet is attested from Clement of Alexandria’s work (important detail bc late Antiquity + Christian source) concerning Argos. Pironti says it’s difficult to draw the conclusion from this alone that Aphrodite had a funerary role because it might just be about the weakening of life and destruction of life force that are attached to the idea of eros and to the aphrodisias.
I got carried away. Hope this helps.
Here’s the translation : “The fact Aphrodite is related, more than any other divinity, to the generative power and the vital force doesn’t keep her away from the themes of death, divine powers preposed to the destruction of life or to the mortal destiny of men : the genenis and phtora are part of a same process. Nothing, therefore, prevents that goddess from being mentionned in a funerary context : in Delphi, according to Plutarque, Aphrodite wore the epiclesis Epitumbia (”upon the grave”)and her cult image received the libations that were destined to the dead. Was the aim to reinvigorate the souls of the dead, the length of a ritual, with the aid of Aphrodite’s power when it comes to regenerate life, in order to communicate with them? Maybe. But it can’t be excluded that, in that precise context, Aphrodite was invoked to avoid the wrath of the deceased, or that, by those honors, she was made propicious; for she was a powerful goddess similar, in what regards her darker side, to the Erinyes. Clement of Alexandria depicts her in a yet more negative way when he attributes to the Argian Aphrodite the troubling epiclesis of “Tumboruchos”, “she that digs the grave”. It is hard to come to the conclusion that this would indicate any funerary prerogatives of the goddess. Indeed, that sinister name could as well allude to the withering of and destruction of vital forces often linked to the eros and to the aphrodisia.”
