EP 55: The Mysterious Goddess of Persuasion

In the politics of Athens' new democracy, one goddess reined supreme: Peitho. She was the unheralded goddess of persuasion. Her influence brought down the philosopher Socrates. She could make any man silver-tongued, and all of her favorites became powerful orators. Join us as we meet this powerful — and divine — female.

If you love this podcast, you'll also enjoy Garner's audible novel about the gods, Homo Divinitas, now available on Amazon.com and Audible.com.

Transcript

EPISODE 55: THE MYSTERIOUS GODDESS OF PERSUASION

IN THE 4TH & 5TH CENTURIES BC, ATHENS BECAME ONE OF THE WORLD’S FIRST DEMOCRACIES. WHAT WAS DEMOCRACY LIKE SO LONG AGO?

IT MEANT OVERTHROWING THE KINGS & OLIGARCHS WHO HAD TRADITIONALLY RULED THE GREEK CITIES. IT MEANT SELF-GOVERNMENT & LIBERTY FOR CITIZENS.

BUT WITH THIS NEW FREEDOM CAME NEW CHALLENGES. NO LONGER DID CITIZENS OF ATHENS SIMPLY TAKE ORDERS. 

INSTEAD, THEY JOSTLED TO SEE WHO WOULD LEAD. THEY ARGUED WITH EACH OTHER. THEY USED LOGIC & EMOTION, PASSION & THREATS.

ABOVE ALL, THEY RELIED ON PERSUASION. AND BECAUSE THE GREEKS WERE SUPERSTITIOUS, THEY CALLED ON A MYSTERIOUS GODDESS FOR HELP.

SHE'S HARDLY A CELEBRITY TODAY, ALTHOUGH THE ENGLISH WORD PERSUASION IS DERIVED FROM HER NAME. 

SHE WAS THE GODDESS OF CAJOLERY, CHARM & SEDUCTION. THE GREEKS KNEW HER AS PEITHO. THE ROMANS RENAMED HER SUADA.

AT SOME POINT THE ENGLISH ADDED A PER TO THE FRONT OF HER NAME, AS IN PER-SUADA & THUS WAS BORN THE WORD PERSUADE.

AND RELIANCE ON PERSUASION DROVE THE NEW DEMOCRACY. THE GREEKS WERE CERTAIN THAT EVERY MAN WHO STOOD TO MAKE A POINT — WHO TRIED TO CONVINCE HIS FELLOW CITIZENS ABOUT ANYTHING — WAS GUIDED BY THE DIVINE PEITHO.

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WELCOME TO EPISODE 55 OF GARNER'S GREEK MYTHOLOGY. WE HAVE LISTENERS FROM 179 COUNTRIES ... SO WELCOME TO EVERYONE, WHEREVER YOU ARE.

I'M YOUR HOST, MYTHOLOGIST PATRICK GARNER. REMEMBER TO VISIT AMAZON TO CHECK OUT MY FOUR BOOKS ABOUT THE GREEK GODS IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD. 

THEY ARE PART OF THE NAXOS QUARTET, AND INCLUDE THE WINNOWING, CYCLADIC GIRLS, HOMO DIVINITAS & ALL THAT LASTS. AS AN ASIDE, HOMO DIVINITAS IS ALSO AVAILABLE AS AN AUDIO BOOK.

YOU CAN ALSO LEARN MORE ABOUT THEM & THIS PODCAST AT PATRICKGARNERBOOKS.COM.

MY NOVELS HAVE BEEN BEST SELLERS. they’re great ENTERTAINMENT & ECHO THE THEMES IN THIS PODCAST.

WHO ARE THE CHARACTERS IN THESE BOOKS? YOUR FAVORITE GREEK GODS, OF COURSE ... 

SO VISIT MY WEBSITE AT PATRICKGARNERBOOKS.COM, THEN LINK OVER TO AMAZON AND TREAT YOURSELF!

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FROM THE BEGINNING OF GREEK DEMOCRACY, ATHENIAN MEN WOULD meet MONTHLY AT AN OPEN-AIR GATHERING SPOT CALLED THE PYNX. THERE 6,000 CITIZENS FROM EVERY WALK OF LIFE WOULD ARGUE & DEBATE ISSUES.

A ROTATING COUNCIL OF 500 MEN WOULD PICK THE TOPICS & THEMES. ARGUMENTS & COUNTER-ARGUMENTS WOULD GO ON THROUGHOUT THE DAY.

BECAUSE THIS WAS A DEMOCRACY, ANY CITIZEN COULD SPEAK. EACH BECAME A POLITICIAN. POWER ACCRUED TO THOSE ABLE TO ARGUE WELL.

AS HISTORIAN BETTANY HUGHES WRITES IN THE HEMLOCK CUP, “THE BIGOTED, THE MILDLY CRAZED & THE VINDICTIVE” MIGHT ALL HAVE THEIR SAY.

OF COURSE THEY WOULD. FREEDOM OF SPEECH MATTERED. YET PERSUASIVE SPEAKERS CHOSE THEIR WORDS WITH CARE.

AND THE MOST POWERFUL & ARTICULATE SPEAKERS PRAYED TO PEITHO BEFORE THEY STOOD. SHE WOULD CRAFT THEIR SENTENCES TO MAKE THEM PLAUSIBLE.

HER INSPIRATION brought on ELOQUENCE. SHE MADE EACH OF THOSE SHE FAVORED FORCEFUL & INFLUENTIAL.

SHE ALONE, THE GREEKS BELIEVED, MADE EVERY SPEAKER MORE CONVINCING. THE GLIB,  ELOQUENT & THE SILVER-TONGUED COULD THANK PEITHO FOR THEIR SUCCESS.

SHE WAS THE POWER BEHIND ALL PERSUASION.

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THE GREEKS WEREN'T FOOLS. THEY RECOGNIZED THAT PERSUASION DID NOT EQUAL TRUTH. IN FACT, THEY KNEW IN THEIR HEARTS THAT PERSUASION & SEDUCTION OFTEN WENT HAND-IN-HAND.

SEDUCTION COULD BE ROMANTIC. BUT IT COULD ALSO BE A FEAT OF INTELLECT. THE MOST PASSIONATE OF ORATORS COULD BE CONVINCING, WHILE STILL DEALING IN LIES.

SOCRATES IS QUOTED BY PLATO AS SAYING TO THE JURY DURING HIS INFAMOUS TRIAL IN 399 BC, "I DON'T KNOW WHETHER YOU'VE BEEN CONVINCED BY MY ACCUSERS, GENTLEMEN …

"BUT I MYSELF WAS ALMOST CARRIED AWAY BY THEM, THEIR ARGUMENTS WERE SO PERSUASIVE. AND YET, HARDLY A WORD OF WHAT THEY SAID WAS TRUE …"

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SO WHO WAS THIS GODDESS? PEITHO'S ORIGIN WAS, FRANKLY, MYSTERIOUS. HESIOD STATED THAT SHE WAS THE CHILD OF OKEANOS & TETHYS, BOTH TITANS.

THE POET SAPPHO & THE PLAYWRIGHT AESCHYLUS SAID THAT HER MOTHER WAS THE GODDESS APHRODITE. 

THERE'S LOGIC IN APHRODITE BEING HER MOTHER, AS APHRODITE WAS, NEEDLESS TO SAY, A SEDUCTRESS.

YET AESCHYLUS IN THE PLAY "AGAMEMNON," CONTRADICTS HIMSELF, SAYING THAT HER MOTHER WAS NOT APHRODITE , BUT INSTEAD ATE, THE SPIRIT OF DELUSION & INFATUATION,  FOLLY & FATE.

TO ADD TO THE CONFUSION ABOUT HER ORIGIN, A SPARTAN — THE LYRIC POET ALCMAN — WRITES THAT PEITHO'S FATHER WAS THE MIGHTY TITAN, PROMETHEUS.

REGARDLESS OF HER PARENTAGE, PEITHO LIVED ON MOUNT OLYMPUS WITH THE OTHER DIVINITIES WHO SURROUNDED ZEUS.

THE COMIC PLAYWRIGHT ARISTOPHANES WROTE, "PEITHO'S ONLY SHRINE IS ELOQUENT SPEECH." BUT HE WAS WRONG.

SHE HAD AN EARTHLY LODGING, IN EFFECT HER HOME AWAY FROM HOME. ANY VISITOR TO THE ACROPOLIS WHO ENTERED THE SACRED ZONE AROUND THE PARTHENON FIRST PASSED BY THE SHRINE OF PEITHO.

ACCORDING TO THE ANCIENT WRITER PAUSANIUS, SHE HAD CULT-SHRINES IN ARGOS, MEGARA, SICYON & THROUGHOUT ATHENS. 

AND WHETHER THE CHILD OF APHRODITE OR NOT, SHE WAS DEPICTED AS THAT GODDESS' HANDMAIDEN. HER STATUES WERE ALWAYS FOUND WITH APHRODITE'S. 

AND WHY NOT? LOVE IS ALWAYS ASSOCIATED WITH INFATUATION, DESIRE & TOO FREQUENTLY, FOLLY.

WHICH LEADS US BACK TO THE SILVER-TONGUED, & THOSE WHO BELIEVED THEIR SLICK, PERSUASIVE WORDS. 

TO BE PERSUADED IS, TOO OFTEN, TO BE MISLED. A SPEAKER MAY BE COMPELLING, YET — AS SOCRATES IS QUOTED AS SAYING — MAY BE TAKING HIS LISTENERS FOR A RIDE.

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I NOTED THAT PEITHO WAS DEPICTED AS APHRODITE'S HANDMAIDEN. SHE WAS ALSO KNOWN AS THE HANDMAIDEN OF MARRIAGE.

THE LYRIC POET PINDAR CALLED HER "THE WISE ONE WHO HOLDS THE SECRET KEY TO HOLY LOVE." 

SHE LED BRIDES INTO THE BRIDAL CHAMBER. AS APHRODITE'S DOUBLE, SHE CAST A ROSY BEAUTY OVER NEW BRIDES.

THROUGH HER WILES & ENDLESS SCHEMES, SHE TURNED MANY AN UNREMARKABLE NEWLYWED INTO AN IRRESISTIBLE SEDUCTRESS.

LATER, AS MARRIAGES MATURED, SHE SOFTENED ARGUMENTS BETWEEN HUSBAND & WIFE. THE GENTLE WORDS SHE PLACED ON THE LIPS OF ONE OR THE OTHER PARTNER ENDED MANY AN OTHERWISE LENGTHY QUARREL.

SHE WAS OFTEN DEPICTED WITH A WHITE DOVE, THE BIRD OF PEACE. BUT AS WE HAVE ALREADY SEEN, PEITHO WAS HARDLY TRUSTWORTHY.

A CONSTANTLY CHANGING GODDESS, SHE REPRESENTED BOTH SEXUAL & POLITICAL PERSUASION. 

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SHE WAS BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN WITH APHRODITE DURING THE ABDUCTION OF HELEN, THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN IN THE WORLD.

YOU'LL RECALL THAT A PRINCE NAMED PARIS SNATCHED HELEN, THE WIFE OF KING MENELAUS, WHILE THE KING WAS ABSENT ON A TRIP.

PARIS HAD BEEN ASSURED BY APHRODITE THAT HELEN WAS HIS FOR THE PICKING. BUT HELEN WAS FAR FROM CONVINCED THAT SHE SHOULD TRUST PARIS WITH ANYTHING.

BUT HER DISTRUST WAS QUICKLY DISPELLED. PEITHO WAS THERE & SOON HELEN WAS PERSUADED THAT SHE SHOULD ACCOMPANY PARIS TO TROY.

HOW DID PEITHO COAX HELEN TO BE UNFAITHFUL? PEITHO THREW A MIST OVER PARIS. WHEN HELEN VIEWED THE WOMANIZER, SHE SAW A BRAVE YOUNG MAN, A WARRIOR FAR HANDSOMER THAN HER HUSBAND.

SHE WAS SWEPT WITH MAD DESIRE. OF COURSE, HER SUDDEN LONGING WAS DUE TO THE SPELL CAST UPON HER BY THE GODDESSES APHRODITE & PEITHO.

THROUGH APHRODITE HELEN FELL IN LOVE. AND THROUGH PEITHO, SHE WAS PERSUADED THAT SHE HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO ABANDON HER HOME FOR THE OPEN SEAS.

WITHIN A SHORT TIME THE UNITED CITIES OF GREECE HAD DECLARED WAR ON TROY. HELEN'S BECAME THE FACE THAT WAS SAID TO HAVE LAUNCHED A THOUSAND SHIPS.

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PEITHO'S STATUES WERE FOUND THROUGHOUT ATHENS. HER WILLOWY FIGURE DECORATED URNS & DRINKING CUPS.

PINDAR MENTIONED HER IN HIS ODES & CELEBRATORY POEMS. SHE WAS PAID HIGH HONORS FOR INSPIRATION, INFLUENCE & HER SUPERNATURAL ABILITY TO INDUCE THE MOST STUBBORN MEN TO CHANGE THEIR MINDS.

THE WRITER ISOCRATES IN THE LATE 4TH CENTURY BC WROTE THAT, "BY GIVING ANNUAL SACRIFICES TO PEITHO, MEN ASPIRE TO SHARE THE POWER THAT THE GODDESS POSSESSES."

SAPPHO DESCRIBED HER AS "BRIGHT AS GOLD." ATHENE HERSELF WAS SAID TO REVER PEITHO'S GIFTS, SAYING,

"HOLY PERSUASION TOO I BLESS,

PEITHO OF THE SOFTEST WORDS,

BROUGHT ZEUS HIMSELF TO TRIAL,

AND SO I CROWN PERSUASION WITH SUCCESS. 

NOW GOOD SHALL STRIVE WITH GOOD, &

WE SHALL ALL SHARE THE VICTORY."

HER POWER MADE SENSE AS SHE WAS ASSOCIATED WITH PRIMORDIAL NIGHT. AS WE HAVE SEEN IT WAS WHISPERED THAT SHE WAS THE CHILD OF TITANS.

OR OF THE LOVE-GODDESS, APHRODITE. OR PERHAPS THE OFFSPRING OF THE MIGHTY PROMETHEUS. OR AT THE LEAST, SHE HAD SPRUNG FROM ATE, THE SPIRIT OF FOLLY & FATE.

REGARDLESS, SHE WAS SEDUCTIVE, POTENT & RELENTLESS. SHE HAD APPEARED OUT OF THE  DARKEST NIGHT & NOW PLAYED UNDER THE BRIGHT SKIES OF GREECE.

WHEN MEN WERE BLESSED WITH HER CLEAR & VIBRANT WORDS, THEY COULD PERSUADE CITIES TO GO TO WAR. THEY COULD HAVE MEN BANISHED FOR NEXT TO NOTHING.

THEY COULD WIN TRIALS WITH ELOQUENT OPINIONS THAT HAD NO RELATIONSHIP TO FACTS. THIS NEW DEMOCRACY WAS A CHANCE FOR BOMBAST, ORATORY & HYPERBOLE.

NOTHING SEEMED IMPOSSIBLE … THAT IS, IF THE GODDESS HAD YOUR BACK.

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AND SO IT WAS THAT EMPTY, PERSUASIVE WORDS OFTEN CARRIED THE GREATEST WEIGHT. PEITHO SEEMED TO ENJOY TWISTING FACTS SO THAT WHAT WAS FALSE SOUNDED TRUE.

SHE COULD BE CRUEL OR HEARTLESS IN HOW SHE EMPLOYED HER GIFTS. GOOD MEN SOMETIMES FELL. 

THE BEST WERE TOO OFTEN DESTROYED BY THE ELOQUENCE OF OTHERS.

REMEMBER SOCRATES' STATEMENT TO THE JURY 2400 YEARS AGO? HE SAID WHILE UNDER TRIAL FOR BLASPHEMY, 

"I MYSELF WAS ALMOST CARRIED AWAY BY MY ACCUSERS' ARGUMENTS. THEY WERE GRANDLY PERSUASIVE. YET HARDLY A WORD OF WHAT THEY SAID WAS TRUE …"

OF ALL THE PHILOSOPHERS OF THE TIME, SOCRATES WAS THE MOST SKEPTICAL OF PEITHO & HER WAY WITH WORDS.

HE WAS SURE THAT PERSUASION MEANT THE DEGRADATION OF TRUTH. HIS QUEST, UNLIKE THOSE WHO USED WORDS TO WIN, WAS TO DISTINGUISH THE TRUE FROM THE FALSE.

PLATO QUOTES HIM AS SAYING, "IF YOU CONTINUE TO DELIGHT IN CLEVER, IDLE ARGUMENTS, YOU'LL BE QUALIFIED TO ARGUE, BUT NEVER KNOW HOW TO LIVE WITH MEN."

AS THE HISTORIAN BETTANY HUGHES WRITES, "ATHENS IN THE LATE 5TH CENTURY BECAME A LAND OF BLUFF, WORSHIPPING AT THE SHRINE OF THE GODDESS OF PERSUASION.

"SUDDENLY ARGUMENTS MATTERED LESS THAN THE AMPLIFIED SKILL OF THE ARGUER … BUT SOCRATES' APPROACH WAS RATHER DIFFERENT …

"HE ENCOURAGED MEN TO HUMILITY RATHER THAN ARROGANCE, TO HONESTY RATHER THAN SELF-DELUSION."

IN OTHER WORDS, HUGHES SAYS THAT SOCRATES REJECTED PEITHO & HER GRAND ORATORY. HIS INTEREST WAS IN THE LOGIC OF SPEECH.

HE SOUGHT WORDS THAT COULD ILLUMINATE THE TRUTH. HE EMBRACED POVERTY & SPENT HIS LIFE ROAMING THE CITY BAREFOOT.

MOST ATHENIANS, ON THE OTHER HAND, SOUGHT WEALTH. ONE OF SOCRATES' STUDENTS ASKED HIM, "ISN'T WEALTH WISDOM?"

SOCRATES REPLIED, "NO. WEALTH IS THE PARENT OF LUXURY AND INDOLENCE."

AND SO, WITHOUT APOLOGY, SOCRATES BECAME THE ENEMY OF THE GODDESS PEITHO. WHY? PEITHO DISDAINED TRUTH, INSTEAD SEDUCING & COERCING & SWEET-TALKING HER WAY.

SOCRATES, ON THE OTHER HAND, TALKED STRAIGHT, USING CANDOR & ASKING BLUNT QUESTIONS IN ORDER TO FIND WHAT WAS TRUE.

IT MAY HAVE BEEN INEVITABLE THAT, IN 399 BC BEFORE A JURY OF HIS PEERS, SOCRATES WAS FOUND GUILT OF BLASPHEMY & CONDEMNED TO DEATH.

HE COULD HAVE ESCAPED HIS BELOVED ATHENS. IT WAS ALMOST EXPECTED THAT HE WOULD. MANY MEN WHO WERE SIMILARLY CONDEMNED HAD DONE SO.

BUT HE CHOSE TO STAY. WHICH MEANT THAT IN 30 DAYS AFTER SENTENCING, HE WOULD FACE HIS EXECUTION. 

HE WAS FEARLESS. ON THE THIRTIETH DAY, AFTER CONTINUOUS DISCUSSIONS WITH FRIENDS ABOUT TRUTH & LIFE, HE DRANK POISON & DIED …

HOW MUCH OF HIS FATE SHOULD WE ATTRIBUTE TO PEITHO? HE WAS HER OPPOSITION. SHE PUT CLOYING, PERSUASIVE WORDS IN THE MOUTHS OF HIS OPPONENTS.

HE ARGUED AGAINST THEIR LIES, BUT PASSION SWEPT THE JURY — ALL MEN WHO HAD KNOWN SOCRATES SINCE HIS BIRTH.

AS THE TRIAL UNFOLDED, PEITHO WATCHED. THE FALSE WORDS OF SOCRATES’ ACCUSERS ECHOED IN THE PYNX. 

THEIR WORDS WERE LIES, BUT THEY WERE ELOQUENT LIES. WE HAVE TO ASSUME THAT PEITHO APPROVED. PRETTY WORDS & CAJOLERY MATTERED MORE TO HER THAN TRUTH …

LISTEN CAREFULLY. THIS STEALTHY GODDESS CONTINUES TO OPERATE IN THE BACKGROUND EVEN TODAY. 

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JOIN ME ... FOR A FUTURE EPISODE OF GARNER'S GREEK MYTHOLOGY.

AND ONE MORE THING, IF YOU HAVE LITTLE ONES IN YOUR LIFE, THERE'S A NEW CHILDREN'S BOOK THAT SHOULD BE ON YOUR BOOKSHELF.

IT'S CALLED READ-ALOUD STORIES FOR YOUNG LISTENERS, BY D.K. GARNER. THERE ARE NO GREEK GODS, BUT ANIMALS — ALWAYS PART OF GREEK LIFE — PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THESE CHARMING STORIES. 

THEY TALK WITH THE CHILDREN AT THE MOMENT A LITTLE HELP IS NEEDED, EVERYONE CAN ENJOY THE STORIES OF U-TURN THE CROW, ELI THE DOG, WINKY THE HORSE, NOT-GEORGE THE BUNNY & ROOTY THE ROOSTER.

VISIT PATRICKGARNERBOOKS.COM FOR MORE INFORMATION.

AND THANKS FOR LISTENING ... THIS IS YOUR HOST, PATRICK GARNER.