Peitho

Peitho

n Greek mythology, Peitho (Ancient Greek: Πειθώ, romanized: Peithō, lit. 'Persuasion' or 'winning eloquence'[1]) is the personification of persuasion.[2] Her Roman equivalent is Suada or Suadela.[citation needed] She is typically presented as an important companion of Aphrodite. Her opposite is Bia, the personification of force.[3] As a personification, she was sometimes imagined as a goddess and sometimes an abstract power with her name used both as a common and proper noun.[4] There is evidence that Peitho was referred to as a goddess before she was referred to as an abstract concept, which is rare for a personification.[5] Peitho represents both sexual and political persuasion. She is associated with the art of rhetoric.[5]

Family

Fragment depicting Peitho, Aphrodite, and Eros. This skyphos fragment may be the earliest known artistic representation of Peitho,[6] circa 490 B.C.E. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art).
Peitho's ancestry is unclear, as various authors provide different identities for her parents. Hesiod in Theogony identifies Peitho as the daughter of the Titans Tethys and Okeanus, which would make her an Okeanid and the sister of notable goddesses such as Dione, Doris, and Metis.[1][7] According to the lyric poet Sappho, she was the daughter of Aphrodite.[8] Aeschylus identifies her as the daughter of Aphrodite in Suppliant Women (Hiketides), but also describes her as the child of Ate in Agamemnon.[9][10] Nonnus in his Dionysiaca describes the Charites (Graces), an ensemble of goddesses of grace and charm, as including Peitho, Pasithea, and Aglaia, and all of them are identified as daughters of Dionysus.[11] The Hellenistic era elegiac poet Hermesianax also refers to Peitho as one of the Charites.[12] Alcman describes her as the daughter of Prometheia and the sister of Tyche and Eunomia.[13]

Nonnus identifies Peitho as the wife of Hermes, the messenger of the gods.[14] However, commentary on Euripides' Orestes notes that Peitho is the first wife of Phoroneus, the primordial King of Argos, and the mother of Aegialeus and Apia.[15] An alternative Argive tradition describes her instead as the wife of Argos, Phoroneus's grandson.[5] The Byzantine encyclopedic text, Suda, states that the mother of Iynx was either Peitho or Ekho.

Mythology
Peitho plays a limited role in mythology, mainly appearing with or as a companion of Aphrodite.

A degraded fragment by Sappho may identify Peitho as an attendant of Aphrodite, although other possibilities are Hebe, Iris, or even Hekate.[16] Pindar characterizes Peitho, either as the abstract concept of persuasion or the goddess, as the wise one that holds the "secret key to holy love", associating her with Aphrodite.[17] She is also described as the nurse of the baby Erotes, who are Aphrodite's children.[18] A fragment by Ibycus describes Aphrodite and Peitho, who is described as tendered eyed (aganoblepharos), nursing Euryalus among rose blossoms.[19]

Nonnus gives her a role within the marriage of Kadmos and Harmonia, as she appears to Kadmos in the form of a mortal slave and covers Kadmos in a mist to lead him unseen through Samothrace to the palace of Electra, Harmonia's adoptive mother.[18] Peitho often appears on a 5th century epinetron by the Eretria Painter depicting Harmonia’s bridal preparations with Aphrodite, Eros, Persephone (Kore), Hebe, and Himeros as in attendance.[20] In art, she was also depicted at the weddings for Dionysus and Ariadne, Alkestis and Admetos, Thetis and Peleus, and at the union of Aphrodite and Adonis.[5] A hydria attributed to the Meidias Painter shows Peitho fleeing from the scene of the abduction of the Leukippidai by the Dioskuri, indicating either that she persuaded the women into eloping or that she does not condone the marriage by Athenian standards.[5]

When Zeus ordered the creation of the first woman, Pandora, Peitho and the Charites placed golden necklaces around her neck, and the Horae (Seasons) crowned Pandora's head with spring flowers.[21] Extravagant jewelry, particularly necklaces, were viewed with suspicion in Ancient Greek literature, as they was typically seen as a way for women to seduce men, making the necklace a way to enhance Pandora’s sexual attractiveness and persuasive abilities.[22]

In art, Peitho is often represented with Aphrodite during the abduction of Helen, symbolizing the forces persuasion and love at work during the scene.[23] Her presence at the event may be interpreted as either Paris needing persuasion to claim Helen as a prize for choosing Aphrodite, or Helen needing to be persuaded to accompany him to Troy, as Helen's level of agency became a popular topic of discussion in the 5th century.[22] Peitho's presence brings the question of whether mortals have the ability to resist her power or whether they are bound to her persuasive abilities.[22]

Cult and function
Cults dedicated to Peitho date to at least the early 5th century.[16] In her role as an attendant or companion of Aphrodite, Peitho was intimately connected to the goddess of love and beauty. Aphrodite and Peitho were sometimes conflated, more commonly in the later periods, with the name Peitho appearing in conjunction with or as an epithet of Aphrodite's name.[22] She is also identified with Tyche in Suppliant Women (Hiketides).[24] Peitho was associated with marriage, since a suitor or his father would negotiate with the father or guardian of a young woman for her hand in marriage and offer a bridal price in return for her. The most desirable women drew many prospective suitors, and persuasive skill often determined the suitor's success. Plutarch includes her on a list of five deities for new couples to pray to, also included are Zeus (Teleios), Hera (Teleia), Aphrodite, and Artemis.[25]


A Roman relief depicting Peitho, circa 1st century B.C.E. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art).
Peitho was an important figure for emphasising civic harmony, particularly in Athens and Argos, and harmony within interpersonal relationships.[26] Notably in Athens, the unification (synoikismos) of the city by Theseus was only possible with the intervention of both Aphrodite and Peitho to create democratic spirit and cooperation.[5] In Argos, she was paired with the early kings of the city, functioning as a civic unifier in a similar role as Harmonia, the first Queen of Thebes.[27] On a 4th century vase from Apulia, Peitho and Hermes are depicted together instructing Tripolemus to teach agriculture to mankind, indicating Peitho's role in creating harmony through civilization.[3] Plutarch outlines Peitho’s role in interpersonal harmony in Moralia, where he states that persuasion’s role within a marriage is so that spouses can achieve their wants without quarreling. In Eumenides, Athena thanks Peitho after convincing the Furies of her reasoning in acquitting Orestes and successfully defusing strife.[28] However, Peitho may be a destructive force when used for seduction or selfish personal gains, such as in Agamemnon where Clytemnestra curses Peitho for Paris’s stealing of Helen, and she uses persuasion to convince Cassandra to enter the house in order to murder her.