Jump to content

Mise (mythology)

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mise or Misé (Ancient Greek: Μίση) is an Anatolian goddess addressed in one of the Orphic Hymns. She is first mentioned in a mime by the Greek poet Herodas, which references a "Descent of Mise". In the Orphic Hymn addressed to her, she is identified with Dionysus, and depicted as a female version of the god. She is also named in two inscriptions discovered around the city of Pergamon in Asia Minor, which indicate that there existed a local cult to her in the area.

Greek literature

[edit]

The earliest mention of Mise comes from a mime by the Greek poet Herodas (which dates to the 3rd century BC).[1] One of the characters in the work, Gryllos, is said to have become infatuated with a woman, Metriche, while they were at the "Descent of Mise".[2] This "descent", or káthodos (κάθοδος), appears to reflect a real-world cult practice,[3] and is suggestive of a katabasis (a descent to the Greek underworld).[4] According to Graham Zanker, Mise's descent seems to have been a "copy" of the katabasis of Kore.[5] The events of the mime are likely set on Kos or Cyprus, though other locations are possible,[6] with the exception of Egypt, which is excluded by the mime itself.[3]

Mise is addressed in the forty-second of the Orphic Hymns, a collection of ancient Greek hymns composed in Asia Minor around the 2nd to 3rd centuries AD.[7] The hymn, which is part of the group of hymns in the collection related to Dionysus, identifies her with Dionysus, and depicts her as a female version of the god;[8] the hymn also portrays her as being dual-natured, calling her "masculine and feminine".[9] She is described as the daughter of the Egyptian goddess Isis, who is mentioned by Plutarch as the mother of Dionysus.[10]

The few other references to Mise in literature provide an unclear picture of her.[3] According to Harpocration, the 4th-century BC mythographer Asclepiades of Tragilus considered Dysaules, an autochthon of Eleusis, to be the father, by Baubo, of Protonoe and Nisa (Νίση);[11] the name of latter of these figures was emended to "Mise" by Karl Müller, a reading which has been largely accepted by subsequent scholars.[12] The Greek writer Antoninus Liberalis (who likely dates to around the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD) relates a tale about a figure named Misme (Μίσμη), who may be the same as Mise, in which she takes in a thirsty Demeter and gives her a drink; Misme's son, Ascalabus, bursts into laughter at Demeter's drinking, and is turned by the goddess into a lizard.[13] According to the 5th- or 6th-century AD grammarian Hesychius, Mise is associated with the Mother goddess and her name is used in oaths.[14]

Anatolian inscriptions

[edit]

Mise's name has been found in two inscriptions from Asia Minor.[15] One of these inscriptions, discovered during late-19th-century excavations of the city of Pergamon,[16] was found in the sanctuary of Demeter in the city, and likely dates to the 2nd century BC.[17] The inscription, which consists of the word ΜΙΣΗΙ, was likely originally inscribed on an altar dedicated to the goddess.[18] The other inscription, the date of which is unknown, was discovered on an altar found near to Pergamon, which probably originated from or very close to the city.[19] The text of the inscriptions specifies that the altar was dedicated to "Mise Kore" by a priestess named Ánthis (Ἄνθις).[17] On the altar pieces of wheat are pictured, which, according to Anne-France Morand, mirror her connection with Demeter in the Orphic Hymns; Morand also views the altar as comporting with the "Eleusinian atmosphere" of the hymn to Mise.[20] The existence of an altar dedicated to Mise indicates that she was worshipped in the region, with the two inscriptions pointing towards her having been the subject of a cult which existed in the immediate vicinity of Pergamon.[20]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Ricciardelli, p. 398. For this dating, see Heinze, para. 1.
  2. ^ Morand 2001, p. 172; Herodas, Mimiamb 1.56 (Zanker, pp. 16, 17).
  3. ^ a b c Morand 2001, p. 172.
  4. ^ Athanassakis & Wolkow, p. 148; Zanker, p. 29 on line 56.
  5. ^ Zanker, p. 29.
  6. ^ Ricciardelli, pp. 398–399.
  7. ^ Malamis, p. 73; Quandt, pp. 32–33.
  8. ^ Morand 2001, pp. 169–171.
  9. ^ Rudhardt, Chapter II, para. 166.
  10. ^ Athanassakis & Wolkow, pp. 148–149.
  11. ^ Morand 2001, p. 172; Ricciardelli, p. 399.
  12. ^ Graf, p. 159 n. 6.
  13. ^ Morand 2001, p. 173; Antoninus Liberalis, 24 (Papathomopoulos, p. 42).
  14. ^ Morand 2001, p. 173; Ricciardelli, p. 399; Hesychius, s.v. [Μισατίς] Μίση (Cunningham, p. 839).
  15. ^ Ricciardelli, p. 399; Athanassakis & Wolkow, p. 148.
  16. ^ Malamis, p. 172.
  17. ^ a b Ricciardelli, p. 399.
  18. ^ Morand 2001, p. 173.
  19. ^ Morand 2001, pp. 173–174.
  20. ^ a b Morand 2001, p. 174.

References

[edit]
  • Athanassakis, Apostolos N., and Benjamin M. Wolkow, The Orphic Hymns, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013. ISBN 9781421408828. Internet Archive.
  • Cunningham, Ian, Hesychii Alexandrini Lexicon. Volumen II: E–O, Berlin and Boston, De Gruyter, 2020. ISBN 9783110667196. doi:10.1515/9783110607710.
  • Graf, Fritz, Eleusis und die orphische Dichtung Athens in vorhellenistischer Zeit, Berlin and New York, de Gruyter, 1974. ISBN 3110044986. doi:10.1515/9783110856576.
  • Heinze, Theodor, "Mise", in Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. Antiquity, Volume 9, Mini – Obe, edited by Hubert Cancik and Helmuth Schneider, Brill, 2006. ISBN 9004122729.
  • Malamis, Daniel, The Orphic Hymns: Poetry and Genre, with a Critical Text and Translation, Leiden and Boston, Brill, 2024. ISBN 9789004714076. doi:10.1163/9789004714083.
  • Morand, Anne-France (2001), Études sur les Hymnes Orphiques, Leiden, Boston, and Cologne, Brill, 2001. ISBN 9004120300. doi:10.1163/9789004301504.
  • Papathomopoulos, Manolis, Antoninus Liberalis: Les Métamorphoses, Collection Budé, Paris, Les Belles Lettres, 1968. ISBN 978-2-251-00020-6.
  • Quandt, Wilhelm, Orphei Hymni, Berlin, Weidmann, 1955. OCLC 22971774.
  • Ricciardelli, Gabriella, Inni Orfici, Milan, Mondadori, 2000. ISBN 8804476613.
  • Rudhardt, Jean, "Recherches sur les Hymnes orphiques", in Opera inedita: Essai sur la religion grecque & Recherches sur les Hymnes orphiques, Liège, Liège University Press, 2008. ISBN 9782960071726. doi:10.4000/books.pulg.514.
  • Zanker, Graham, Herodas: Mimiambs, Oxford, Oxbow Books, 2009. ISBN 9780856688836.
Retrieved from "http://en.wiki.x.io/w/index.php?title=Mise_(mythology)&oldid=1268772772"