Ancient Love and Desire

I really fell in love with Dr. Freunds lecture, which was the whole point of this class right? all kidding aside I do have an openly known soft spot for Greek art so when he started linking the usage of some of the Greek artistic staples in the Jewish culture I was floored, to me the two worlds were never meant to meet and yet they did and it went quite swimmingly. The use of symbols and religious iconography is something that's been present for almost as long as religion has been around whether it was a physical artistic interpretation or a literary interpretation so touching on the roots and the taboo nature of such a thing is huge. The key points that really struck me in this lecture were closely related in my eyes, Dr. Freund left us with the open ended questions of why was Leda and the swan depicted on a Jewish tomb, and why was Zeus abducting ganymedes found on the frieze of a synagogue? My only speculative answers for Dr. Freund stem from my very light background in Greek art and architecture: They were warning signs. Yes, a popular theory I'm sure but it holds some merit. If the Jews believed that idols of Astarte could help with fertility and were allowable by their religion because they weren't really worshiping it and just using to as a good luck charm then they could have just as easily followed the same pattern with the horrific themes of Greek art. It was a very common practice for the ornate temples of ancient Greece to feature horrible creatures and monsters of folk lore such as the Medusa that was pictured directly next to Zeus and Ganymedes on the synagogue frieze. These images were intended to bar evil from entering the house of worship, sort of like an ancient form of a home security system, so instead of ADT protecting a suburban cookie cutter house you would have the gaping maw of Medusa protecting a sacred temple. I think the theme of the frieze was designed to stay within the themes of Greek culture because they were popular images, and perhaps did not violate the commandment that banned the creation of religious iconography after all according to the Jewish religion Zeus, Ganymedes, and Leda never existed. While Zeus and Ganymedes are not as horrible at face value I think the story could have easily been used a cautionary tale following along the lines of "That's something the Greeks would do, however we would never do something like that and here is a reminder to keep you on the straight and narrow!". I feel like the depiction of Leda and the swan on the tomb could be explained along the same lines, the image beautifully condemns 2 horrific acts at once: bestiality and rape. The image of the vulnerable woman and the attacking swan is both beautiful and terrifying, something that could be used as both protection for the dead and ornamentation for the living. In the back of my mind there is another simple explanation for the occurrence of the images: were the stories ever censored? while it may sound ridiculous it wouldnt be the first time censorship has occluded historys view of the world. Imagine if the graphic nature of these myths had been lost in translation? and that the stories were "simplified" to preserve the popularity of the art across cultures, if someone did come across the true story they might have been so shocked that they would have spread the word around and eventually Ganymedes and Zeus become a boy being protected by one of gods fiercely loving creatures, and Leda and the swan could have become simply the beautiful Leda having her purity artfully protected by one of gods most loving creatures. Now image if you you reviewed the images with that being your only background information, desire and lust are transformed into love and protection so easily it could fool you.