Three
Phaethon, Sappho's Phaon, and the White Rock of Leukas: "Reading" the Symbols of Greek Lyric
Gregory Nagy
In the arcane Greek myths of Phaethon and Phaon there are latent themes that help resolve three problems of interpretation in Greek poetry. The first of these problems is to be found in the Partheneion of Alcman (PMG 1). It concerns a wondrous horse conjured up in a simile describing the beauty of the maiden Hagesikhora, center of attention in the song-and-dance ensemble:
(Alcman PMG 1.45-49)
For she appears
outstanding, as when someone
sets among grazing beasts a horse,
well-built, a prizewinner, with thundering hooves,
from out of those dreams underneath the rock.
So the problem is, what is the meaning of 
? I translate it as "underneath the rock" following the scholia of the Louvre Papas, which connect this adjective with 
pétra , "rock," and quote the following passage from the Odyssey :
(Od . 24.11-12)
This essay was originally published in slightly different form as "Phaethon, Sappho's Phaon, and the White Rock of Leukas," Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 77 (1973) 137-77.
And they passed by the streams of Okeanos and the White Rock [Leukàs pétra ] and past the Gates of the Sun and the District of Dreams.
This interpretation has been rejected by Denys Page, who argues: "The reference to [Odyssey ] xxiv 11f. is irrelevant; nothing is said there about dreams living under rocks."[1] Instead, Page follows the Etymologicum Magnum 783.20, where we read 
, "sustained by wings," so that the wondrous horse being described would be something "out of winged dreams"; in support of this interpretation, Page adduces passages where dreams are represented as winged beings (e.g., Eur. Hec . 70).[2] All the same, Page retains the reading 
in his edited text, so that we are left to assume some sort of ad hoc metathesis of 
to 
as if the local Laconian dialectal pronunciation of the word for "wing" were pert- rather than pter . Other experts, though hesitantly, go along with the interpretation "under rocks," allowing for some vague notion of dreams abiding underneath some mysterious rock in the Laconian poetic imagination.[3] In the most accessible chrestomathy of Greek lyric, the editor chooses to take 
at face value: "the dreams are those of siestas taken underneath a shady rock."[4]
The second problem of interpretation, then, is the significance of the White Rock, Leukàs pétra , in Odyssey 24.11. This mysterious place has to be viewed in the overall context of Odyssey 24.1-14, describing the passage of the spirits of the suitors of Penelope, who have just been killed by Odysseus, into the realm of the dead. This description, known as the Introduction to the Second Nekyia, represents a distinct subgenre of Greek epic. It is replete with idiosyncrasies in both theme and diction,[5] and its contents afford a precious glimpse into early Greek concepts of afterlife. Nowhere else in Homeric diction do we find the puzzling expressions 
, "Gates (púlai ) of the Sun"; 
"District (demos ) of Dreams"; and 
, "White Rock (Leukàs pétra )." On the level of content, however, there do exist Homeric parallels to the first two of the three expressions.
[1] Page, Alcman 87.
[2] Ibid., 87.
[3] Wilamowitz, "Der Chor" 252 n. 2.
[4] Campbell, Greek Lyric Poetry 203. I infer that the editor had in mind passages like Hes. Op . 588-89.
[5] For a survey, see Page, The Homeric Odyssey 116-19. For some, including Page, such idiosyncrasies mean that the passage is an insertion and does not intrinsically belong where it is found in the text. I disagree, believing that the epic genre consists of several subgenres and that each subgenre has its idiosyncrasies in theme and diction. For a survey of the principle that each epic subgenre (such as that of similes) has its own distinctive archaisms as well as innovations, see Householder and Nagy, Greek 22-23.
In the instance of 
, "Gates (púlai ) of the Sun," there is a thematic parallelism between púlai , "gates," and Homeric Púlos , "Pylos." As Douglas Frame has demonstrated, the royal name Néstor and the place name of King Nestor's realm, Púlos , are based on mythological models.[6] I should stress that Frames arguments are used not to negate a historical Nestor and the historical Pylos, but rather to show that the kernel of the epic tradition about Nestor and Pylos was based on local myths linked with local cults. The clearest example is a story, represented as Nestor's own tale within the Iliad , that tells of the hero's retrieving the cattle of Pylos from the Epeians (Il . 11.671-761). Frame argues convincingly that the retrieved cattle are a thematic analogue to the Cattle of the Sun.[7] The etymology of Néstor , explained by Frame as "he who brings back to light and life," is relevant.[8] We may note the association of words built out of the root nes- , most prominently nóos (mind) and nóstos (homecoming), with the theme of sunrise.[9] In fact, the entire plot of Odysseus's travels is interlaced with diction that otherwise connotes the theme of sunset followed by sunrise. To put it more bluntly, the epic plot of Odysseus's travels operates on an extended solar metaphor, as Frame argues in adducing the internal evidence of Homeric theme and diction.[10] Likewise, when Nestor returns the cattle to Pylos, it is implicit that Pylos is the Gate of the Sun and an entrance to the underworld.[11] There are survivals of this hieratic connotation in the local Pylian lore of classical times (Paus. 4.36.2-3).[12] In a Homeric allusion to the myth about Herakles' descent into the underworld and his wounding of Hades (Il . 5.395-404) the name Pylos actually serves to connote the realm of the otherworld rather than any realm of this world: 
(in Pylos, among the dead; Il . 5.397). Hades himself is the pulártes , "gate closer" (Il . 8.367, etc.). In short, the thematic associations of Púlos imply that the Gate of the Sun is also the Gate of the Underworld, and thus we have a parallel to the context of 
, "Gates (púlai ) of the Sun," in Odyssey 24.12. Accordingly, a
[6] Frame, The Myth of Return 81-115.
[7] Ibid., 87-90, 92. Just as Nestor brings his cattle back to Pylos, so also another figure, Melampous, on whose solar significance see 91-92.
[8] See Nagy, Greek Mythology 218.
[9] See ibid., 218. Cf. also 92 ff., with reference to Frame's demonstration of the traditional theme that represents sunrise as symbolically parallel with a return to "consciousness," the Greek word for which is nóos .
[10] Note esp. Frame, The Myth of Return 75-76, 78, on Od . 13.79-95, where the "return" of Odysseus coincides with sunrise, at which point the hero can finally awaken from the deathlike sleep that had held him for the duration of his nighttime sea voyage homeward. Cf. Nagy, Greek Mythology 218, and also Segal, "The Phaeacians."
[11] Frame, The Myth of Return 92-93.
[12] For details, see ibid., 90-91.
Homeric expression like 
, "pass by the gates of Hades" (Il . 5.646; cf. 23.71) implies that the psukhaí (spirits) of the dead traverse to the underworld through the sine passage traveled by the sun when it sets.
In the instance of 
, "District demos of Dreams" (Od . 24.12), the concept of a community of dreams situated past the Gates of Hades is the-matically consistent with other Homeric expressions involving dreams. After a person dies, his psukhe[*] (spirit) flies off 
, "like a dream" (11.222). Hermes, who is conducting the psukhaí of the dead suitors (24.1), is also the conductor of dreams, 
(h. Hom. Merc . 14). Since it is Hermes who leads the psukhaí of the suitors past the Gates of the Sun (24. 11), it is significant that another of his inherited epithets is puledókos (h. Hom. Merc . 15), to be interpreted as "he who receives [the psukhaí ] at the Gates."[13] These are the Gates of Hades, or we may call them the Gates of the Sun. But there is also another name available. Since Hermes conducts dreams as well as the ghosts of the dead, and since dreams move like ghosts, it is not surprising that dreams, too, have gates (Od . 19.562; cf. 4.809).[14] Since the 
, "Gates (púlai ) of the Sun," are already mentioned in 24.12, we may expect 
, "District (demos ) of Dreams," in the same line to be a periphrastic substitute for a redundant concept, "Gates of Dreams."
In the instance of 
, "White Rock" (Od . 24.11), we find no parcel in Homeric theme and diction. All we can say about the White Rock at this point is that its collocation with 
, "District (demos ) of Dreams" (24.12), seems parcel to the expression 
"from dreams underneath a rock," in Alcman's Partheneion (PMG 1.49).
As we begin to examine the attestations of Leukàs pétra , "White Rock," beyond Homer, we come upon the third problem of interpretation, concerning the White Rock and a figure called Phaon:
(Men. F 258 Koerte)[15]
[13] This epithet serves as a counterexample to the argument of Page, The Homeric Odyssey 117, that in Homeric poetry Hermes functions as psychopomp only in Od . 24. Cf. also Whitman, Homer and the Heroic Tradition 217-18, on Il . 24.
[15] This passage must have belonged to the introductory anapests of the play (scholia A m Hephaestion 6.3).
where they say that Sappho was the first,
hunting down the proud Phaon,
to throw herself, in her goading desire, from the rock
that shines from afar . But now, in accordance with your sacred utterance,
lord king, let there be silence throughout the sacred precinct of the headland
of Leukas.
This fragment, alluding to a story about Sappho's jumping into the sea for love of Phaon, is from a play of Menander's entitled The Leukadia . We infer from Menander's lines that Sappho leaped off the White Rock of Leukas in pursuit of Phaon. It is to Strabo that we owe the preservation of these verses (10.2.9 C452). He is in the process of describing Cape Leukas, a prominent white rock jutting out from Leukas into the sea and toward Kephallenia.[16] From this rock Sappho is supposed to have jumped into the sea after Phaon. Strabo goes on to describe a shrine of Apollo Leukatas situated on Cape Leukas and an ancestral cult practice connected with it. Every year, he reports, some criminal was cast down from the white rock into the sea below for the sake of averting evil, 
. Wings and even birds would be fastened to him, and men in fishing boats would be stationed below the rock in order to retrieve the victim after his plunge.
As Wilamowitz has convincingly argued,[17] Menander chose for his play a setting that was known for its exotic cult practice involving a white rock and conflated it in the quoted passage with a literary theme likewise involving a white rock. There are two surviving attestations of this theme. The first is from lyric:
(Anac. PMG 37608)
One more time taking off in the air, down from the White
Rock into the dark waves do I dive, intoxicated with lust.
The second is from satyr drama:
(Eur. Cyc . 163-68)
[16] Corinthian settlers called the entire territory Leukas, after Gape Leukas; cf. Strabo 10.2.8 G452.
[17] Wilamowitz, Sappho und Simonides 25-40.
[18]I would be crazy not to give all the herds of the Cyclopes
in return for drinking one cup of that wine
and throwing myself from the white rock into the brine,
once I am intoxicated , with eyebrows relaxed.
Whoever is not happy when he drinks is crazy.
In both instances, falling from the white rock is parallel to falling into a swoon—be it from intoxication or from making love. As for Menander's allusion to Sappho's plunge from a Leukás (white rock), Wilamowitz reasonably infers that there must have existed a similar theme, which does not survive, in the poetry of Sappho. Within the framework of this theme, the female speaker must have pictured herself as driven by love for a certain Phaon, or at least so it was understood by the time New Comedy flourished.[19] So the third and the last of the three problems is, why should Sappho seem to be in love with a mythical figure?
About Phaon himself we have no reports beyond the meager fragments gathered in Sappho fragment 211 Voight (v.). It appears that he was an old porthmeús (ferryman) who was transformed into a beautiful youth by Aphrodite herself; also, the goddess fell in love with this beautiful Phaon and hid him in a head of lettuce. Besides specifically attesting the latter myth in Cratinus (fr. 330 Kock), Athenaeus (69d-e) also cites striking parallels in Eubulus (fr. 14 Kock) and Callimachus (fr. 478 Pfeiffer), where we see that Adonis, too, was hidden in a head of lettuce by Aphrodite. This thematic parallelism of Aphrodite and Phaon with Aphrodite and Adonis becomes more important as we come to another myth about the second pair.
According to the account in book 7 of the mythographer Ptolemaios Chennos (ca. C.E. 100; by way of Phot. Bibl . 152-53 Bekker),[20] the first to dive off the heights of Cape Leukas was none other than Aphrodite herself, out of love for a dead Adonis. After Adonis died (how it happened is not said), the mourning Aphrodite went off searching for him and finally found him at "Cypriote Argos," in the shrine of Apollo Eríthios . She consults Apollo, who instructs her to seek relief from her love by jumping off the white rock of Leukas, where Zeus sits whenever he wants relief from his passion for Hera. Then Ptolemaios launches into a veritable catalogue of other figures who followed Aphrodite's precedent and took a ritual plunge as a cure for love. For example, Queen Artemisia I is reputed to have leaped off the white rock out of love for one Dardanos, succeeding only in getting herself killed. Several others are mentioned who died from the leap, including a certain iambographer Charinos, who expired only after being fished out of
[19] Wilamowitz, Sappho und Simonides 33-37.
[20] Westermann, Scriptores 197-99.
the water with a broken leg, but not before blurting out his four last iambic trimeters, painfully preserved for us with the compliments of Ptolemaios and Photius as well. Someone called Makes was more fortunate: having succeeded in escaping from four love affairs after four corresponding leaps from the white rock, he earned the epithet Leukopetras . We may follow the lead of Wilamowitz in questioning the degree of historicity in such accounts.[21] There is, however, a more important concern. In the lengthy and detailed account of Ptolemaios, Sappho is not mentioned at all, let alone Phaon. From this silence I infer that the source of this myth about Aphrodite and Adonis is independent of Sappho's own poetry or of later distortions based on it.[22] Accordingly, the ancient cult practice at Cape Leukas, as described by Strabo (10.2.9 C452), may well contain some intrinsic element that inspired lovers' leaps, a practice also noted by Strabo. The second practice seems to be derived from the first, as we might expect from a priestly institution that becomes independent of the social context that had engendered it. Abstracted from their inherited tribal functions, religious institutions have a way of becoming mystical organizations.[23]
Another reason for doubting that Sappho's poetry had been the inspiration for the lovers' leaps at Cape Leukas is the attitude of Strabo himself. He specifically disclaims Menander's version about Sappho being the first to take the plunge at Leukas. Instead, he offers a version of the arkhaiologikoteroi[*] , "those more versed in the ancient lore," according to which Kephalos son of Deioneus was the very first to have leaped, impelled by love for Pterelas (Strabo 10.2.9 C452). Again, I see no reason to take it for granted that this myth concerning historical Leukás had resulted from some distortion of the cults features because of Sappho's literary influence.[24] The myth of Kephalos and his dive may be as old as the concept of Leukás , the White Rock. I say "concept" because the ritual practice of casting victims from a white rock such as that of Leukas may be in inheritance parallel to the epic tradition about a mythical White Rock on the shores of the Okeanos (as in Od . 24.11) and the related literary theme of diving from an imaginary White Rock (as in the poetry of Anacreon and Euripides). In other words, it is needless to assume that the ritual preceded the myth or the other way around.
Actually, there are other historical places besides Cape Leukas that are associated with myths about diving. For example, Charon of Lampsakos
[21] Wilamowitz, Sappho und Simonides 28.
[22] Ibid., 28.
[23] For an articulate discussion of this general tendency, see Jeanmaire, Couroï et Courètes , esp. 310 on the Mysteries.
[24] Wilamowitz, Sappho und Simonides 27.
(fifth century B.C.E ., FGrH 262 F 7)[25] reports that Phobos, of the lineage Kodridai, founder of Lampsakos, was the first to leap 
, "from the White Rocks," located apparently on the north shore of the Smyrnaean Gulf, not far from Phokaia.[26] We may compare, too, the myth about the death of Theseus. He was pushed by Lykomedes and fell into the sea from the high rocks of the island Skûros (Heraclides by way of Paus. 1.17.6; scholia to Ar. Plut . 627). The island derives its name Skûros from its white rocks (LSJ, s.vv. skûros and skîros/skírros ).[27] In fact, the entire Theseus myth is replete with themes involving names derived from skûros/skîros . Even the "grandfather" of Theseus is Skurios (Apollod. 3-15-5), while Theseus himself casts Skíron off the Skironídes pétrai (Strabo 9.14 C391; Plut. Thes . 10; Paus. 1.33.8).[28] For the moment, I merely note in passing the ritual nature of the various plunges associated with Theseus and his "father" Aigeus,[29] and the implications of agonistic death and mystical rebirth in both ritual and myth.[30]
[25] By way of Plutarch De mul. vir . 255a-e.
[26] See the commentary of Jacoby, Die Fragmente 262 F2, 16.
[28] Pausanias tells us (1.33.8) that the specific name of Skiron's white rock was Molouris, and that it was sacred to Leukothea, the White Goddess (on whom see Nagy, "Theognis" 79-81). It is from the Molouris that Leukothea flung herself into the sea with her "son" Melikertes (Paus. 1.44.7). At the top of Molouris was a shrine of Zeus Aphesios, the "Releaser" (Paus. 1.44.8).
[30] For a detailed discussion, see Jeanmaire, Couroï et Courètes 324-37. We may note in general the parallelism between the procedure of initiation (ritual) and the story of death (myth). Cf. Nagy, "Pindar's Olympian 1." For a pathfinding work on the theme of rebirth in the Odyssey , see Newton, "The Rebirth of Odysseus."
A more immediate concern is that the mythological examples I have cited so far do not attest the lovelorn theme as a feature of the plunges from white rocks. There is, however, a more basic sexual theme associated with the Thoríkios pétros , "Leap Rock," of Attic Kolonos (Soph. OC 1595). Kolonos itself, meaning "summit," is proverbially white or shining bright (
The sexual element inherent in the theme of a white rock recurs in a myth about Kolonos. Poseidon fell asleep in this area and had an emission of semen, from which issued the horse Skironítes :
[33]
(scholia to Lycoph. 766)
Others say that, in the vicinity of the rocks at Athenian Kolonos, he Poseidon, falling asleep, had an emission of semen, and a horse Skúphios came out, who is also called Skironítes .
The name Skironites again conjures up the theme of Theseus, son of Poseidon, and his plunge from the white rocks of Skyros.[34] This Attic myth is parallel to the Thessalian myth of Skúphios Skyphios:
.
(scholia to Pind. Pyth . 4.246)
[31] DELG 444.
[32] The leap of Kephalos into the sea was at first probably localized in Thorikos and only later transposed to Gape Leukas. For a discussion of the political motivations for such a mythological transposition, see Gruppe, "Die eherne Schwelle" 373.
[34] Gruppe, "Die eherne Schelle" 372, argues that Kolonos marks one of the places claimed to be the spot where Theseus descended into the underworld.
Poseidon Petraîos [of the rocks] has a cult among the Thessalians ... because he, having fallen asleep at some rock, had an emission of semen; and the earth, receiving the semen, produced the first horse, whom they called Skúphios .
There is a further report about this first horse ever:
.
(scholia to Pind. Pyth . 4.246)
And they say that there was a festival established in worship of Poseidon Petraîos at the spot where the first horse leaped forth.[35]
The myth of Skironites/Skyphios, featuring the themes of leaping, sexual relief, and the state of unconsciousness, may help us understand better the puzzling verses of Anacreon already quoted:
(Anac. PMG 376)
One more time[36]
taking off in the air, down from the White
Rock into the dark waves do I dive, intoxicated with lust.
The theme of jumping is overt and the theme of sexual relief is latent in the poetry,[37] while the situation is reversed in the myth. In the poem the unconsciousness comes from what is likened to a drunken stupor; in the myth it comes from sleep.[38] As for the additional theme of a horse in the myth, we consider again the emblem of Hagesikhora's charms, that wondrous horse
[35] The rock associated with Skyphios is the Pétré Haimoníe (A.R. 3.1244 and scholia). Note, too, the Argive custom of sacrificing horses by throwing them into the sea (Paus. 8.7.2); see Nilsson, Griechische Feste 71-72.
of Alcman's Laconian fantasy, who is "from those dreams under the Rock," 
(PMG 1.49).
We may note that, just as Poseidon obtains sexual relief through the unconsciousness of sleeping at the white rocks of Kolonos, so also Zeus is cured of his passion for Hera by sitting on the white rock of Apollos Leukas (Ptolemaios Chennos by way of Phot. Bibl . 152-53 Bekker). At Magnesia, those who were hieroí (sacred) to Apollo would leap from precipitous rocks into the river Lethaîos (Paus. 10.32.6). This name is clearly derivable from lethe forgetfulness. In the underworld, Theseus and Peirithoos sat on the 
, "throne of Lethe " (Apollod. Epit . 1.24; Paus. 10.29.9). I have already quoted the passage from the Cyclops of Euripides (163-68) where getting drunk is equated with leaping from a proverbial white rock. We may note the wording of the verses that immediately follow that equation, describing how it feels to be in the realm of a drunken stupor:
(Eur. Cyc . 169-72)
where it is allowed to make this thing stand up erect,
to grab the breast and touch with both hands
the meadow[39] that is made all ready. And there is dancing
and forgetting [lestis ] of bad things.
Again, we see the theme of sexual relief and the key concept lestis , "forgetting."
In short, the White Rock is the boundary delimiting the conscious and the unconscious—be it a trance, stupor, sleep, or even death. Accordingly, when the suitors are led past the White Rock (Od . 24-11), they reach the demos oneíron , "District of Dreams" (24.12), beyond which is the realm of the dead (24.14).
Even with the accumulation of this much evidence about the symbolism of the White Rock, it is still difficult to see how it relates to the mythical figure Phaon and how he relates to Sappho. One approach that might yield more information is to study the mythical fignre Phaethon, who shares several characteristics with Adonis and Phaon. For now, I postpone the details and citations, offering only the essentials. Like Adonis and Phaon, Phaethon is loved by Aphrodite, and like them, he is hidden by her. Like Adonis, Phaethon dies. Like Phaon, Phaethon means "bright" (for the morphology of Pháon/Phaéthon , we may compare
[39] Euphemism for female genitalia.
Homeric phlégo/phlegétho , "burn").[40] Unlike Phaon, however, about whom we have only meager details, the Phaethon figure confronts us with a wealth of testimony, much of it unwieldy and conflicting; we now turn to this testimony.
In the commentary to his edition of the Hesiodic Theogony , Martin West observes that Phaéthon (1. 987), like Huperíon , is a hypostasis of the sun-god Helios[*] .[41] The thematic equation of Helios[*] with Huperíon and Phaéthon isoo apparent in epic diction, where huperíon , "the one who goes above" (Od . 1.8, etc.) and phaéthon , "the one who shines" (Il . 11.735, etc.) are ornamental epithets of Helios[*] . The mythological differentiation of identities is symbolized in genealogical terms: in one case, Huperíon is the father of Helios[*] (Od . 12.176; Hes. Theog . 371-74), while in the other, Phaéthon is the son of Helios[*] . The latter relationship is a basic feature of the myth treated by Euripides in the tragedy Phaethon .[42] What follows is an outline of the myth as found in the Euripidean version.
Phaethon, the story goes, was raised as the son of Merops and Klymene. His real father, however, is not the mortal Merops but the sun-god Helios. At his mother's behest, Phaethon travels to Aithiopia, the abode of Helios, in a quest to prove that the Sun is truly his father. He borrows the chariot of Helios for a day; driving too near the earth, he sets it afire. Zeus then strikes him dead with his thunderbolt, and Phaethon falls from the sky.[43]
A cross-cultural perspective reveals many myths, indigenous to a wide variety of societies, that are analogous to this Greek myth. There are parallels, for example, in the myths of the Kwakiutl and Bella Coola Indians in British Columbia. From the traditions collected by the anthropologist Franz Boas,[44] the following outline emerges. The Sun impregnates a woman who bears him a son (called Born-to-be-the-Sun in the Kwakiutl version). When the boy goes to visit his father, he is permitted to take the Suns place. Exceeding his limits, the boy sets the earth on fire, whereupon he is cast down from the sky.[45]
It does not necessarily follow, however, that the Phaethon myth merely represents the sunset. I sympathize with those who are reluctant to accept the theory that "Phaethon's fall attempts to explain in mythical terms why the sun sinks blazing in the west as if crashing to earth in flames and yet
[40] Cf. Nagy, Greek Mythology 153.
[41] West, ed., Hesiod ad loc.
[42] Fragments edited by Diggle Euripides: Phaethon .
[43] For attestations of the same myth beyond Euripides, cf. ibid., 3-32.
[44] Boas, Kwakiutl Tales 123, 125, 126; also Boas, The Mythology of the Bella Coola Indians 100-103.
[45] For detailed comparisons with the Greek myth, see Frazer, Apollodorus 388-94, app. xi: "Phaethon and the Chariot of the Sun."
returns to its task unimpaired the following day."[46] One counterexplanation runs as follows: "Phaethon's crash is an event out of the ordinary, a sudden and unexpected calamity, occurring once and not daily."[47] In such matters, however, I would heed the intuitively appealing approach of Lévi-Strauss. A myth, he concedes, "always refers to events alleged to have taken place long ago." Nevertheless, "what gives the myth an operational value is that the specific pattern described is timeless; it explains the present and the past as well as the future."[48] Accordingly; I find it unnecessary to entertain the proposal, based only on naturalistic intuition, that the Phaethon myth represents the fall of a meteorite.[49] The meteorite explanation, as also the sunset explanation, operates on the assumption that the message of the Phaethon myth is simply a metaphorical expression of some phenomenon that occurs in the sky. I disagree. The Phaethon myth presents a problem, not a solution. Furthermore, this problem addresses the human condition, not just celestial dynamics.
There is another Phaethon myth, preserved in Hesiodic poetry, which is preoccupied with both aspects of the solar cycle, not only with death but also rebirth. In this myth Phaethon is the son not of Helios but of Eos the dawn goddess (Theog . 986-87). In the same context we hear that Eos first mates with Tithonos, bearing Memnon, king of the Aithiopes, and Emathion (984-85); then she mates with Kephalos, bearing Phaethon (986-87); then Aphrodite mates with Phaethon (988-91), having abducted him (990).[50] The parallelism between the mating of Eos with Kephalos and the mating of Aphrodite with their son, Phaethon, is reinforced in the Hymn to Aphrodite : when Aphrodite seduces Anchises, the goddess herself cites the abduction of Tithonos by Eos as precedent 218. There are also other parallels, as when a hero called Kleitos is abducted by Eos (Od . 15.250-51). Or again, the nymph Kalypso cites the abduction of the hero Orion by Eos as a precedent for her abduction of Odysseus (5.121-24).[51]
Let us focus on the association of Phaethon with Aphrodite in Theogony 988-91. It arises, I propose, from a sexual theme implicit in a solar transition from death to rebirth. In the logic of the myth, it appears that the setting sun mates with the goddess of regeneration so that the rising sun may be
[46] Diggle, Euripides: Phaethon 10 n. 3, paraphrasing and rejecting the formulation of Robert, "Die Phaethonsage" 440.
[47] Ibid.
[48] Lévi-Strauss, Structural Anthropology 205.
[49] Diggle, Euripides: Phaethon 10 n. 3.
[50] For a more detailed discussion of Hes. Theog . 986-91, see Nagy, The Best of the Achaeans 191.
[51] It is pertinent to note here the argument that Kalypso is a hypostasis of Aphrodite herself, in the aspect Melainis (the black one): see Güntert, Kalypso , esp. 189. For a definitive treatment of Kalypso figure, see Crane, Backgrounds and Conventions .
reborn. If the setting sun is the same as the rising sun, then the goddess of regeneration may be viewed as both mate and mother.
Such an ambivalent relationship actually survives in the hymns of the Rig-Veda , where the goddess of solar regeneration, the dawn Usas[*] , is the wife or bride of the sun-god Surya (1.115.1, 7.75.5, etc.) as well as his mother (7.63.3, 7.78.3).[52] In the latter instance, the incestuous implications are attenuated by putting Usas[*] in the plural, representing the succession of dawns; similarly; Usas[*] in the plural can designate the wives of Surya (4.5.13). Yet even if each succeeding dawn is wife of the preceding dawn's son, the husband and son are always one and the same Surya, and the basic theme of incest remains intact.
This comparative evidence from the Rig-Veda is important for understanding the Greek evidence, because Indic Surya (Sun) and Usas-[*] (Dawn) are formally cognate with Greek Helios[*] (Sun) and Eos[*] (Dawn);[53] furthermore, the epithets of Usas[*] in the Rig-Veda, divá(s) duhitár- and duhitár- divas , both meaning "Daughter of the Sky," are exact formal cognates of the Homeric epithets Dias tfiugáter and thugáter Diós , meaning "Daughter of Zeus."[54] The Homeric hexameter preserves these epithets only in the following patterns:
A. 
six times
B. 
eight times
C. 
eighteen times
We see from this scheme that it is cumbersome for the meter to accommodate the name of Eos, '
, in a position contiguous with these epithets. Thus it is not surprising that Eos is not combined with these epithets anywhere in attested Greek epic, despite the comparative evidence that such a combination had once existed, as we see from the survival of the Indic cognates divá(s) duhiár- and duhiár-divás in the Rig-Veda .
Within the framework of the Greek hexameter, we may have expected at least one position, however, where the name of Eos could possibly have been combined with thugáter Diós , "Daughter of Zeus":
D. 
And yet, when 
(Dawn) occupies the final portion of the hexameter and when it is preceded by an epithet with the metrical shape 
this epithet is regularly 
, "rosy-fingered" (or "rosy-toed"), not 
thugáter Diós , "Daughter of Zeus." I infer that the epithet
[52] For more on Indic sun-gods, see Nagy, Greek Mythology 93 ff.
[53] Schmitt, Dichtung und Dichtersprache chap. 4.
[54] Ibid., 169-73.
In short, for both metrical and formulaic reasons, Greek epic fails to preserve the combination of Eos[*] (Dawn) with thugáter Diós , meaning "Daughter of Zeus."[55] By contrast, when the name Aphrodite occupies the final position of the hexameter, her fixed epithet is Diós thugáter : 
(... Daughter of Zeus, Aphrodite; Il . 3.374, etc.). From the standpoint of comparative analysis, then, Aphrodite is a parallel oleos in epic diction. Furthermore, from the standpoint of internal analysis, Aphrodite is a parallel of Eos in epic theme. Just as Eos abducts Tithonos (h. Hom. Ven . 218), Kleitos (Od . 15.250), Orion (Od . 5.121), and Kephalos (Eur. Hipp . 455), so also Aphrodite abducts Phaethon (Theog . 990). When Aphrodite seduces Anchises, she herself cites the abduction of Tithonos by Eos for an actual precedent (h. Hom. Ven . 218-38), as we have already seen. Throughout the seduction episode, Aphrodite is called Diós thugáter , "Daughter of Zeus" (h. Hom. Ven . 81, 107, 191).
The archaic parallelism of Eos and Aphrodite suggests that Aphrodite became a rival of Eos in such functions as that of Diòs thugáter , "Daughter of Zeus." From the comparative evidence of the Rig-Veda , we would expect Eos to be not only mother but also consort of the Sun. There is no such evidence in Greek epic for either Helios or any hypostasis such as the Phaethon figure. Instead, the Hesiodic tradition assigns Aphrodite as consort of Phaethon, while Eos is only his mother (Theog . 986-91). In other words, the Hesiodic tradition seems to have split the earlier fused roles of mother and consort and divided them between Eos and Aphrodite respectively. This way, the theme of incest could be neatly obviated.
Although the epithet Diòs thugáter/thugáter Diós does not survive in combination with Eos, the goddess herself is in fact likewise ambivalent. Homeric diction features her snatching up youths as if she were some Harpy, and yet she gives them immortality. To review this point, the example of Kleitos will suffice (Od . 15.250-51).[56] Such an ambivalence inherent in the Eos figure
[55] I disagree with Schmitt's statement that Eos is Daughter of Helios (Dichtung und Dichtersprache 172-73). Technically, she does appear as Daughter of the Sun in Theog . 371-74, but here the name of her "father" is Hyperion; as for Helios, he is her "brother." For the image of Eos as Daughter of the Sun, we may compare the special image of Usas[*] as Daughter of the Sun-God Surya in the Rig-Veda (2.23.2), as distinct from the usual image of Usas[*] as Daughter of the Sky-God Dyaus, divá(s) duhitár- (Rig-Veda , passim); the noun dyáus , "sky," personified as the Sky-God Dyaus, is cognate of Greek Zeús .
[56] See Nagy, Greek Mythology 242.
is so uncomfortable that it tends to be attenuated in the diction. For instance, the verb used to describe the abduction of Orion by Eos is not the concretely violent herpasen[*] , "snatched," but the more abstract héleto , "seized" (Od . 5.121).[57] Once the wording herpasen[*] snatched is removed, the connotation of death from Harpies disappears and a new theme is introduced, death from Artemis Od . 5.121-24.
The alternative to a death from Artemis is a violent abduction by a thúella , "gust of wind" (Od . 20.63), the action of which is there described as anarpáxasa , "snatching up." As precedent for being abducted by a gust of wind and plunged into the Okeanos, Penelope's words evoke the story of the daughters of Pandareos, abducted by thúellai , "gusts of wind" (20.66), the action of which is described as anélonto , "seized." This mention of abduction is followed by a description of how the daughters of Pandareos had been preserved by the Olympian goddesses (20.67-72); the preservation of the girls is then interrupted by death, at the very moment that Aphrodite is arranging for them to be married (20.73-74). Death comes in the form of abduction by hárpuiai , "snatching winds" (20.77), the action of which is now described as anereípsanto , "snatched up."[58]
In this story about the daughters of Pandareos (Od . 20.66-81), we see a sequence of preservation followedby abduction/death .[59] In the story about Orion and Eos (5.121-24), by contrast, the pattern is abduction/preservationfollowedby death , in that Eos abducts and preserves the hero while Artemis arranges for his death.[60] Finally, the story about Aphrodite and Phaethon (Hes. Theog . 986-91) presents yet another pattern, that of abduction/death followed by preservation .[61] In each of these narrative alternatives, we see various patterns of differentiation in the ambivalent function of Eos as the undifferentiated agent of abduction, death, and preservation.
The abduction of Phaethon by Aphrodite is most directly comparable to the abduction of Kleitos by Eos (Od . 15.251-52), where again we see the patternt abduction/death followed by preservation . The Kleitos figure is represented as son of Mantios 15.249 and grandson of the seer Melampous 15.242. As Frame has shown, the Melampous myth centers on the theme
[57] See ibid.
[58] For further details on this difficult passage concerning the daughters of Pandareos, Od . 20.66-81, see Nagy, The Best of the Achaeans 194, 25 n. 2.
[59] Further discussion at ibid., 201, 37 n. 3.
[60] More detailed discussion at ibid., 201-3.
[61] Ibid., 191-92. As for the Tithonos story in the Hymn to Aphrodite , the sequence is suspended: abduction = preservation, with no death ensuing . Appropriately, Tithonos therefore never rises from the Okeanos, as would a reborn Sun. Whenever Eos rises, she leaves Tithonos behind (Il . 19.1-2 vs. Od . 5.1-2; h. Hom. Ven . 227, 236).
of retrieving the Cattle of the Sun.[62] The solar function of the Melampous figure and his genetic affinity with the Kleitos figure together imply a solar affinity for Kleitos as well. The wording herpasen[*] for the abduction of Kleitos at Odyssey 15.251 implies that he was taken by a maleficent Harpy and dropped into the Okeanos. This theme of death is parallel to sunset. On the other hand, the subject of herpasen[*] is Eos herself, and the theme of sunrise is parallel to rebirth. Since the abductor of Kleitos is represented as the Dawn, it is at least implicit that Kleitos is to be reborn like the Sun and thus preserved.
So long as the Dawn is present, the day waxes. Once the Sun reaches noon, however, the Dawn ceases and the day wanes. This vital role of Eos is explicit in Homeric diction (e.g., Il . 20.66-69). Implicitly, the Sun is united with the light of Dawn until noon; afterward, the Sun descends into the Okeanos, only to be reborn the next day. In the story of Eos and Kleitos a parallel death and rebirth are implied. The sequence of events, to repeat, is abduction/death followed by preservation .[63] In the Orion story (Od . 5.121-24), on the other hand, the sequence is the inverse: abduction/preservation followed by death .[64] We may note that Orion's relation to the Dawn is the inverse of the Suns. Translated into the symbolism of celestial dynamics, Orion's movements are accordingly astral, not solar, and we see an astral representation of the Orion figure already in Homeric poetry (Od . 5.174; II . 18.488).[65] Like the Sun, the constellation Orion rises from the Okeanos and sets in it (Od . 5.275; Il . 8.489), but, unlike the Sun, it rises and sets at nighttime, not daytime. In the summer, at threshing time, Orion starts rising before Dawn (Hes. Op . 598-99). In the winter, at ploughing time, Orion starts setting before Dawn (Op . 615-16). In summer days the light of Dawn catches up with the rising Orion, and he can be her consort in the daytime.[66] In winter days the light of Dawn arrives too late to keep Orion from setting into the Okeanos. One related star that does not set, however, is Arktos (Od . 5.275 Il . 18.489). The Arktos Bear watches Orion, dokeúei (Od . 5.274 Il . 18.488), and the verb dokeúei implies doom. In Homeric diction it is used when marksmen or savage beasts take aim at their victims (Il . 13.545, 16.313, 20.340).[67] As for Arktos as "Bear," the name implies the goddess Artemis.[68] In other
[62] Frame, The Myth of Return 91-92. Suffice it here to note the suggestive verses at Od . 15.235-36.
[63] See immediately above.
[64] See Nagy, Greek Mythology 252.
[65] More detailed discussion in Nagy, The Best of the Achaeans 201-3.
[66] This theme is pertinent to the name Õríon (Oaríon ), which seems to be connected with óar (wife), óaros (companionship, keeping company), etc.
[67] Further details at Nagy, The Best of the Achaeans 190-92.
[68] The argument is presented at Nagy, Greek Mythology 202.
words, the astral passages of Odyssey 5.273-75 and Iliad 18.487-89 implicitly repeat the theme of Orion's dying at the hands of Artemis, explicit in Odyssey 5.121-24.[69] The latter passage involves two goddesses, a beneficent Eos and a maleficent Artemis.[70] We may contrast the passage about Kleitos, involving an ambivalent Eos who is both maleficent and beneficent (Od . 15.251-52).[71] The theme of death is implicit in herpasen[*] , "snatched" (251), while the theme of preservation is explicit in 
, "so that he may be with the immortals" (252).
Similarly, Aphrodite is ambivalent in the Hesiodic passage about Phaethon (Theog . 989-91). Again, the theme of death is implied in anereipsaméne , "snatching up" (990). The epithet daímon , "supernatural being" (991), on the other hand, implies divine preservation, as we see from the context of daímon in Works and Days 109-26.[72]
To sum up: like Eos, Aphrodite is both maleficent and beneficent in the role of abductor, since she confers both death and preservation. When Phaethon's parents are Helios and Klymene, the stage is set for his death, implicit in the Klymene figure. When his parents are Kephalos and Eos, the stage is set for both his death and his preservation, implicit in the Eos figure as well as in her alternate, Aphrodite. Thus, I disagree with the spirit of the claim that "on the evidence available to us the son of Helios and the son of Eos and Cephalus must be pronounced entirely different persons."[73] Such an attitude is overly prosopographical. We are dealing not with different persons but with different myths, cognate variants, centering on the inherited personification of a solar child and consort.
Since the epithet múkhios (secreted) as applied to Phaethon in Theogony 991 implies that he was hidden by Aphrodite, we see here an important parallelism with Phaon and Adonis, who were also hidden by Aphrodite.[74] Just as Phaethon implicitly attains preservation in the cult of Aphrodite, so also Adonis in the cult of Apollo Eríthios .[75] As for Phaon, he explicitly attains preservation in the myth where he is turned into a beautiful young man by Aphrodite (Sappho fr. 211 V.). From the myths of Phaethon, we see that the themes of concealment and preservation are symbolic of solar behavior, and
[69] On the implications of the Orion myth for the fate of Odysseus in the Odyssey , see ibid., 202-3; see also 207 n. 15.
[70] See ibid., 251.
[71] See ibid., 242.
[72] Further details at Nagy, The Best of the Achaeans 190-92.
[73] Diggle, Euripides: Phaethon 15 n. 3.
[74] See Nagy, Greek Mythology 228-29.
[75] See ibid., 229-30.
we may begin to suspect that the parallel myths of Phaon and Adonis are based on like symbolism.
The very name Pháon , just like Phaéthon , suggests a solar theme.[76] His occupation too, that of ferryman (Sappho fr. 211 V.), is a solar theme, as we see from the studies of Hermann Güntert on other mythological ferrymen.[77] As an interesting parallel to Phaon, I single out a solar deity in the Rig-Veda , Pusan[*] ,[78] who regularly functions as a psychopomp and who is at least once featured as traveling in golden boats (6.58.3); he is the wooer of his mother (6.55.5) and the lover of his sister (6.55.4, 5). A frequent and exclusive epithet of Pusan[*] is ãghrni- , "glowing, bright," comparable in meaning to Pháon and Phaéthon .
Let us pursue our current center of attention, the solar figure Phaon, in the poetics of Sappho: another solar theme associated with Phaon is his plunge from a white rock, an act that is parallel to the solar plunge of Phaethon into the Eridanos. The Eridanos is an analogue of the Okeanos, the boundary delimiting light and darkness, life and death, wakefulness and sleep, consciousness and unconsciousness.[79] We have also seen that the White Rock is another mythical landmark delimiting the same opposites and that these two landmarks are mystical coefficients in Homeric diction (Od . 24.11). Even the Phaethon figure is connected with the White Rock, in that his "father" Kephalos is supposed to have jumped off Cape Leukas (Strabo 10.2.9 C452) and is connected with the place name Thórikos (Apollodorus 2.4.7).[80] The theme of plunging is itself overtly solar, as we see from Homeric diction: 
(and the bright light of Helios plunged into the Okeanos ; Il . 8.485). In the Epic Cycle the lover of Klymene is not Helios but "Kephalos son of Deion" (
; Nostoi fr. 4 Allen),[81] a figure whose name matches that of Kephalos son of Deioneus, the one who leaped from the white rock of Leukas (Strabo 10.2.9 C452) and who hails from Thorikos (Apollod. 2.4.7).[82]
If indeed the Phaon and Adonis myths operate on solar themes, it remains to ask about the relevance of Aphrodite. Most important of all, how do we interpret Aphrodite's plunge from the White Rock? We hear of her doing so out of love for Adonis Ptolemaios Chennos by way of Phot. Bibl . 152-53
[76] See ibid., 235.
[77] See esp. Güntert, Kalypso and Der aristhe Weltkönig 273. For the problem of the Asvin-s (on whom see also Der arische Weltkönig 112-13), see immediately below.
[78] On whom see Nagy, Greek Mythology 97 ff.
[79] See the longer version in ibid., 236-39.
[80] See ibid., 230, 235.
[81] The son of Klymene and Kephalos is named Iphiklos (Nostoi fr. 4 Allen).
[82] See ibid., 232.
Bekker,[83] and the act itself may be connected with her known function as substitute for the Indo-European dawn-goddess of the Greeks, Eos. As we have seen, Aphrodite has even usurped the epithet of Eos, Diòs thugáter , "Daughter of the Sky," as well as the roles that go with the epithet. From the Homeric standpoint, Aphrodite is actually the Diòs thugáter par excellence, in that even her "mother's" name is Dione[*] (Il . 5.370, 381). It still remains, however, to explain Aphrodite's plunge, from the White Rock as a feature characteristic of a surrogate Indo-European dawn-goddess.
Here we may do well to look toward Aphrodite's older, Near Eastern, heritage. As the Greek heiress to the functions of the Semitic fertility goddess Ištar, Aphrodite has as her astral symbol the planet of Ištar, better known to us as Venus.[84] The planet Venus is of course the same as Hésperos the Evening Star and Heosphóros "dawn-bearer," "Eos[*] bearer" the Morning Star. In the evening Hesperos sets after sunset; in the morning Heosphoros rises before sunrise. We have the testimony of Sappho's near contemporary; Ibycus (PMG 331), that Hesperos and Heosphoros were by this time known to be one and the same. From the Indo-European standpoint, on the other hand, Hesperos and Heosphoros must be Divine Twins, as represented by the Dioskouroi, the Greek "Sons of Zeus" who are cognates of the Indic Asvin-s.[85] At the battle of Aigospotamoi, there is supposed to have been an epiphany of the Dioskouroi in the form of stars, on either side of Lysander's admiral ship; after their victory the Spartans dedicated to the Dioskouroi two stars of gold at Delphi (Plut. Lys . 12, 18).
In the poetics of Sappho, the Indo-European model of the Morning Star and Evening Star merges with the Near Eastern model of the Planet Aphrodite. Sappho's Hesperos is a nuptial star, as we know directly from the fragment 104 V. and indirectly from the celebrated hymenaeus (wedding song) of Catullus 62, Vesper adest . Since Hesperos is the evening aspect of the astral Aphrodite, its setting into the horizon, beyond which is Okeanos, could have inspired the image of a plunging Aphrodite. If we imagine Aphrodite diving into the Okeanos after the sun, it follows that she will rise in the morning, bringing after her the sun of a new day This image is precisely what the Hesiodic scholia preserve to explain the myth of Aphrodite and Phaethon: 
(the star of Eos, the one that brings back to light and life [verb an-ágo ] the day and Phaethon, Aphrodite;[86] scholia to Hes. Theog . 990). For the mystical
[83] See ibid., 229.
[84] Scherer, Gestirnnamen 78-84, 9o, 92, 94.
[85] Güntert, Der arisehe Weltkönig 266-67. See Nagy, Greek Mythology 255 ff.
[86] Both Wilamowitz, Sappho und Simonides 37 n. 3, and Diggle, Euripides: Phaethon 15 n. 1, find this statement incomprehensible.
meaning of an-ágo as "bring back the light and life from the dead," I cite the contexts of this verb in Hesiod Theogony 626 (
, "into the light"), Plato Republic 521c (
, "to light"), Aeschylus Agamemnon 1023 (
, "from the realm of the dead"), and so on.[87]
From Menander fragment 258 K., we infer that Sappho spoke of herself as diving from the White Rock, crazed with love for Phaon. The implications of this image are cosmic. The "I" of Sappho's poetry is vicariously projecting her identity into the goddess Aphrodite, who loves the native Lesbian hypostasis of the Sun-God himself. By diving from the White Rock, the "I" of Sappho does what Aphrodite does in the form of Evening Star, diving after the sunken Sun in order to retrieve him, another morning, in the form of Morning Star. If we imagine her pursuing the Sun the night before, she will be pursued in turn the morning after. There is a potential here for amor versus , a theme that haunts the poetry of Sappho elsewhere:
(Sappho fr. 1.21 V.)
for even if she now flees, soon she will pursue.
Sappho's special association with Aphrodite is apparent throughout her poetry. The very first poem of the Sapphic corpus is, after all, an intense prayer to Aphrodite, where the goddess is implored to be the súmmakhos battle ally of the poetess fr. 1.28 V.. The "I" of Sappho pictures herself and Aphrodite as parallel rather than reciprocal agents:
(Sappho fr. 1.26-27 V.)
and however many things my spirit [thumós yearns to
accomplish [verb teleo[*], active ], I pray that you [Aphrodite] accomplish [verb teleo[*],
active ]
I draw attention to the wording 
, "to accomplish," an active infinitive instead of the expected passive 
, "to be accomplished."[88] If someone else needs something done by Aphrodite, Sappho's poetry opts for the passive infinitive 
, not active 
:
[87] See again Frame, The Myth of Return 150-62, on the epithet of the Asvin-s Násatyau , which he interprets as "they who bring back to life and light"; for the Asvin-s as Evening/Morning Star, see Nags Greek Mythology 255-56.
[88] For a similar effect, we may compare the opposition of active faciam , "that I do," and passive fieri , "to be done," both referring to the verbs odi et amo in Clatull. 85.
(Sappho fr. 5.1-4 V.)
Aphrodite and Nereids, grant that my brother
come back here unharmed,
and that however many things he wishes in his spirit [thumon ] to happen for him
may all be accomplished [verb teleo[*] , passive ]
The figure of Sappho projects mortal identity onto the divine explicitly as well as implicitly I cite the following examples from one poem:
(Sappho fr. 96.2-5, 21-23 V.)
Many times turning your attention [nóon ] in this direction
you, a likeness of the well-known goddess.
And it is in your song and dance that she delighted especially.
It is not easy for us
to become equal in lovely shape
to the goddesses.
An even more significant example is Sappho fragment 58.25-26 V., two verses quoted by Athenaeus 687b. Sappho is cited as a woman who professes not to separate tò kalón (what is beautiful) from habrótes luxuriance:
(Sappho fr. 58.25-26 V.)
But I love luxuriance [(h )abrosúuna ] ... this,
and lust for the sun has won me brightness and beauty.[90]
From Oxyrhynchus Papyri [787 we can see that these two lines come at the end of a poem alluding to mythical topics. According to Lobel and Page, lines 19 and following refer to Tithonos fr. 58 L.-P.. Be that as it may, we do see images about growing old, with hair turning white and the knees losing their strength
[89] Cf. Hamm, Grammatik 241.
(Sappho fr. 58.13-15 V.). The fragmentary nature of the papyrus prevents certainty about the speaker and the speaker's predicament, but somebody is feeling helpless, asking rhetorically what can be done, and bemoaning some impossibility (58. 17-18). Also, the Lesbian Eos is mentioned: 
, "rosy-armed Dawn" (58.19).
As a coda to this poem, the last two verses, which I interpret as proclaiming Sappho's "lust for the sun," amount to a personal and artistic manifesto. The (h)abrosúna (luxuriance) of Sappho transcends the banal discussion of Athenaeus, who quotes these two verses. For Sappho, (h)ábros (luxuriant) is the epithet of Adonis (fr. 140 V.), as also of the Kharites, "Graces" (128 V.), on whose chariot Aphrodite rides (194 V.). At Sappho fragment 2.13-16 V., (h)ábros (14) is the adverb describing the scene as Aphrodite is asked to pour nectar. The use of (h)ábros (luxuriant) and (h)abrosúna (luxuriance) in Sappho reminds us of the Roman neoterics and their allusive use of lepidus/lepos in expressing their artistic identity. As for Sappho's "lust for the sun" and "love of (h)abrosúna (luxuriance)," these themes combine profound personal and artistic ideals. In verses preceding the coda, the words of Sappho perhaps alluded to Phaon as an old man, compared with Tithonos. Or perhaps Phaon was son of Tithonos. We do hear a myth where Phaethon is son of Tithonos (Apollod. 3.14.3); just as Phaethon was son of Eos[*] (Dawn), perhaps Phaon was son of the Lesbian cognate, Aúos (Dawn) mentioned in the same poem, Sappho fragment 58.19. The expression 
, "[she], taking to the ends of the earth," in line 20 of this poem, along with 
, "snatched," in the following line 21, remind us of Okeanos/Eridanos and Harpies.
In any case, the fact remains that there is a Lesbian myth about Phaon as an old man (Sappho fr. 211 V.); significantly, in this same myth Aphrodite herself assumes the form of an old woman, whom the old Phaon generously ferries across a strait (ibid.) I suspect that the figure of Sappho identifies herself with this figure of an old woman. Similarly, we may compare the myth of the mourning Aphrodite's plunge from the White Rock out of love for the dead Adonis (Ptolemaios Chennos by way of Phot. Bibl . 152-53 Bekker) as pertinent to the poetics of Sappho, where the explicit theme of mourning for Adonis (fr. 168 V.) may be connected with the latent theme of Sappho's self-identification with Aphrodite.[91]
In short, there is a mythical precedent for an aging lady to love Phaon. The implicit hope is retrieved youth. After Aphrodite crossed the strait, she, became a beautiful goddess again, conferring youth and beauty on Phaon, too (again, Sappho fr. 211 V.). For all these reasons, perhaps, Sappho loves Phaon.
[91] See Nagy, Greek Mythology 229 ff.