#(Colluthus wrote in ~500 AD and in the Thebaid/Cyrenaica)

[littlesparklight]

Talking of effeminacy, there's something interesting(?) going on with vase art of Eros in the Greek South Italian mid-late 300's - especially Apulian art.

The most elaborate version of Apulian art has basically everyone decorated to the nines in a very delightful style, but there is still a difference between how women and men are portrayed.

An illustrative example of what I mean:

Artemis, Apollo, Athena, Eros, Aphrodite and Zeus.

Even Apollo is more similar here to Zeus in his portrayal than Eros is. Eros isn't just decked out in (the same) jewellery like the women, but has his hair up in a very female style (with some sort of cap, too?)

Eros and the woman here have the same hairstyle and basically the same sort and amount of jewellery. This hairstyle is again, certainly nothing you'll see on male figures otherwise (not even Apollo, I think, even if he otherwise shares the ribbon-like hair-knot style with Aphrodite).

In earlier Attic/west Greek vase art, Eros' body is sometimes highlighted in white, like women's figures, and I have actually managed to spot at least two arts where he has the high knot/bun hair style even at this point in time/place. I'm just unsure if that implies something for the art/Eros this early, since aside from the exuberantly effeminate Eros in South Italian vase art, texts at no point(?) seem to bear out any effeminate idea of Eros otherwise.

It's just curious, to me. And very charming, this effeminate Eros is utterly delightful.