Dressing to undress: Learning seduction from Aphrodite’s choral routine. A study of the Kypria (PEG1 F 4, 5)

We are investigating the place of dance and music in the Epic Cycle. Preliminary findings show that vocabulary associated with dancing and music in the few surviving fragments is rare. For example, ὀρχέομαι (Titanomachy, PEG F 6), ὁ ὀρχηθμός and ἡ ἀοιδή (both in Panyasis, PEG F 19, 3) each appear only once. The verb ἀείδω occurs three times. Twice to invoke the Muses (The Little Iliads PEG F 28 and Thebaid PEG F 1). The third use is particularly interesting. It appears in a more substantial fragment of the Kypria (PEG F 5, 5). There, presumably ahead of Paris’ judgment, Aphrodite is dressed and crowned by the Nymphs and Graces, with whom she sings (καλὸν ἀείδουσαι). This extract, reported by Athenaeus, will be at the heart of our contribution. Firstly, we will study the metric of the fragment and the occurrences of some iuncturae (φιλομμειδὴς/χρυσὴ Ἀφροδίτη, καλὸν ἀείδω, πολυπιδάκου Ἴδης) in order to study its composition relative to other passages in the Iliad (3. 393-394; 18. 590-606), the Odyssey (6. 91-109; 18. 192-196) and the Homeric Hymns (3. 194-203; 5. 53-68, 117-121, 257-268; 27. 14-19). Based on this comparison, we will argue that scenes of clothing are associated not only with desire and seduction but also with dancing and the formation of choroi. Subsequently we will compare the fragment with the second song of Demodocos (Od. 8. 266-368): also a hymn according to G. Nagy (2014). Our comparative analysis will confirm the use of an annular structure in the Aphrodite fragment, as previously argued by M. Steinrück (2018). We will establish that in the middle of that structure lies the crown of Aphrodite, another cyclic element.