Encyclopedia
Aphrodite is the
Greek goddess of
love and
beauty and sexuality. Her
Roman equivalent is the goddess
Venus.
Origins
Her Roman analogue is
Venus. Her
Mesopotamian counterpart was
Ishtar. Her Egyptian counterpart is
Hathor, and her Syro-Palestinian counterpart was
`Ashtart ; her
Etruscan equivalent was Turan. She has parallels to Indo-European
dawn goddesses such as
Ushas or Aurora.
The name the name is connected by popular etymology with ?f??? "foam", interpreting it as "risen from the foam". It has reflexes in Messapic and Etruscan , which were probably loaned from Greek. Attempts to derive the name from Semitic
Atoret, via undocumented Hittite transmission, remain doubtful. A suggestion by Hammarström, rejected by Hjalmar Frisk, connects the name with p??ta???, a loan into Greek from a cognate of Etruscan
pruni, "lord" or similar.
Worship
The epithet
Aphrodite Acidalia was occasionally added to her name, after the spring she used to bathe in, located in
Boeotia . She was also called
Kypris or
Cytherea after her alleged birth-places in
Cyprus and
Cythera, respectively. The island of Cythera was a center of her cult. She was associated with Hesperia and frequently accompanied by the Oreads,
nymphs of the mountains.
Aphrodite had a festival of her own, the
Aphrodisiac , which was celebrated all over Greece but particularly in
Athens and
Corinth. In Corinth, intercourse with her priestesses was considered a method of worshipping Aphrodite.
Aphrodite was associated with, and often depicted with
dolphins,
doves,
swans,
pomegranates,
apples,
myrtle,
rose and lime trees.
Venus was often referred to with epithet
Venus Erycina after Mount Eryx,
Sicily, one of the centers of her cult.
Birth
"Foam-arisen" Aphrodite was born of the sea foam near
Paphos, Cyprus after
Cronus cut off
Uranus' genitals and threw them into the sea spreading his god-like genes. Hesiod's Theogony described that the genitals "were carried over the sea a long time, and white foam arose from the immortal flesh; with it a girl grew" to become Aphrodite. Thus Aphrodite is of an older generation than
Zeus.
Iliad is, together with the
Odyssey [i], one of two ancient Greek [i] epic [i]...
expresses another version of her origin, by which she was considered a daughter of Dione, who was the original oracular goddess at
Dodona. In Homer, Aphrodite, venturing into battle to protect her son,
Aeneas, is wounded by
Diomedes and returns to her mother, to sink down at her knee and be comforted. "Dione" seems to be an equivalent of Rhea, the Earth Mother, whom Homer has relocated to Olympus, and refers back to a hypothesized original
Proto-Indo-European pantheon, with the chief male god represented by the sky and thunder, and the chief female god represented as the earth or fertile soil. Aphrodite herself was sometimes referred to as "Dione". Once the worship of Zeus had usurped the oak-grove oracle at Dodona, some poets made him out to be the father of Aphrodite.
Aphrodite's chief center of worship remained at Paphos, on the south-western coast of Cyprus, where the goddess of desire had long been worshipped as
Ishtar and
Ashtaroth. It is said that she first tentatively came ashore at Cytherea, a stopping place for trade and culture between
Crete and the
Peloponesus. Thus perhaps we have hints of the track of Aphrodite's original cult from the
Levant to mainland
Greece.
In
Plato's
Symposium the speech of Pausanias distinguishes two manifestations of Aphrodite, represented by the two stories: Aphrodite Ourania , and Aphrodite Pandemos . These two manifestations represented her role in homosexuality and heterosexuality, respectively.
Alternatively, Aphrodite was a daughter of Thalassa and
Zeus.
Adulthood
Aphrodite, in many of the myths involving her, is characterized as vain, ill-tempered and easily offended. Though she is one of the few gods of the Greek Pantheon to be actually married, she is frequently unfaithful to her husband.
Hephaestus, of course, is one of the most even-tempered of the Hellenic deities; Aphrodite seems to prefer
Ares, the volatile god of war. In
Homer's
Iliad she surges into battle to save her son, but abandons him when she herself is hurt . And she is the original cause of the
Trojan War itself: not only did she start the whole affair by offering
Helen of
Troy to
Paris, but the abduction was accomplished when Paris, seeing Helen for the first time, was inflamed with desire to have her—which is Aphrodite's realm. Her domain may involve love, but it does not involve romance; rather, it tends more towards lust, the human irrational longing.
Marriage with Hephaestus
Due to her immense beauty, Zeus was frightened that she would be the cause of violence between the other gods. He married her off to
Hephaestus, the dour, humorless god of smithing. There is another version of this story. Because Hera, his mother, threw him off Olympus, he got his revenge by trapping her in a magic throne, then demanding Aphrodite's hand in return for Hera's release. Hephaestus was overjoyed at being married to the goddess of beauty and forged her beautiful jewelry, including the cestus, a
girdle that made her even more irresistible to men. Her unhappiness with her marriage caused Aphrodite to seek out companionship from others, most frequently
Ares, but also
Adonis, Anchises and more. Hephaestus once cleverly caught Ares and Aphrodite in bed with finely wrought chains, and brought all the other Olympian gods together to mock the pair Hephaestus would not free them until
Poseidon promised Hephaestus that Ares would pay reparations, but both escaped as soon as the chains were lifted and their promise was not kept.
Aphrodite and Psyche
Aphrodite was jealous of the beauty of a mortal woman named Psyche. She asked Eros to use his golden arrows to cause Psyche to fall in love with the ugliest man on earth. Eros agreed but then fell in love with Psyche on his own, or by accidentally pricking himself with a golden arrow. Meanwhile, Psyche's parents were anxious that their daughter remained unmarried. They consulted an oracle who told them she was destined for no mortal lover, but a monster who lived on top of a particular mountain. Psyche was resigned to her fate and climbed to the top of the mountain. There,
Zephyrus, the west wind, gently floated her downwards. She entered a cave on the appointed mountain, surprised to find it full of jewellery and finery. Eros visited her every night in the cave and they made love; he demanded only that she never light any lamps because he did not want her to know who he was . Her two sisters, jealous of Psyche, convinced her to do so one night and she lit a lamp, recognizing him instantly. A drop of hot lamp oil fell on Eros' chest and he awoke, then fled.
When Psyche told her two jealous elder sisters what had happened; they rejoiced secretly and each separately walked to the top of the mountain and did as Psyche described her entry to the cave, hoping Eros would pick them instead. Zephyrus did not pick them and they fell to their deaths at the base of the mountain.
Psyche searched for her lover across much of Greece, finally stumbling into a temple to
Demeter, where the floor was covered with piles of mixed grains. She started sorting the grains into organized piles and, when she finished, Demeter spoke to her, telling her that the best way to find Eros was to find his mother, Aphrodite, and earn her blessing. Psyche found a temple to Aphrodite and entered it. Aphrodite assigned her a similar task to Demeter's temple, but gave her an impossible deadline to finish it by. Eros intervened, for he still loved her, and caused some ants to organize the grains for her. Aphrodite was outraged at her success and told her to go to a field where golden sheep grazed and get some golden wool. Psyche went to the field and saw the sheep but was stopped by a river-god, whose river she had to cross to enter the field. He told her the sheep were mean and vicious and would kill her, but if she waited until noontime, the sheep would go the shade on the other side of the field and sleep; she could pick the wool that stuck to the branches and bark of the trees. Psyche did so and Aphrodite was even more outraged at her survival and success. Finally, Aphrodite claimed that the stress of caring for her son, depressed and ill as a result of Psyche's unfaithfulness, had caused her to lose some of her beauty. Psyche was to go to
Hades and ask
Persephone, the queen of the underworld, for a bit of her beauty in a black box that Aphrodite gave to Psyche. Psyche walked to a tower, deciding that the quickest way to the underworld would be to die. A voice stopped her at the last moment and told her a route that would allow her to enter and return still living, as well as telling her how to pass
Cerberus, Charon and the other dangers of the route. She pacified Cerberus, the three-headed dog, with a sweet honey-cake and paid Charon an
obolus to take her into Hades. On the way there, she saw hands reaching out of the water. A voice told her to toss a honey cake to them. Once there, Persephone said she would be glad to do Aphrodite a favor. She once more paid Charon, threw the cake out to the hands, and gave one to Cerberus.
Psyche left the underworld and decided to open the box and take a little bit of the beauty for herself, thinking that if she did so Eros would surely love her. Inside was a " sleep" which overtook her. Eros, who had forgiven her, flew to her body and wiped the sleep from her eyes, then begged Zeus and Aphrodite for their consent to his wedding of Psyche. They agreed and Zeus made her immortal. Aphrodite danced at the wedding of Eros and Psyche and their subsequent child was named Pleasure, or Volupta.
Adonis
Aphrodite was
Adonis' lover and had a part in his birth. She urged Myrrha or Smyrna to commit
incest with her father, Theias, the King of
Assyria. Another version says Myrrha's father was Cinyras of
Cyprus. Myrrha's nurse helped with the scheme. When Theias discovered this, he flew into a rage, chasing his daughter with a knife. The gods turned her into a
myrrh tree and Adonis eventually sprang from this tree. Alternatively, Aphrodite turned her into a tree and Adonis was born when Theias shot the tree with an arrow or when a boar used its tusks to tear the tree's bark off.
Once Adonis was born, Aphrodite took him under her wing, seducing him with the help of Helene, her friend, and was entranced by his unearthly beauty. She gave him to
Persephone to watch over, but Persephone was also amazed at his beauty and refused to give him back. The argument between the two goddesses was settled either by
Zeus or
Calliope, with Adonis spending four months with Aphrodite, four months with Persephone and four months of the years on his own.
Adonis was eventually killed by a jealous
Ares. Aphrodite was warned of this jealousy and was told that Adonis would be killed by a boar that Ares transformed into. She tried to persuade Adonis to stay with her at all times, but his love of hunting was his downfall. While Adonis was hunting, Ares found him and gored him to death. Aphrodite arrived just in time to hear his last breath.
It is also said that Aphrodite bore a daughter to Adonis, Beroe.
The gods and goddesses as well as various mortals were invited to the marriage of
Peleus and
Thetis . Only the goddess Eris was not invited, but she arrived with a golden
apple inscribed with the words "to the fairest," which she threw among the goddesses. Aphrodite, Hera, and
Athena all claimed to be the fairest, and rightful owners of the apple. The goddesses chose to put the matter before
Paris, a shepherd known for his solving matters, who later turned out to be a prince of
Troy. Hera tried to bribe Paris with the
Asia Minor, while Athena offered glory and fame in battle, but Aphrodite whispered to Paris that if he were to choose her as the fairest he would have the most beautiful mortal woman as a wife, and he accordingly chose her. This woman was
Helen. The other goddesses were enraged by this and through Helen's abduction by Paris they stirred up the
Trojan War. This abduction led to the Trojan war because Helen had already been married to a Greek. In this way, the Greeks found out that Paris had taken Helen to far away Troy and so they sieged Troy for an almost endless ten years which led up to Homer's book,
The Iliad.
Pygmalion and Galatea
Pygmalion was a sculptor who had never found a woman worthy of his love. Aphrodite took pity on him and decided to show him the wonders of love. One day, Pygmalion was inspired by a dream of Aphrodite to make a woman out of
ivory resembling her image, and he called her Galatea. He fell in love with the statue and decided he could not live without her. He prayed to Aphrodite, who carried out the final phase of her plan and brought the exquisite sculpture to life. Pygmalion loved Galatea and they were soon married.
Another version of this myth tells that the women of the village in which Pygmalion lived grew angry that he had not married. They all asked Aphrodite to force him to marry. Aphrodite accepted and went that very night to Pygmalion, and asked him to pick a woman to marry. She told him that if he did not pick one, she would do so for him. Not wanting to be married, he begged her for more time, asking that he be allowed to make a sculpture of Aphrodite before he had to choose his bride. Flattered, she accepted.
Pygmalion spent a lot of time making small clay sculptures of the Goddess, claiming it was needed so he could pick the right pose. As he started making the actual sculpture he was shocked to discover he actually wanted to finish, even though he knew he would have to marry someone when he finished. The reason he wanted to finish it was that he had fallen in love with the sculpture. The more he worked on it, the more it changed, until it no longer resembled Aphrodite at all.
At the very moment Pygmalion stepped away from the finished sculpture Aphrodite appeared and told him to choose his bride. Pygmalion chose the statue. Aphrodite told him that could not be, and asked him again to pick a bride. Pygmalion put his arms around the statue, and asked Aphrodite to turn him into a statue so he could be with her. Aphrodite took pity on him and brought the statue to life instead.
Other Stories
In one version of the story of Hippolytus, Aphrodite was the catalyst for his death. He scorned the worship of Aphrodite for
Artemis and, in revenge, Aphrodite caused his step-mother, Phaedra, to fall in love with him, knowing Hippolytus would reject her. In the most popular version of the story, the play "Hippolytus" by
Euripides, Phaedra seeks revenge against Hippolytus by killing herself and, in her
suicide note, telling
Theseus, her husband and Hippolytus' father, that Hippolytus had raped her. Hippolytus was oath-bound not to mention Phaedra's love for him and nobly refused to defend himself despite the consequences.
Theseus then cursed his son, a curse that
Poseidon was bound to fulfil and so Hipploytus was laid low by a bull from the sea that caused his chariot-team to panic and wreck his vehicle. This is, intersestingly enough
not quite how Aphrodite envisaged his death in the play, as in the prologue she says she expects Hippolytus to submit to lust with Phaedra and for Theseus to catch the pair in the act. Hippolytus forgives his father before he dies and
Artemis reveals the truth to Theseus before vowing to kill one Aphrodite loves-
Adonis in revenge.
Glaucus of Corinth angered Aphrodite and she made her horses angry during the funeral games of King
Pelias. They tore him apart. His ghost supposedly frightened horses during the Isthmian Games.
Aphrodite was often accompanied by the
Charites.
Aphrodite was one of the gods to be mocked by Momus, which resulted in his expulsion from Olympus.
In book III of
Homer's
Iliad is, together with the
Odyssey [i], one of two ancient Greek [i] epic [i]...
, Aphrodite saves
Paris when he is about to be killed by Menelaos.
Aphrodite was very protective of her son,
Aeneas, who fought in the
Trojan War.
Diomedes almost killed Aeneas in battle but Aphrodite saved him. Diomedes wounded Aphrodite and she dropped her son, fleeing to
Mt. Olympus. Aeneas was then enveloped in a cloud by
Apollo, who took him to Pergamos, a sacred spot in
Troy.
Artemis healed Aeneas there.
She turned Abas to stone for his pride.
She turned Anaxarete to stone for reacting so dispassionately to Iphis' pleas to love him, even after his suicide.
Aphrodite helps
Hippomenes to win a footrace against
Atalanta to win Atalanta's hand in marriage, giving him three golden apples to distract her with. However, when the couple fails to thank Aphrodite, she has them turned into lions.
Consorts and children
Surnames and titles
- Acidalia
- Anadyomene, the emerging as in Aphrodite Anadyomene, a painting by Apelles
- Cytherea
- Despina
- Kypris
- Hetaira
- Porne, the prostitute
- Kalligloutos
- Kallipygos, she of the beautiful buttocks
- Morpho, the shapely, she of the various shapes
- Ambologera, she who postpones old age
- Aphrodite en koipos
- Genetyllis
- Epitragidia
- Melaina, the black
- Melainis, the black one
- Skotia, the dark
- Anosia, the unholy
- Androphonos, killer of men
- Tymborychos, the gravedigger
- Epitymbidia, she upon the graves
- Basilis, queen
- Persephaessa
In popular culture
- Aphrodite is well-known in popular culture due to several works of art such as the Venus de Milo and Botticelli's The Birth of Venus.
- In film, she has been portrayed by actresses such as Vanna White and Ursula Andress.
- In the and television series, Aphrodite was played by Alexandra Tydings, who gained a cult following due to her portrayal of Aphrodite as a ditzy valley girl who dressed in pink negligee.
See also
References
- C. Kerényi . The Gods of the Greeks.
External links
- information from classical literature, Greek and Roman art
- summary of Aphrodite in myth
