Martyrdom, Cows, and the Feminine

The concept of martyrdom is interesting. Growing with this idea of martyrdom as a straight pathway to heaven, Green brings up an interesting point in "Ephemerality and Fragrance." This is probably a terrible point to bring up, but I don't think I ever thought about the physical sacrifice aspect of martyrdom. At least in Catholicism, there are so many saints who were burned alive. In my history class, we just read St. Perpetua's account of her own death and that of St. Felicity, where they were sentenced to death by cow (this is important, I will mention this later). Now, Perpetua and Felicity weren't burned at the stake. St. Joan of Arc was, and probably a few others I can't name. 

Again, this is a rather gruesome take-away from Green's writings, but I was so morbidly fascinated by this line from page 207: "God can [...] be soothed by the burning flesh of martyrs." That's a weird line. It's a really weird line to hyperfixate on, but it's one of those that stuck. My understanding of martyrdom is entirely shaped by the fact that I was raised Catholic. Never once would I correlate martyrdom to a physical sacrifice because I was taught that it sort of surpasses the physical realm. The point of it is to give up the earthly in order to be with God, that it's a sacrifice of the body to better the soul. 

It's an odd thing to mention in a section about how smell is an important part of a relationship with God because how could the smell of burning flesh possibly be soothing? I suppose I should read the chapter about death and smell, but that's for a later time. My roommate and I have discussed this at length by now, and I'm still left with a thousand questions. Is it because it is a symbol of God's importance to the martyr? Is it because God feels comforted by the fact that people would die for Him? Is it because it is a way of proving fidelity, that the adultery that occurred with the golden calf would never happen again because God's followers are so devoted? Why would God need that assurance in the first place? Why wouldn't this smell bring God down from His mountain of spices to save His people from a horrible death? Does this not qualify as a horrible death to Him? Is it made acceptable, in Christianity, by the fact that martyrs go to heaven?

As for the adultery with the calf, I just recently made the connection between what I read in history about Perpetua to this story and femininity. Last semester, JBK showed us a video where the artist depicted the golden calf in the form of a woman. For one, this is interesting because Hathor, an Egyptian goddess, takes the form of a cow, therefore showing the relation between the golden calf the Israelites were worshipping and women. The Israelites were coming out of Egypt, so it makes sense that when creating an idol, an Egyptian idol would be the example (possibly the point the artist intended to make). The problem in the video wasn't that the idol was of a cow, but that of a woman. The Romans made it distinctly clear that Perpetua and Felicity's death was to be fit for women, so they would have to fight a docile animal (cow) that match the ideal of what a woman should be. So maybe the end question is: why cows? 

Why are cows associated with women? Is this the demonization of women and the feminine? If cows are meant to be docile creatures, then why are they presented in situations where they are threats? Does this relate to the idea that women can give off 'good' or 'bad' smells depending on the situation? Here, women are the 'bad' smell of adultery and idolatry, but then why are they only depicted in such when they are in positions of power?