Nefertiti is lovely, but we should use our wit and will to look beyond that beautiful face to discover and to enjoy a more satisfying narrative - the story of mankind, not just of man.
Bettany HughesRead
Aphrodite-Venus had become not a subject of adoration, but an agent of exploitation. From the moment Christian society perceived sex not as a gift of the goddess but a crime against God himself, women were believed to be the vessels of love's malign power.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote critiques the perception of femininity and sexuality in Christian society, emphasizing how women became viewed negatively rather than as symbols of love.
Bettany Hughes' quote reflects on the historical transformation of the view of women and sex in Christian society. Once celebrated as embodiments of love and beauty, women were increasingly seen as mere vessels for sinful desires, leading to a dangerous exploitation and a shift in how femininity was perceived. This shift indicates a broader societal change in the understanding of sexuality, viewing it as an offense rather than a gift, and highlights the tension between religious ideologies and female agency.
Themes
FemininitySexualityExploitationChristianityPerceptionAgency
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a lecture on the history of women's rights.
More from Bettany Hughes
All quotes →I cannot write about the past unless I go where history happened. Some make very good armchair historians, I'm not one of them. If you're going to inhabit someone else's world, the very least you can do is to spend a little time in it.
Bettany HughesRead
We think the way we do partly because Socrates thought the way he did. His basic idea - that the unexamined life is not worth living - is what it means to live in the modern world, to develop ideas and ask questions.
Bettany HughesRead
Of all the human figurines discovered so far from 30,000-3,000BC, 92% are of the female form. This is not to say there was any kind of matriarchy or worship of a mother goddess - far from it - but women are conspicuous by their presence.
Bettany HughesRead
When she stepped out of that spumy sea Aphrodite was said to have brought fertility, flowers, life, light to a barren world. For centuries women and men went to her sanctuaries to seek her pity and protection. Her domain was originally not just lust, but lust for life.
Bettany HughesRead
Venus, ancient goddess of love and beauty, is an apparently irrelevant, invented deity of the long dead. But Venus merits scrutiny. Chart her life story across 5,000 years and you chart the evolution of our conflicted relationship with sex and with the female body.
Bettany HughesRead
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