Ancient Greek Goddess Aphrodite(Venus)Aphrodite goddess of love, beauty and marriage
The ancient Greek goddess Aphrodite goddess of love is one of the most well known of the Greek goddesses. This Greek goddess has many forms, from romantic love in marriage to lustful attraction. This duality is also seen in the two different myths surrounding her birth. The origin of her name comes from the Greek word for foam, which is aphros. This would come from the older myth about her being born out of the sea foam. She is the wife of the Greek god Hephaestus. He is the son of Zeus and Hera, a blacksmith and he walks with a limp. Even though she is his wife, she has other love affairs, mainly Ares, much to Hephaestus' suffering. Her attendants, or other gods she is commonly seen with, are the god Eros, the Graces and the Hours or Seasons. The god Eros (Cupid) will be discussed later. The Graces are usually three in number and hold the ideal nature of loveliness. They are generally depicted as bathing the Greek goddess or accompanying her on a journey. The Hours or Seasons are daughters of Zeus and the Titan, Themis. They have a similar position as the Graces and are usually seen adorning the goddess in clothes or jewelry. 2 Myths about her birthAphrodite Urania: Daughter of UranusIn Hesiod's account of her birth, the ancient Greek goddess Aphrodite is born after the castration of Uranus. Uranus (sky) mates with Gaia (earth) and he hides their children, the Titans, the Cyclopes and the Hecatonchires, inside her. Gaia creates a sickle and persuades her children that their father should be punished. The only one willing to punish his father is the Titan Cronus. Uranus came to lay with Gaia one night. Cronus seizes his opportunity to grab the sickle and cut off his father's genitals and throw them into the sea, thus releasing the children from within their mother. From Uranus's genitals a white foam rises around them and in the foam a maiden grew. This birth form a single deity, also being a sky figure, gives this variation of the goddess a more spiritual and intellectual nature as a goddess of pure, spiritual love than her Pandemos counterpart. Aphrodite Pandemos: Daughter of Zeus and DioneNot much is known about Zeus and Dione's affair except that Aphrodite goddess of love is their offspring. The name Pandemos means of all the people or a Common Aphrodite. It is possible that since in this myth she is born from both sexes she is primarily thought of as goddess of love in a purely physical satisfaction sense. More along the nature of physical attraction and procreation unlike the Aphrodite Urania. Judgement of ParisMost of the gods were invited to the wedding festival of Peleus to the nymph, Thetis. During the feast the uninvited Eris, goddess of Discord, makes her appearance and tosses a golden apple with the words "For the most beautiful" written on it among the Greek goddesses Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena. Each goddess tries to claim it as their own. Zeus decides that he can't judge the matter since he loves each goddess equally and so he decides that the mortal prince of Troy, Paris, should be the judge. Hermes led the three goddesses to Paris and explained to the mortal the decision he had to make. Each Greek goddess promised him a gift in return for his favorable decision. Hera said that she would give him royal power, Athena promised him that he would have victory in war, and the ancient Greek goddess Aphrodite told him that if he chose her, she would give him the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen, queen of Sparta, as his wife. Paris chose to give the golden apple to the ancient Greek goddess Aphrodite, which led to the rape of Helen and the beginning of the Trojan War. Aphrodite sided with the Trojans during the war and Hera and Athena sided with the Greeks to bring destruction upon Troy because of Paris' decision. LinksAncient Greek Goddess Aphrodite Experience Ancient Greece Home Page Ancient Greek Gods Jenny Ervin Contact Me
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