Aphrodite
I've held a great love of mythology, especially ancient Greek, ever since I was little. As I got older I chose certain gods and goddesses as my favorites. One is Aphrodite. I've never been a very flirtatious or especially feminine person, and I seem more like an Athena or Artermis girl, but they've never appealed to me as much as good ol' Kytheria.
1.
I shall sing of Kytheria, born on Cyprus,
who brings sweet gifts to mortals, and whose lovely face
ever smiles radiant with lambent beauty on it.
Hail, goddess and mistress of well-built Salamis
and of sea-laved Cyprus! Grant me enchanting song.
And now I will remember you and another song, too.
2.
Of august gold-wreathed and beautiful Aphrodite
I shall sing, to whose domain belong the battlements
of all sea-laved Cyprus where, blown by the moist breath of
Zephyros,
she was carried over the waves of the resounding sea
in soft foam. The gold-filleted Horae
happily welcomed her and clothed her with heavenly raiment.
Then on her divine head they placed a well-wrought crown,
beautiful and golden, and in her pierced ears
flowers of brass and precious gold.
Round her tender neck and silver-white breasts
they decked her with golden necklaces such as the gold-filleted
Horae themselves are adorned with whenever they go
to lovely dances of the gods and to their father's house.
And after they decked her body with every sort of jewel,
they brought her to the immortals, who saw and welcomed her,
giving her their hands, and each one wished
that he might take her home as his wedded wife;
for they marveled at the looks of violet-crowned Kythereia.
Hail, honey-sweet goddess with the fluttering eyelids!
Grant me victory in this contest and arrange my song.
And I shall remember you and another song, too.
--from The Homeric Hymns, Apostolos Athanassakis
Maybe I'm just a big romantic inside, or I'm in love with love, or with beauty as artists are, but I find hymns to Aphrodite to be the sweetest. In Plato's Symposium, two different Aphrodites are described by Pausanias. One is Heavenly Aphrodite, or Aphrodite Urania, born from the foam of testicles (owned by the emasculated Uranus) after they fell into the sea. The other is Common Aphrodite, or Aphrodite Pandemos, born of the union between Zeus and Dione (descriped in the Homeric epics). Pausanias deems Heavenly Aphrodite to be the better because she is conceived by only a man, while Heavenly Aphrodite is from a man and woman. SURE that's legimate reasoning... Aphrodite Pandemos rules over lusty relationships based on sex and appearance (between men and women, and men and boys), while Aphrodite Urania rules over those centered on the improvement of mind (between men and young men).
The earliest fertility goddess in the Mesopotamian area included Ishtar, Astarte, and Innana, all in different civilizations and eras. The three of them represented a more general mother goddesses, the Queen of Heaven, as opposed to ruling over only love and beauty. But they had that spiteful quality of later sex goddesses; they were not your gentle Earth Mother. A common myth was of the goddess travelling to the Underworld to save her lover, a theme often seen in later myths. Astarte is mentioned in the Bible as some evil being, since she was worshipped by the enemies of the Hebrews. She seemed to have been made into a demon, Astartoh.
Fertility goddesses such like Aphrodite for me have the appeal of a glamorous older sister figure, someone sassy, smart, and sexy. The courtesans of the past also had this appeal. They were far more than prostitutes; one, they were paid much more, and two, they were valued for more than their sexual skills. The famed ones were charming and witty, and often learned. Because they were already outside the acceptable barriers of normal society, they could break more rules by gaining an education. It only added to their appeal, because men could find in them what they couldn't in their ordinary wives, and have an intelligent conversation on literature, philosophy, and current events. Back when Aphrodite and Ishtar were being worshipped, they often had temple prostitutes, who saw it as their divine duty to get it on with worshippers. Though some were just hookers hanging around locations that they knew would get many visitors.
Aphrodite has numerous symbols seen as representing divine
beauty. One traditionally is the planet Venus, known as the Morning
Star and the Evening Star.
A less romantic view.
A very romantic view.
She is associated with seashells [01, 02], flowers (especially roses) [01, 02, 03, 04], doves [01], lionesses [01], jewelery [01, 02], and other beautiful things [01].
Another item that I think matches up perfectly with Aphrodite, though not traditionally, is this. Yes, that is a vibrator shaped like a tube of lipstic. PURE GENIUS.
A website with more Aphrodite
information.
Here is an interesting essay with a thesis relating early
Aphrodite imagery with the planet Venus.
The Iliad,
provided by SparkNotes. Aphrodite does take a role in the epic poem,
mainly by rescuing Paris and Aeneas from battle at several points.
If anyone has seen the movie Troy, you may remember the duel
between Paris and Menelaus. Originally Aphrodite swept Paris back to
his palace when he was about to lose; he didn't crawl back to his
brother for help like in the movie.
