Aphrodite (/ˌæfrəˈdaɪtiː/ⓘ,AF-rə-DY-tee)[a] is anancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, procreation, and as hersyncretized Roman counterpartVenus, desire,sex,fertility, prosperity, and victory. Aphrodite's major symbols include seashells,myrtles, roses, doves, sparrows, and swans. The cult of Aphrodite was largely derived from that of thePhoenician goddessAstarte, acognate of theEast Semitic goddessIshtar, whose cult was based on theSumerian cult ofInanna. Aphrodite's main cult centers wereCythera,Cyprus,Corinth, andAthens. Her main festival was theAphrodisia, which was celebrated annually in midsummer. InLaconia, Aphrodite was worshipped as a warrior goddess. She was also the patron goddess ofprostitutes, an association which led early scholars to propose the concept ofsacred prostitution in Greco-Roman culture, an idea which is now generally seen as erroneous.
Amajor goddess in the Greek pantheon, Aphrodite featured prominently inancient Greek literature. InHesiod'sTheogony, Aphrodite is born off the coast of Cythera from the foam (ἀφρός,aphrós) produced byUranus's genitals, which his sonCronus hadsevered and thrown into the sea. InHomer'sIliad, however, she is the daughter ofZeus andDione. In hisSymposium,Plato asserts that these two origins actually belong to separate entities;Aphrodite Urania (a transcendent "Heavenly" Aphrodite) andAphrodite Pandemos (Aphrodite common to "all the people").[3] TheepithetAphrodite Areia (the "Warlike") reveals her contrasting nature inancient Greek religion. Aphrodite had many other epithets, each emphasizing a different aspect of the same goddess or used by a different local cult. Thus she was also known asCytherea (Lady of Cythera) andCypris (Lady of Cyprus), because both locations claimed to be the place of her birth.Sappho'sOde to Aphrodite is one of the earliest poems dedicated to the goddess and survives from theArchaic period nearly complete.
Hesiod derives the nameAphrodite fromaphrós (ἀφρός) "sea-foam",[4] interpreting the name as "risen from the foam",[5][4] but most modern scholars regard this as a spuriousfolk etymology.[4][6] Early-modern scholars of classical mythology attempted to argue that Aphrodite's name was of Greek orIndo-European origin, but these efforts have mostly been abandoned.[6] Aphrodite's name is generally accepted to be of non-Greek (probablySemitic) origin, but its exact derivation cannot be determined with confidence.[6][7]
Scholars in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, accepting Hesiod's "foam" etymology as genuine, analyzed the second part of Aphrodite's name as *-odítē "wanderer"[8] or as *-dítē "bright".[9][10] More recently, Michael Janda, also accepting Hesiod's etymology, has argued in favor of the latter of these interpretations and claims the story of a birth from the foam as anIndo-Europeanmytheme.[11][12] Similarly, Krzysztof Tomasz Witczak proposes an Indo-European compound*abʰor- "very" and*dʰei- "to shine", also referring toEos,[13] and Daniel Kölligan has interpreted Aphrodite's name as "shining up from the mist/foam".[14] Other scholars have argued that these hypotheses are unlikely, since Aphrodite's attributes are entirely different from those of both Eos and theVedic deityUshas.[15][16]
Modern scholars, due to the believedNear Eastern origins of Aphrodite's worship, have since proposed Semitic origins for the name.[7][17] Some scholars, such asFritz Hommel, have suggested that Aphrodite's name is a hellenized pronunciation of the name "Astarte"; other scholars, however, reject this as being linguistically untenable.[18][19] Martin West reconstructs aCyprianCanaanite form of the name as either*ʿAprodît or*ʿAproḏît, and cautiously suggests the latter as being anepithet with the meaning "She of the Villages".[20] Aren Wilson-Wright suggests thePhoenician form*ʾAprodīt as anelative epithet meaning "unique, excellent, sublime".[21]
In theCypriot syllabary, a syllabic script used on the island of Cyprus from the eleventh until the fourth centuries BC, Aphrodite's name is attested in the forms𐠀𐠡𐠦𐠭𐠃𐠂 (a-po-ro-ta-o-i, read right-to-left),[27]𐠀𐠡𐠦𐠯𐠭𐠂 (a-po-ro-ti-ta-i, samewise),[28] and finally𐠀𐠡𐠦𐠯𐠪𐠈 (a-po-ro-ti-si-jo, "Aphrodisian", "related to Aphrodite", in the context of a month).[29]
Origins
Near Eastern love goddess
Late second-millennium BC nudefigurine of Ishtar fromSusa, showing her wearing a crown and clutching her breasts
Early fifth-century BC statue of Aphrodite fromCyprus, showing her wearing a cylinder crown and holding a dove
The cult of Aphrodite in Greece was imported from, or at least influenced by, the cult ofAstarte inPhoenicia,[30][31][32][33] which, in turn, was influenced by the cult of theMesopotamian goddess known as "Ishtar" to theEast Semitic peoples and as "Inanna" to theSumerians.[34][32][33]Pausanias states that the first to establish a cult of Aphrodite were theAssyrians, followed by thePaphians of Cyprus and then the Phoenicians atAscalon. The Phoenicians, in turn, taught her worship to the people ofCythera.[35]
Aphrodite took on Inanna-Ishtar's associations with sexuality and procreation.[36] Furthermore, she was known asOurania (Οὐρανία), which means "heavenly",[37] a title corresponding to Inanna's role as theQueen of Heaven.[37][38] Early artistic and literary portrayals of Aphrodite are extremely similar on Inanna-Ishtar.[36] Like Inanna-Ishtar, Aphrodite was also a warrior goddess;[36][31][39] the second-century AD Greek geographerPausanias records that, in Sparta, Aphrodite was worshipped asAphrodite Areia, which means "warlike".[40][41] He also mentions that Aphrodite's most ancient cult statues inSparta and on Cythera showed her bearing arms.[40][41][42][36] Modern scholars note that Aphrodite's warrior-goddess aspects appear in the oldest strata of her worship[43] and see it as an indication of her Near Eastern origins.[43][44]
Nineteenth-century classical scholars had a general aversion to the idea that ancient Greek religion was at all influenced by the cultures of the Near East,[45] but, evenFriedrich Gottlieb Welcker, who argued that Near Eastern influence on Greek culture was largely confined to material culture,[45] admitted that Aphrodite was clearly of Phoenician origin.[45] The significant influence of Near Eastern culture on early Greek religion in general, and on the cult of Aphrodite in particular,[46] is now widely recognized as dating to a period oforientalization during the eighth century BC,[46] whenarchaic Greece was on the fringes of theNeo-Assyrian Empire.[47]
Indo-European dawn goddess
Some earlycomparative mythologists opposed to the idea of a Near Eastern origin argued that Aphrodite originated as an aspect of the Greek dawn goddessEos[48][49] and that she was therefore ultimately derived from theProto-Indo-European dawn goddess*Haéusōs (properly GreekEos, LatinAurora, SanskritUshas).[48][49] Most modern scholars have now rejected the notion of a purely Indo-European Aphrodite,[6][50][16][51] but it is possible that Aphrodite, originally aSemitic deity, may have been influenced by the Indo-European dawn goddess.[51] Both Aphrodite and Eos were known for their erotic beauty and aggressive sexuality[49] and both had relationships with mortal lovers.[49] Both goddesses were associated with the colors red, white, and gold.[49] Michael Janda etymologizes Aphrodite's name as an epithet of Eos meaning "she who rises from the foam [of the ocean]"[12] and points to Hesiod'sTheogony account of Aphrodite's birth as an archaic reflex of Indo-European myth.[12] Aphrodite rising out of the waters after Cronus defeats Uranus as a mytheme would then be directly cognate to theRigvedic myth ofIndra defeatingVrtra, liberatingUshas.[11][12] Another key similarity between Aphrodite and the Indo-European dawn goddess is her close kinship to the Greek sky deity,[51] since both of the main claimants to her paternity (Zeus and Uranus) are sky deities.[52]
Aphrodite's most common cultic epithet wasOurania, meaning "heavenly",[56][57] but this epithet almost never occurs in literary texts, indicating a purely cultic significance.[58] Another common name for Aphrodite wasPandemos ("For All the Folk").[59] In her role as Aphrodite Pandemos, Aphrodite was associated withPeithō (Πείθω), meaning "persuasion",[60] and could be prayed to for aid in seduction.[60] The character of Pausanias inPlato'sSymposium, takes differing cult-practices associated with different epithets of the goddess to claim that Ourania and Pandemos are, in fact, separate goddesses. He asserts thatAphrodite Ourania is the celestial Aphrodite, born from the sea foam after Cronus castrated Uranus, and the older of the two goddesses. According to theSymposium,Aphrodite Ourania is the inspiration ofmale homosexual desire, specifically theephebiceros, andpederasty.Aphrodite Pandemos, by contrast, is the younger of the two goddesses: the common Aphrodite, born from the union of Zeus and Dione, and the inspiration ofheterosexual desire and sexual promiscuity, the "lesser" of the two loves.[61][62]Paphian (Παφία), was one of her epithets, after thePaphos in Cyprus where she had emerged from the sea at her birth.[63]
Among theNeoplatonists and, later, their Christian interpreters, Ourania is associated with spiritual love, and Pandemos with physical love (desire). A representation of Ourania with her foot resting on a tortoise came to be seen as emblematic of discretion in conjugal love; it was the subject of achryselephantine sculpture byPhidias forElis, known only from a parenthetical comment by the geographerPausanias.[64]
One of Aphrodite's most common literary epithets isPhilommeidḗs (φιλομμειδής),[65] which means "smile-loving",[65] but is sometimes mistranslated as "laughter-loving".[65] This epithet occurs throughout both of the Homeric epics and theFirst Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite.[65] Hesiod references it once in hisTheogony in the context of Aphrodite's birth,[66] but interprets it as "genital-loving" rather than "smile-loving".[66]Monica Cyrino notes that the epithet may relate to the fact that, in many artistic depictions of Aphrodite, she is shown smiling.[66] Other epithets of her includeMechanitis meaning skilled in inventing[67] andAutomata because, according toServius, she was the source of spontaneous love.[68]
Common literary epithets of Aphrodite areCypris andCythereia,[69] which derive from her associations with the islands of Cyprus and Cythera respectively.[69] On Cyprus, Aphrodite was sometimes calledEleemon ("the merciful").[57] In Athens, she was known asAphrodite en kēpois ("Aphrodite of the Gardens").[57] At Cape Colias, a town along the Attic coast, she was venerated asGenetyllis "Mother".[57] The Spartans worshipped her asPotnia "Mistress",Enoplios "Armed",Morpho "Shapely",Ambologera "She who Postpones Old Age".[57] Across the Greek world, she was known under epithets such asMelainis in Corinth "Black or Dark One",[70]Skotia "Dark One",Androphonos "Killer of Men",Anosia "Unholy", andTymborychos "Gravedigger",[55] all of which indicate her darker, more violent nature.[55]
A male version of Aphrodite known asAphroditus was worshipped in the city ofAmathus on Cyprus.[53][54][55] Aphroditus was depicted with thefigure anddress of a woman, but had abeard, and was shown lifting his dress to reveal an erectphallus.[53][54] This gesture was believed to be anapotropaic symbol, and was thought to conveygood fortune upon the viewer.[71] Eventually, the popularity of Aphroditus waned as the mainstream, fully feminine version of Aphrodite became more popular, but traces of his cult are preserved in the later legends ofHermaphroditus.[54]
Aphrodite's main festival, theAphrodisia, was celebrated across Greece, but particularly inAthens andCorinth. In Athens, the Aphrodisia was celebrated on the fourth day of the month ofHekatombaion in honor of Aphrodite's role in the unification of Attica.[82][83] During this festival, the priests of Aphrodite would purify the temple of Aphrodite Pandemos on the southwestern slope of theAcropolis with the blood of asacrificed dove.[84] Next, the altars would beanointed[84] and the cult statues of Aphrodite Pandemos andPeitho would be escorted in a majestic procession to a place where they would be ritually bathed.[85] Aphrodite was also honored in Athens as part of theArrhephoria festival.[86] The fourth day of every month was sacred to Aphrodite.[87]
Pausanias records that, in Sparta, Aphrodite was worshipped asAphrodite Areia, which means "warlike".[40][41] This epithet stresses Aphrodite's connections to Ares, with whom she had extramarital relations.[40][41] Pausanias also records that, in Sparta[40][41] and on Cythera, a number of extremely ancient cult statues of Aphrodite portrayed her bearing arms.[42][57] Other cult statues showed her bound in chains.[57]
Aphrodite was the patron goddess ofprostitutes of all varieties,[88][57] ranging frompornai (cheapstreet prostitutes typically owned as slaves by wealthypimps) tohetairai (expensive, well-educated hired companions, who were usually self-employed and sometimes provided sex to their customers).[89] The city ofCorinth was renowned throughout the ancient world for its manyhetairai,[90] who had a widespread reputation for being among the most skilled, but also the most expensive, prostitutes in the Greek world.[90] Corinth also had a major temple to Aphrodite located on theAcrocorinth[90] and was one of the main centers of her cult.[90] Records of numerous dedications to Aphrodite made by successful courtesans have survived in poems and in pottery inscriptions.[89] References to Aphrodite in association with prostitution are found in Corinth as well as on the islands ofCyprus,Cythera, andSicily.[91] Aphrodite's Mesopotamian precursor Inanna-Ishtar was also closely associated with prostitution.[92][93][91]
Scholars in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries believed that the cult of Aphrodite may have involvedritual prostitution,[93][91] an assumption based on ambiguous passages in certain ancient texts, particularly a fragment of askolion by the Boeotian poetPindar,[94] which mentions prostitutes in Corinth in association with Aphrodite.[94] Modern scholars now dismiss the notion of ritual prostitution in Greece as a "historiographic myth" with no factual basis.[95]
Hellenistic and Roman periods
Greek relief from Aphrodisias, depicting a Roman-influenced Aphrodite sitting on a throne holding an infant while the shepherdAnchises stands beside her.
The ancient Romansidentified Aphrodite with their goddessVenus, who was originally a goddess of agricultural fertility, vegetation, and springtime.[100] According to the Roman historianLivy, Aphrodite and Venus were officially identified in the third century BC[101] when the cult ofVenus Erycina was introduced to Rome from the Greek sanctuary of Aphrodite onMount Eryx in Sicily.[101] After this point, Romans adopted Aphrodite's iconography and myths and applied them to Venus.[101] Because Aphrodite was the mother of the Trojan hero Aeneas in Greek mythology[101] and the Roman tradition claimed Aeneas as the founder of Rome,[101] Venus became venerated asVenus Genetrix, the mother of the entire Roman nation.[101]Julius Caesar claimed to be directly descended from Aeneas's sonIulus[102] and became a strong proponent of the cult of Venus.[102] This precedent was later followed by his nephewAugustus and the later emperors claiming succession from him.[102]
This syncretism greatly impacted Greek worship of Aphrodite.[103] During the Roman era, the cults of Aphrodite in many Greek cities began to emphasize her relationship with Troy and Aeneas.[103] They also began to adopt distinctively Roman elements,[103] portraying Aphrodite as more maternal, more militaristic, and more concerned with administrative bureaucracy.[103] She was claimed as a divine guardian by many political magistrates.[103] Appearances of Aphrodite in Greek literature also vastly proliferated, usually showing Aphrodite in a characteristically Roman manner.[104]
Aphrodite is usually said to have been born near her chief center of worship,Paphos, on the island ofCyprus, which is why she is sometimes called "Cyprian", especially in the poetic works ofSappho. TheSanctuary of Aphrodite Paphia, marking her birthplace, was a place of pilgrimage in the ancient world for centuries.[106] Other versions of her myth have her born near the island ofCythera, hence another of her names, "Cytherea".[107] Cythera was a stopping place for trade and culture betweenCrete and thePeloponesus,[108] so these stories may preserve traces of the migration of Aphrodite's cult from theMiddle East to mainlandGreece.[109]
According to the version of her birth recounted byHesiod in hisTheogony,[110][111]Cronus severedUranus' genitals and threw them behind him into the sea.[111][112][113] The foam from his genitals gave rise to Aphrodite[4] (hence her name, which Hesiod interprets as "foam-arisen"),[4] while theGiants, theErinyes (furies), and theMeliae emerged from the drops of his blood.[111][112] Hesiod states that the genitals "were carried over the sea a long time, and white foam arose from the immortal flesh; with it a girl grew." After Aphrodite was born from the sea-foam, she washed up to shore in the presence of the other gods. Hesiod's account of Aphrodite's birth following Uranus's castration is probably derived fromThe Song of Kumarbi,[114][115] an ancientHittite epic poem in which the godKumarbi overthrows his fatherAnu, the god of the sky, and bites off his genitals, causing him to become pregnant and give birth to Anu's children, which include Ishtar and her brotherTeshub, the Hittite storm god.[114][115]
In theIliad,[116] Aphrodite is described as the daughter of Zeus and Dione.[4] Dione's name appears to be a feminine cognate toDios andDion,[4] which are oblique forms of the nameZeus.[4] Zeus and Dione shared a cult atDodona in northwestern Greece.[4] In theTheogony, Hesiod describes Dione as anOceanid,[117] butApollodorus makes her the thirteenthTitan, child ofGaia and Uranus.[118]
Marriage
First-century AD Roman fresco of Mars and Venus fromPompeii
Aphrodite is consistently portrayed as a nubile, infinitely desirable adult, having had no childhood.[119] She is often depicted nude.[120] In theIliad, Aphrodite is the apparently unmarried consort ofAres, the god of war,[121] and the wife ofHephaestus is a different goddess namedCharis.[122] Likewise, in Hesiod'sTheogony, Aphrodite is unmarried and the wife of Hephaestus isAglaea, the youngest of the threeCharites.[122]
In Book Eight of theOdyssey,[123] however, the blind singerDemodocus describes Aphrodite as the wife of Hephaestus and tells how she committedadultery with Ares during theTrojan War.[122][124] The sun-godHelios saw Aphrodite and Ares having sex in Hephaestus's bed and warned Hephaestus, who fashioned a fine, near invisible net.[124] The next time Ares and Aphrodite had sex together, the net trapped them both.[124] Hephaestus brought all the gods into the bedchamber to laugh at the captured adulterers,[125] butApollo,Hermes, andPoseidon had sympathy for Ares[126] and Poseidon agreed to pay Hephaestus for Ares's release.[127] Aphrodite returned to her temple in Cyprus, where she was attended by theCharites.[127] This narrative probably originated as a Greekfolk tale, originally independent of theOdyssey.[128] In a much later interpolated detail, Ares put the young soldierAlectryon by the door to warn of Helios's arrival but Alectryon fell asleep on guard duty.[129] Helios discovered the two and alerted Hephaestus; Ares in rage turned Alectryon into arooster, which unfailingly crows to announce the sunrise.[130]
After exposing them, Hephaestus asks Zeus for his wedding gifts and dowry to be returned to him;[131] by the time of theTrojan War, he is married toCharis/Aglaea, one of theGraces, apparently divorced from Aphrodite.[122][132] Afterwards, it was generally Ares who was regarded as the husband or official consort of the goddess; on theFrançois Vase, the two arrive at the wedding ofPeleus andThetis on the same chariot, as do Zeus withHera and Poseidon withAmphitrite. The poetsPindar andAeschylus refer to Ares as Aphrodite's husband.[133]
Later stories were invented to explain Aphrodite's marriage to Hephaestus. In the most famous story, Zeus hastily married Aphrodite to Hephaestus in order to prevent the other gods from fighting over her.[134] In another version of the myth, Hephaestus gave his motherHera a golden throne, but when she sat on it, she became trapped and he refused to let her go until she agreed to give him Aphrodite's hand in marriage.[135] Hephaestus was overjoyed to be married to the goddess of beauty, and forged her beautiful jewelry, including astrophion (στρόφιον) known as thekestos himas (κεστὸς ἱμάς),[136] a saltire-shaped undergarment (usually translated as thegirdle of Aphrodite),[137] which accentuated her breasts[138] and made her even more irresistible to men.[137] Suchstrophia were commonly used in depictions of the Near Eastern goddesses Ishtar andAtargatis.[137]
Aphrodite is almost always accompanied byEros, the god of lust and sexual desire.[141] In hisTheogony, Hesiod describes Eros as one of the four original primeval forces born at the beginning of time,[141] but, after the birth of Aphrodite from the sea foam, he is joined byHimeros and, together, they become Aphrodite's constant companions.[142] In early Greek art, Eros and Himeros are both shown as idealized handsome youths with wings.[143] The Greeklyric poets regarded the power of Eros and Himeros as dangerous, compulsive, and impossible for anyone to resist.[144] In modern times, Eros is often seen as Aphrodite's son,[145] but this is actually a comparatively late innovation.[146] Ascholion onTheocritus'sIdylls remarks that the sixth-century BC poet Sappho had described Eros as the son of Aphrodite and Uranus,[147] but the first surviving reference to Eros as Aphrodite's son comes fromApollonius of Rhodes'sArgonautica, written in the third century BC, which makes him the son of Aphrodite and Ares.[148] Later, the Romans, who saw Venus as a mother goddess, seized on this idea of Eros as Aphrodite's son and popularized it,[148] making it the predominant portrayal in works on mythology until the present day.[148]
Aphrodite's main attendants were the threeCharites, whom Hesiod identifies as the daughters of Zeus andEurynome and names asAglaea ("Splendor"),Euphrosyne ("Good Cheer"), andThalia ("Abundance").[149] The Charites had been worshipped as goddesses in Greece since the beginning of Greek history, long before Aphrodite was introduced to the pantheon.[122] Aphrodite's other set of attendants was the threeHorae (the "Hours"),[122] whom Hesiod identifies as the daughters of Zeus andThemis and names asEunomia ("Good Order"),Dike ("Justice"), andEirene ("Peace").[150] Aphrodite was also sometimes accompanied byHarmonia, her daughter by Ares, andHebe, the daughter of Zeus and Hera.[151]
The fertility godPriapus was usually considered to be Aphrodite's son byDionysus,[152][153] but he was sometimes also described as her son by Hermes, Adonis, or even Zeus.[152] Ascholion onApollonius of Rhodes'sArgonautica[154] states that, while Aphrodite was pregnant with Priapus, Hera envied her and applied an evil potion to her belly while she was sleeping to ensure that the child would be hideous.[152] In another version, Hera cursed Aphrodite's unborn son because he had been fathered by Zeus.[155] When Aphrodite gave birth, she was horrified to see that the child had a massive,permanently erect penis, apotbelly, and a huge tongue.[152] Aphroditeabandoned the infant to die in the wilderness, but a herdsman found him and raised him, later discovering that Priapus could use his massive penis to aid in the growth of plants.[152]
TheFirst Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite (Hymn 5), which was probably composed sometime in the mid-seventh century BC,[156] describes how Zeus once became annoyed with Aphrodite for causing deities to fall in love with mortals,[156] so he caused her to fall in love withAnchises, a handsome mortal shepherd who lived in the foothills beneathMount Ida near the city ofTroy.[156] Aphrodite appears to Anchises in the form of a tall, beautiful, mortal virgin while he is alone in his home.[157] Anchises sees her dressed in bright clothing and gleaming jewelry, with her breasts shining with divine radiance.[158] He asks her if she is Aphrodite and promises to build her an altar on top of the mountain if she will bless him and his family.[159]
Aphrodite lies and tells him that she is not a goddess, but the daughter of one of the noble families ofPhrygia.[159] She claims to be able to understand theTrojan language because she had a Trojan nurse as a child and says that she found herself on the mountainside after she was snatched up by Hermes while dancing in a celebration in honor ofArtemis, the goddess of virginity.[159] Aphrodite tells Anchises that she is still a virgin and begs him to take her to his parents.[159] Anchises immediately becomes overcome with mad lust for Aphrodite and swears that he will have sex with her.[159] Anchises takes Aphrodite, with her eyes cast downwards, to his bed, which is covered in the furs of lions and bears.[160] He then strips her naked and makes love to her.[160]
After the lovemaking is complete, Aphrodite reveals her true divine form.[161] Anchises is terrified, but Aphrodite consoles him and promises that she will bear him a son.[161] Sheprophesies that their son will be thedemigodAeneas, who will be raised by thenymphs of the wilderness for five years before going to Troy to become a nobleman like his father.[162] The story of Aeneas's conception is also mentioned in Hesiod'sTheogony and in Book II of Homer'sIliad.[162][163]
Aphrodite found the baby and took him to the underworld to be fostered byPersephone.[172] She returned for him once he was grown and discovered him to be strikingly handsome.[172] Persephone wanted to keep Adonis, resulting in a custody battle between the two goddesses over whom should rightly possess Adonis.[172] Zeus settled the dispute by decreeing that Adonis would spend one third of the year with Aphrodite, one third with Persephone, and one third with whomever he chose.[172] Adonis chose to spend that time with Aphrodite.[172] Then, one day, while Adonis was hunting, he was wounded by a wild boar and bled to death in Aphrodite's arms.[172] In a semi-mocking work, theDialogues of the Gods, the satirical authorLucian comedically relates how a frustrated Aphrodite complains to themoon goddessSelene about her sonEros making Persephone fall in love with Adonis and now she has to share him with her.[173]
In different versions of the story, the boar was either sent by Ares, who was jealous that Aphrodite was spending so much time with Adonis, or by Artemis, who wanted revenge against Aphrodite for having killed her devoted followerHippolytus.[174] In another version, Apollo in fury changed himself into a boar and killed Adonis because Aphrodite had blinded his sonErymanthus when he stumbled upon Aphrodite naked as she was bathing after intercourse with Adonis.[175] The story also provides anetiology for Aphrodite's associations with certain flowers.[174] Reportedly, as she mourned Adonis's death, she causedanemones to grow wherever his blood fell and declared a festival on the anniversary of his death.[172] In one version of the story, Aphrodite injured herself on athorn from arose bush and the rose, which had previously been white, was stained red by her blood.[174] According toLucian'sOn the Syrian Goddess,[123] each year during the festival of Adonis, the Adonis River inLebanon (now known as theAbraham River) ran red with blood.[172]
The myth of Adonis is associated with the festival of theAdonia, which was celebrated by Greek women every year in midsummer.[166] The festival, which was evidently already celebrated in Lesbos by Sappho's time, seems to have first become popular in Athens in the mid-fifth century BC.[166] At the start of the festival, the women would plant a "garden of Adonis", a small garden planted inside a small basket or a shallow piece of broken pottery containing a variety of quick-growing plants, such aslettuce andfennel, or even quick-sprouting grains such aswheat andbarley.[166] The women would then climb ladders to the roofs of their houses, where they would place the gardens out under the heat of the summer sun.[166] The plants would sprout in the sunlight but wither quickly in the heat.[176] Then the women would mourn and lament loudly over the death of Adonis,[177] tearing their clothes and beating their breasts in a public display of grief.[177]
Divine favoritism
Pygmalion andGalatea (1717) byJean Raoux, showing Aphrodite bringing the statue to life
In Hesiod'sWorks and Days, Zeus orders Aphrodite to makePandora, the first woman, physically beautiful and sexually attractive,[178] so that she may become "an evil men will love to embrace".[179] Aphrodite "spills grace" over Pandora's head[178] and equips her with "painful desire and knee-weakening anguish", thus making her the perfect vessel for evil to enter the world.[180] Aphrodite's attendants, Peitho, the Charites, and the Horae, adorn Pandora with gold and jewelry.[181]
According to one myth, Aphrodite aidedHippomenes, a noble youth who wished to marryAtalanta, a maiden who was renowned throughout the land for her beauty, but who refused to marry any man unless he could outrun her in afootrace.[182][183] Atalanta was an exceedingly swift runner and she beheaded all of the men who lost to her.[182][183] Aphrodite gave Hippomenes threegolden apples from theGarden of the Hesperides and instructed him to toss them in front of Atalanta as he raced her.[182][184] Hippomenes obeyed Aphrodite's order[182] and Atalanta, seeing the beautiful, golden fruits, bent down to pick up each one, allowing Hippomenes to outrun her.[182][184] In the version of the story from Ovid'sMetamorphoses, Hippomenes forgets to repay Aphrodite for her aid,[185][182] so she causes the couple to become inflamed with lust while they are staying at the temple ofCybele.[182] The coupledesecrate the temple by having sex in it, leading Cybele to turn them into lions as punishment.[185][182]
The myth ofPygmalion is first mentioned by the third-century BC Greek writerPhilostephanus of Cyrene,[186][187] but is first recounted in detail in Ovid'sMetamorphoses.[186] According to Ovid, Pygmalion was an exceedingly handsome sculptor from the island of Cyprus, who was so sickened by the immorality of women that he refused to marry.[188][189] He fell madly and passionately in love with the ivory cult statue he was carving of Aphrodite and longed to marry it.[188][190] Because Pygmalion was extremely pious and devoted to Aphrodite,[188][191] the goddess brought the statue to life.[188][191] Pygmalion married the girl the statue became and they had a son named Paphos, after whom thecapital of Cyprus received its name.[188][191]Pseudo-Apollodorus later mentions "Metharme, daughter of Pygmalion, king of Cyprus".[192]
Anger myths
First-century AD Roman fresco from Pompeii showing the virginHippolytus spurning the advances of his stepmotherPhaedra, whom Aphrodite caused to fall in love with him in order to bring about his tragic death.[193]
Aphrodite generously rewarded those who honored her, but also punished those who disrespected her, often quite brutally.[194] A myth described in Apollonius of Rhodes'sArgonautica and later summarized in theBibliotheca of Pseudo-Apollodorus tells how, when the women of the island ofLemnos refused to sacrifice to Aphrodite, the goddess cursed them to stink horribly so that their husbands would never have sex with them.[195] Instead, their husbands started having sex with theirThracianslave-girls.[195] In anger, the women of Lemnos murdered the entire male population of the island, as well as all the Thracian slaves.[195] WhenJason and his crew ofArgonauts arrived on Lemnos, they mated with the sex-starved women under Aphrodite's approval and repopulated the island.[195] From then on, the women of Lemnos never disrespected Aphrodite again.[195]
InEuripides's tragedyHippolytus, which was first performed at theCity Dionysia in 428 BC, Theseus's sonHippolytus worships onlyArtemis, the goddess of virginity, and refuses to engage in any form of sexual contact.[195] Aphrodite is infuriated by his prideful behavior[196] and, in the prologue to the play, she declares that, by honoring only Artemis and refusing to venerate her, Hippolytus has directly challenged her authority.[197] Aphrodite therefore causes Hippolytus's stepmother,Phaedra, to fall in love with him, knowing Hippolytus will reject her.[198] After being rejected, Phaedra commits suicide and leaves asuicide note to Theseus telling him that she killed herself because Hippolytus attempted to rape her.[198] Theseus prays to Poseidon to kill Hippolytus for his transgression.[199] Poseidon sends awild bull to scare Hippolytus's horses as he is riding by the sea in his chariot, causing the horses to bolt and smash the chariot against the cliffs, dragging Hippolytus to a bloody death across the rocky shoreline.[199] The play concludes with Artemis vowing to kill Aphrodite's own mortal beloved (presumably Adonis) in revenge.[200]
Glaucus of Corinth angered Aphrodite by refusing to let his horses forchariot racing mate, since doing so would hinder their speed.[201] During the chariot race at the funeral games of KingPelias, Aphrodite drove his horses mad and they tore him apart.[202]
Polyphonte was a young woman who chose a virginal life with Artemis instead of marriage and children, as favoured by Aphrodite. Aphrodite cursed her, causing her to have children by a bear. The resulting bear-like offspringAgrius and Oreius were wild cannibals who incurred the hatred of Zeus for attacking traveling strangers. Ultimately,Ares (who was Polyphonte's grandfather) andHermes (who was originally dispatched by Zeus to kill them) transformed all Polyphonte, Agrius, and Oreius into birds of ill omen while the servant who begged for mercy was transformed into a woodpecker.[203]
According toApollodorus, a jealous Aphrodite cursedEos, the goddess of dawn, to be perpetually in love and have insatiable sexual desire because Eos once had lain with Aphrodite's sweetheart Ares.[204]
According to Ovid in hisMetamorphoses (book 10.238 ff.),Propoetides who are the daughters of Propoetus from the city of Amathus on the island of Cyprus denied Aphrodite's divinity and failed to worship her properly. Therefore, Aphrodite turned them into the world's first prostitutes.[205] According toDiodorus Siculus, when the Rhodian sea nympheHalia's six sons by Poseidon arrogantly refused to let Aphrodite land upon their shore, the goddess cursed them with insanity. In their madness, they raped Halia. As punishment, Poseidon buried them in the island's sea-caverns.[206]
Xanthius, a descendant ofBellerophon, had two children:Leucippus and an unnamed daughter. Through the wrath of Aphrodite (reasons unknown), Leucippus fell in love with his own sister. They started a secret relationship but the girl was already betrothed to another man and he went on to inform her father Xanthius, without telling him the name of the seducer. Xanthius went straight to his daughter's chamber where she was together with Leucippus right at the moment. On hearing him enter, she tried to escape, but Xanthius hit her with a dagger, thinking that he was slaying the seducer, and killed her. Leucippus, failing to recognize his father at first, slew him. When the truth was revealed, he had to leave the country and took part in colonization ofCrete and the lands inAsia Minor.[207]
Queen Cenchreis of Cyprus, wife of KingCinyras, bragged that her daughterMyrrha was more beautiful than Aphrodite. Therefore, Myrrha was cursed by Aphrodite with insatiable lust for her own father, King Cinyras of Cyprus and he slept with her unknowingly in the dark. She eventually transformed into the myrrh tree and gave birth to Adonis in this form.[208][170][171][209] Cinyras also had three other daughters: Braesia, Laogora, and Orsedice. These girls by the wrath of Aphrodite (reasons unknown) cohabited with foreigners and ended their life in Egypt.[210]
TheMuseClio derided the goddess' own love for Adonis. Therefore, Clio fell in love withPierus, son of Magnes and boreHyacinth.[211]
Aegiale was a daughter ofAdrastus andAmphithea and was married toDiomedes. Because of anger of Aphrodite, whom Diomedes had wounded in the war against Troy, she had multiple lovers, including a certain Hippolytus.[212][213] when Aegiale went so far as to threaten his life, he fled to Italy.[213][214] According to Stesichorus and Hesiod whileTyndareus sacrificing to the gods he forgot Aphrodite, therefore the goddess made his daughters twice and thrice wed and deserters of their husbands.Timandra deserted Echemus and went and came to Phyleus andClytaemnestra desertedAgamemnon and lay withAegisthus who was a worse mate for her and eventually killed her husband with her lover and finally,Helen of Troy desertedMenelaus under the influence of Aphrodite forParis and her unfaitfulness eventually causes the War of Troy.[215] As a result of her actions, Aphrodite caused the War of Troy in order to take Priam's kingdom and pass it down to her descendants.[216]
In one of the versions of the legend, Pasiphae did not make offerings to the goddess Venus [Aphrodite]. Because of this, Venus [Aphrodite] inspired in her an unnatural love for abull resulting in the birth of theMinotaur[217] or she cursed her because she was Helios's daughter who revealed her adultery to Hephaestus.[218][219] For Helios' own tale-telling, she cursed him with uncontrollable lust over the mortal princessLeucothoe, which led to him abandoning his then-loverClytie, leaving her heartbroken.[220]
Lysippe was the mother of Tanais by Berossos. Her son only veneratedAres and was fully devoted to war, neglecting love and marriage. Aphrodite cursed him with falling in love with his own mother. Preferring to die rather than give up his chastity, he threw himself into the river Amazonius, which was subsequently renamedTanais.[221]
According toHyginus,Orpheus's motherCalliope of theMuses at the behest of Zeus, judged the dispute between the goddesses Aphrodite and Persephone over Adonis and decided that both shall possess him half of the year. This enraged Venus [Aphrodite], because she had not been granted what she thought was her right. Therefore, Venus [Aphrodite] inspired love for Orpheus in the women of Thrace, causing them to tear him apart as each of them sought Orpheus for herself.[222]
Aphrodite personally witnessed the young huntressRhodopis swear eternal devotion and chastity to Artemis when she joined her group. Aphrodite then summoned her son Eros, and convinced him that such lifestyle was an insult to them both. So under her command, Eros made Rhodopis and Euthynicus, another young hunter who had shunned love and romance just like her, to fall in love with each other. Despite their chaste life, Rhodopis and Euthynicus withdrew to some cavern where they violated their vows. Artemis was not slow to take notice after seeing Aphrodite laugh, so she changed Rhodopis into a fountain as a punishment instead.[223][224]
The myth of the Judgement of Paris is mentioned briefly in theIliad,[225] but is described in depth in anepitome of theCypria, a lost poem of theEpic Cycle,[226] which records that all the gods and goddesses as well as various mortals were invited to the marriage ofPeleus andThetis (the eventual parents ofAchilles).[225] OnlyEris, goddess of discord, was not invited.[226] She was annoyed at this, so she arrived with a golden apple inscribed with the word καλλίστῃ (kallistēi, "for the fairest"), which she threw among the goddesses.[227] Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena all claimed to be the fairest, and thus the rightful owner of the apple.[227]
The goddesses chose to place the matter before Zeus, who, not wanting to favor one of the goddesses, put the choice into the hands ofParis, aTrojan prince.[227] After bathing in the spring ofMount Ida where Troy was situated, the goddesses appeared before Paris for his decision.[227] In the extant ancient depictions of the Judgement of Paris, Aphrodite is only occasionally represented nude, and Athena and Hera are always fully clothed.[228] Since theRenaissance, however, Western paintings have typically portrayed all three goddesses as completely naked.[228]
All three goddesses were ideally beautiful and Paris could not decide between them, so they resorted to bribes.[227] Hera tried to bribe Paris with power over allAsia andEurope,[227] and Athena offered wisdom, fame and glory in battle,[227] but Aphrodite promised Paris that, if he were to choose her as the fairest, she would let him marry the most beautiful woman on earth.[229] This woman wasHelen, who was already married to KingMenelaus ofSparta.[229] Paris selected Aphrodite and awarded her the apple.[229] The other two goddesses were enraged and, as a direct result, sided with the Greeks in theTrojan War.[229]
Aphrodite plays an important and active role throughout the entirety of Homer'sIliad.[230] In Book III, she rescues Paris from Menelaus after he foolishly challenges him to a one-on-oneduel.[231] She then appears to Helen in the form of an old woman and attempts to persuade her to have sex with Paris,[232] reminding her of his physical beauty and athletic prowess.[233] Helen immediately recognizes Aphrodite by her beautiful neck, perfect breasts, and flashing eyes[234] and chides the goddess, addressing her as her equal.[235] Aphrodite sharply rebukes Helen, reminding her that, if she vexes her, she will punish her just as much as she has favored her already.[236] Helen demurely obeys Aphrodite's command.[236]
In Book V, Aphrodite charges into battle to rescue her son Aeneas from the Greek heroDiomedes.[237] Diomedes recognizes Aphrodite as a "weakling" goddess[237] and, thrusting his spear, nicks her wrist through her "ambrosial robe".[238] Aphrodite borrows Ares's chariot to ride back to Mount Olympus.[239] Zeus chides her for putting herself in danger,[239][240] reminding her that "her specialty is love, not war."[239] According toWalter Burkert, this scene directly parallels a scene from Tablet VI of theEpic of Gilgamesh in which Ishtar, Aphrodite's Akkadian precursor, cries to her motherAntu after the heroGilgamesh rejects her sexual advances, but is mildly rebuked by her fatherAnu.[241] In Book XIV of theIliad, during theDios Apate episode, Aphrodite lends herkestos himas toHera for the purpose of seducing Zeus and distracting him from the combat while Poseidon aids the Greek forces on the beach.[242] In theTheomachia in Book XXI, Aphrodite again enters the battlefield to carry Ares away after he is wounded.[239][243]
Sometimes poets and dramatists recounted ancient traditions, which varied, and sometimes they invented new details; laterscholiasts might draw on either or simply guess.[244][245] Thus whileAeneas andPhobos were regularly described as offspring of Aphrodite, others listed here such asPriapus andEros were sometimes said to be children of Aphrodite but with varying fathers and sometimes given other mothers or none at all.
Rich-throned immortal Aphrodite, scheming daughter of Zeus, I pray you, with pain and sickness, Queen, crush not my heart, but come, if ever in the past you heard my voice from afar and hearkened, and left your father's halls and came, with gold chariot yoked; and pretty sparrows brought you swiftly across the dark earth fluttering wings from heaven through the air.
Aphrodite's most prominent avian symbol was the dove,[260] which was originally an important symbol of her Near Eastern precursor Inanna-Ishtar.[261][262] (In fact, the ancient Greek word for "dove",peristerá, may be derived from a Semitic phraseperaḥ Ištar, meaning "bird of Ishtar".[261][262]) Aphrodite frequently appears with doves inancient Greek pottery[260] and the temple of Aphrodite Pandemos on the southwest slope of theAthenian Acropolis was decorated with relief sculptures of doves with knottedfillets in their beaks.[263] Votive offerings of small, white, marble doves were also discovered in the temple of Aphrodite atDaphni.[263] In addition to her associations with doves, Aphrodite was also closely linked with sparrows[260] and she is described riding in a chariot pulled by sparrows in Sappho's "Ode to Aphrodite".[263] According to myth, the dove was originally a nymph namedPeristera who helped Aphrodite win in a flower-picking contest over her son Eros; for this Eros turned her into a dove, but Aphrodite took the dove under her wing and made it her sacred bird.[264][265]
Because of her connections to the sea, Aphrodite was associated with a number of different types ofwater fowl,[266] including swans, geese, and ducks.[266] Aphrodite's other symbols included the sea, conch shells, and roses.[267] The rose andmyrtle flowers were both sacred to Aphrodite.[268] A myth explaining the origin of Aphrodite's connection to myrtle goes that originally the myrtle was a maiden,Myrina, a dedicated priestess of Aphrodite. When her previous betrothed carried her away from the temple to marry her, Myrina killed him, and Aphrodite turned her into a myrtle, forever under her protection.[269] Her most important fruit emblem was the apple,[270] and in myth, she turnedMelos, childhood friend and kin-in-law to Adonis, into an apple after he killed himself, mourning over Adonis' death. Likewise, Melos's wifePelia was turned into a dove.[271] She was also associated withpomegranates,[272] possibly because the red seeds suggested sexuality[273] or because Greek women sometimes used pomegranates as a method ofbirth control.[273] In Greek art, Aphrodite is often also accompanied bydolphins andNereids.[274]
In classical art
Wall painting from Pompeii of Venus rising from the sea on a scallop shell, believed to be a copy of the Aphrodite Anadyomene by Apelles of Kos
A scene of Aphrodite rising from the sea appears on the back of theLudovisi Throne (c. 460 BC),[277] which was probably originally part of a massive altar that was constructed as part of the Ionic temple to Aphrodite in the Greek polis ofLocri Epizephyrii inMagna Graecia in southern Italy.[277] The throne shows Aphrodite rising from the sea, clad in a diaphanous garment, which is drenched with seawater and clinging to her body, revealing her upturned breasts and the outline of her navel.[278] Her hair hangs dripping as she reaches to two attendants standing barefoot on the rocky shore on either side of her, lifting her out of the water.[278] Scenes with Aphrodite appear in works of classicalGreek pottery,[279] including a famouswhite-groundkylix by thePistoxenos Painter dating the betweenc. 470 and 460 BC, showing her riding on a swan or goose.[279] Aphrodite was often described asgolden-haired and portrayed with this color hair in art.[280]
Inc. 364/361 BC, the Athenian sculptorPraxiteles carved themarble statueAphrodite of Knidos,[281][276] whichPliny the Elder later praised as the greatest sculpture ever made.[281] The statue showed a nude Aphrodite modestly covering her pubic region while resting against a water pot with her robe draped over it for support.[282][283] TheAphrodite of Knidos was the first full-sized statue to depict Aphrodite completely naked[284] and one of the first sculptures that was intended to be viewed from all sides.[285][284] The statue was purchased by the people ofKnidos in around 350 BC[284] and proved to be tremendously influential on later depictions of Aphrodite.[285] The original sculpture has been lost,[281][283] but written descriptions of it as well several depictions of it on coins are still extant[286][281][283] and over sixty copies, small-scale models, and fragments of it have been identified.[286]
The Greek painterApelles of Kos, a contemporary of Praxiteles, produced thepanel paintingAphrodite Anadyomene (Aphrodite Rising from the Sea).[275] According toAthenaeus, Apelles was inspired to paint the painting after watching the courtesanPhryne take off her clothes, untie her hair, and bathe naked in the sea atEleusis.[275] The painting was displayed in theAsclepeion on the island ofKos.[275] TheAphrodite Anadyomene went unnoticed for centuries,[275] butPliny the Elder records that, in his own time, it was regarded as Apelles's most famous work.[275]
During the Hellenistic and Roman periods, statues depicting Aphrodite proliferated;[287] many of these statues were modeled at least to some extent on Praxiteles'sAphrodite of Knidos.[287] Some statues showAphrodite crouching naked;[288] others show her wringing water out of her hair as she rises from the sea.[288] Another common type of statue is known asAphrodite Kallipygos, the name of which is Greek for "Aphrodite of the BeautifulButtocks";[288] this type of sculpture shows Aphrodite lifting herpeplos to display her buttocks to the viewer while looking back at them from over her shoulder.[288] The ancient Romans produced massive numbers of copies of Greek sculptures of Aphrodite[287] and more sculptures of Aphrodite have survived from antiquity than of any other deity.[288]
Fifteenth centurymanuscript illumination of Venus, sitting on a rainbow, with her devotees offering her their hearts
Middle Ages
Early Christians frequently adapted pagan iconography to suit Christian purposes.[289][290][291] In theEarly Middle Ages, Christians adapted elements of Aphrodite/Venus's iconography and applied them toEve and prostitutes,[290] but also female saints and even theVirgin Mary.[290]Christians in the east reinterpreted the story of Aphrodite's birth as a metaphor forbaptism;[292] in a Coptic stele from the sixth century AD, a femaleorant is shown wearing Aphrodite's conch shell as a sign that she is newly baptized.[292] Throughout theMiddle Ages, villages and communities across Europe still maintained folk tales and traditions about Aphrodite/Venus[293] and travelers reported a wide variety of stories.[293] Numerous Roman mosaics of Venus survived in Britain, preserving memory of the pagan past.[267] In North Africa in the late fifth century AD,Fulgentius of Ruspe encountered mosaics of Aphrodite[267] and reinterpreted her as a symbol of the sin ofLust,[267] arguing that she was shown naked because "the sin of lust is never cloaked"[267] and that she was often shown "swimming" because "all lust suffers shipwreck of its affairs."[267] He also argued that she was associated with doves and conches because these are symbols of copulation,[267] and that she was associated with roses because "as the rose gives pleasure, but is swept away by the swift movement of the seasons, so lust is pleasant for a moment, but is swept away forever."[267]
While Fulgentius had appropriated Aphrodite as a symbol of Lust,[294]Isidore of Seville (c. 560–636) interpreted her as a symbol of marital procreative sex[294] and declared that the moral of the story of Aphrodite's birth is that sex can only be holy in the presence of semen, blood, and heat, which he regarded as all being necessary for procreation.[294] Meanwhile, Isidore denigrated Aphrodite/Venus's son Eros/Cupid as a "demon of fornication" (daemon fornicationis).[294] Aphrodite/Venus was best known to Western European scholars through her appearances in Virgil'sAeneid and Ovid'sMetamorphoses.[295] Venus is mentioned in the Latin poemPervigilium Veneris ("The Eve of Saint Venus"), written in the third or fourth century AD,[296] and inGiovanni Boccaccio'sGenealogia Deorum Gentilium.[297]
Since theLate Middle Ages. the myth of theVenusberg (German; FrenchMont de Vénus, "Mountain of Venus") – a subterranean realm ruled by Venus, hidden underneath Christian Europe – became a motif ofEuropean folklore rendered in various legends and epics. InGerman folklore of the 16th century, the narrative becomes associated with the minnesingerTannhäuser, and in that form the myth was taken up in later literature and opera.
Venus and Cupid Lamenting the Dead Adonis (1656) byCornelis Holsteyn
The Birth of Venus (1863) byAlexandre CabanelJacques-Louis David's final work was his 1824magnum opus,Mars Being Disarmed by Venus,[303] which combines elements of classical, Renaissance, traditional French art, and contemporary artistic styles.[303] While he was working on the painting, David described it, saying, "This is the last picture I want to paint, but I want to surpass myself in it. I will put the date of my seventy-five years on it and afterwards I will never again pick up my brush."[304] The painting was exhibited first in Brussels and then in Paris, where over 10,000 people came to see it.[304]Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres's paintingVenus Anadyomene was one of his major works.[305] Louis Geofroy described it as a "dream of youth realized with the power of maturity, a happiness that few obtain, artists or others."[305]Théophile Gautier declared: "Nothing remains of the marvelous painting of the Greeks, but surely if anything could give the idea of antique painting as it was conceived following the statues of Phidias and the poems of Homer, it is M. Ingres's painting: theVenus Anadyomene of Apelles has been found."[305] Other critics dismissed it as a piece of unimaginative, sentimentalkitsch,[305] but Ingres himself considered it to be among his greatest works and used the same figure as the model for his later 1856 paintingLa Source.[305]
Paintings of Venus were favorites of the late nineteenth-centuryAcademic artists in France.[306][307] In 1863,Alexandre Cabanel won widespread critical acclaim at theParis Salon for his paintingThe Birth of Venus, which the French emperorNapoleon III immediately purchased for his own personal art collection.[308]Édouard Manet's 1865 paintingOlympiaparodied the nude Venuses of the Academic painters, particularly Cabanel'sBirth of Venus.[309] In 1867, the English Academic painterFrederic Leighton displayed hisVenus Disrobing for the Bath at the academy.[310] The art critic J. B. Atkinson praised it, declaring that "Mr Leighton, instead of adopting corrupt Roman notions regarding Venus such as Rubens embodied, has wisely reverted to the Greek idea of Aphrodite, a goddess worshipped, and by artists painted, as the perfection of female grace and beauty."[311] A year later, the English painterDante Gabriel Rossetti, a founding member of thePre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, paintedVenus Verticordia (Latin for "Aphrodite, the Changer of Hearts"), showing Aphrodite as a nudered-headed woman in a garden of roses.[310] Though he was reproached for hisoutré subject matter,[310] Rossetti refused to alter the painting and it was soon purchased byJ. Mitchell of Bradford.[311] In 1879,William Adolphe Bouguereau exhibited at the Paris Salon his ownBirth of Venus,[308] which imitated the classical tradition ofcontrapposto and was met with widespread critical acclaim, rivalling the popularity of Cabanel's version from nearly two decades prior.[308]
William Shakespeare's eroticnarrative poemVenus and Adonis (1593), a retelling of the courtship of Aphrodite and Adonis from Ovid'sMetamorphoses,[312][313] was the most popular of all his works published within his own lifetime.[314][315] Six editions of it were published before Shakespeare's death (more than any of his other works)[315] and it enjoyed particularly strong popularity among young adults.[314] In 1605,Richard Barnfield lauded it,[315] declaring that the poem had placed Shakespeare's name "in fames immortall Booke".[315] Despite this, the poem has received mixed reception from modern critics;[314]Samuel Taylor Coleridge defended it,[314] butSamuel Butler complained that it bored him[314] andC. S. Lewis described an attempted reading of it as "suffocating".[314]
Aphrodite appears inRichard Garnett's short story collectionThe Twilight of the Gods and Other Tales (1888),[316] in which the gods' temples have been destroyed by Christians.[317] Stories revolving around sculptures of Aphrodite were common in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.[318] Examples of such works of literature include the novelThe Tinted Venus: A Farcical Romance (1885) byThomas Anstey Guthrie and the short storyThe Venus of Ille (1887) byProsper Mérimée,[319] both of which are about statues of Aphrodite that come to life.[319] Another noteworthy example isAphrodite in Aulis by the Anglo-Irish writerGeorge Moore,[320] which revolves around an ancient Greek family who moves toAulis.[321] The French writerPierre Louÿs titled his erotic historical novelAphrodite: mœurs antiques (1896) after the Greek goddess.[322] The novel enjoyed widespread commercial success,[322] but scandalized French audiences due to its sensuality and its decadent portrayal of Greek society.[322]
In the early twentieth century, stories of Aphrodite were used byfeminist poets,[323] such asAmy Lowell andAlicia Ostriker.[324] Many of these poems dealt with Aphrodite's legendary birth from the foam of the sea.[323] Other feminist writers, includingClaude Cahun,Thit Jensen, andAnaïs Nin also made use of the myth of Aphrodite in their writings.[325] Ever since the publication ofIsabel Allende's bookAphrodite: A Memoir of the Senses in 1998, the name "Aphrodite" has been used as a title for dozens of books dealing with all topics even superficially connected to her domain.[326] Frequently these books do not even mention Aphrodite,[326] or mention her only briefly, but make use of her name as a selling point.[327]
Modern worship
In 1938,Gleb Botkin, a Russian immigrant to the United States, founded theChurch of Aphrodite, aneopagan religion centered around the worship of amother goddess, whom its practitioners identified as Aphrodite.[328][329] The Church of Aphrodite's theology was laid out in the bookIn Search of Reality, published in 1969, two years before Botkin's death.[330] The book portrayed Aphrodite in a drastically different light than the one in which the Greeks envisioned her,[330] instead casting her as "the sole Goddess of a somewhat Neoplatonic Pagan monotheism".[330] It claimed that the worship of Aphrodite had been brought to Greece by themystic teacherOrpheus,[330] but that the Greeks had misunderstood Orpheus's teachings and had not realized the importance of worshipping Aphrodite alone.[330]
Aphrodite is a major deity inWicca,[331][332] a contemporary nature-basedsyncretic Neopagan religion.[333] Wiccans regard Aphrodite as one aspect of theGoddess[332] and she is frequently invoked by name duringenchantments dealing with love and romance.[334][335] Wiccans regard Aphrodite as the ruler of human emotions, erotic spirituality, creativity, and art.[331] As one of the twelve Olympians, Aphrodite is a major deity withinHellenismos (Hellenic Polytheistic Reconstructionism),[336][337] a Neopagan religion which seeks to authentically revive and recreate the religion of ancient Greece in the modern world.[338][better source needed] Unlike Wiccans, Hellenists are usually strictly polytheistic or pantheistic.[339][better source needed] Hellenists venerate Aphrodite primarily as the goddess of romantic love,[337][better source needed] but also as a goddess of sexuality, the sea, and war.[337][better source needed] Her many epithets include "Sea Born", "Killer of Men", "She upon the Graves", "Fair Sailing", and "Ally in War".[337][better source needed]
The statuette portrays Aphrodite on the point of untying the laces of the sandal on her left foot, under which a small Eros squats, touching the sole of her shoe with his right hand. The Goddess is leaning with her left arm (the hand is missing) against a figure of Priapus standing, naked and bearded, positioned on a small cylindrical altar while, next to her left thigh, there is a tree trunk over which the garment of the Goddess is folded. Aphrodite, almost completely naked, wears only a sort of costume, consisting of a corset held up by two pairs of straps and two short sleeves on the upper part of her arm, from which a long chain leads to her hips and forms a star-shaped motif at the level of her navel. The 'bikini', for which the statuette is famous, is obtained by the masterly use of the technique of gilding, also employed on her groin, in the pendant necklace and in the armilla on Aphrodite's right wrist, as well as on Priapus' phallus. Traces of the red paint are evident on the tree trunk, on the short curly hair gathered back in a bun and on the lips of the Goddess, as well as on the heads of Priapus and the Eros. Aphrodite's eyes are made of glass paste, while the presence of holes at the level of the ear-lobes suggest the existence of precious metal ear-rings which have since been lost. An interesting insight into the female ornaments of Roman times, the statuette, probably imported from the area of Alexandria, reproduces with a few modifications the statuary type of Aphrodite untying her sandal, known from copies in bronze and terracotta.
For extensive research and a bibliography on the subject, see: de Franciscis 1963, p. 78, tav. XCI; Kraus 1973, nn. 270–71, pp. 194–95; Pompei 1973, n. 132; Pompeji 1973, n. 199, pp. 142 e 144; Pompeji 1974, n. 281, pp. 148–49; Pompeii A.D. 79 1976, p. 83 e n. 218; Pompeii A.D. 79 1978, I, n. 208, pp. 64–65, II, n. 208, p. 189; Döhl, Zanker 1979, p. 202, tav. Va; Pompeii A.D. 79 1980, p. 79 e n. 198; Pompeya 1981, n. 198, p. 107; Pompeii lives 1984, fig. 10, p. 46; Collezioni Museo 1989, I, 2, n. 254, pp. 146–47; PPM II, 1990, n. 7, p. 532; Armitt 1993, p. 240; Vésuve 1995, n. 53, pp. 162–63; Vulkan 1995, n. 53, pp. 162–63; LIMC VIII, 1, 1997, p. 210, s.v. Venus, n. 182; LIMC VIII, 2, 1997, p. 144; LIMC VIII, 1, 1997, p. 1031, s.v. Priapos, n. 15; LIMC VIII, 2, 1997, p. 680; Romana Pictura 1998, n. 153, p. 317 e tav. a p. 245; Cantarella 1999, p. 128; De Caro 1999, pp. 100–01; De Caro 2000, p. 46 e tav. a p. 62; Pompeii 2000, n. 1, p. 62.
^Anteros was originally born from the sea alongside Aphrodite; only later became her son.
^This claim is made atSymposium 180e. It is hard to interpret the role of the various speeches in the dialogue and their relationship to what Plato actually thought; therefore, it is controversial whether Plato, in fact, believed this claim about Aphrodite. See Frisbee Sheffield, "The Role of the Earlier Speeches in the "Symposium": Plato's Endoxic Method?" in J. H. Lesher, Debra Nails & Frisbee C. C. Sheffield (eds.),Plato's Symposium: Issues in Interpretation and Reception. Harvard University Press (2006).
^Pausanias,Periegesis vi.25.1;Aphrodite Pandemos was represented in the same temple riding on a goat, symbol of purely carnal rut: "The meaning of the tortoise and of the he-goat I leave to those who care to guess," Pausanias remarks. The image was taken up again after the Renaissance: seeAndrea Alciato,Emblemata / Les emblemes (1584).
^Bremmer, Jan N. (1996). "mythology". In Hornblower & Spawforth (ed.).The Oxford Classical Dictionary (Third ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 1018–1020.ISBN019866172X.
^Reeve, Michael D. (1996). "scholia". In Hornblower & Spawforth (ed.).The Oxford Classical Dictionary (Third ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 1368.ISBN019866172X.
^Eros is usually mentioned as the son of Aphrodite but in other versions he is a parentlessprimordial.
^Diodorus Siculus,4.6.5: "... Hermaphroditus, as he has been called, who was born of Hermes and Aphrodite and received a name which is a combination of those of both his parents."
^Pindar,Olympian7.14 makes her the daughter of Aphrodite, but does not mention any father.Herodorus, fr. 62 Fowler (Fowler 2001,p. 253), apud schol. PindarOlympian 7.24–5; Fowler 2013,p. 591 make her the daughter of Aphrodite and Poseidon.
^According toHesiod,Theogony927–929, Hephaestus was produced by Hera alone, with no father, see Gantz, p. 74.
^According toHesiod'sTheogony886–890, of Zeus' children by his seven wives, Athena was the first to be conceived, but the last to be born; Zeus impregnated Metis then swallowed her, later Zeus himself gave birth to Athena "from his head", see Gantz, pp. 51–52, 83–84.
^According toHesiod,Theogony183–200, Aphrodite was born from Uranus' severed genitals, see Gantz, pp. 99–100.
Homer,The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PhD in two volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Evelyn-White, Hugh,The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Homeric Hymns. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914.
Euripides,The Complete Greek Drama', edited by Whitney J. Oates and Eugene O'Neill, Jr. in two volumes. 2.The Phoenissae, translated by E. P. Coleridge. New York. Random House. 1938.
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Pausanias,Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Black, Jeremy; Green, Anthony (1992),Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary, London: The British Museum Press,ISBN0-7141-1705-6
Boedeker, Deborah (1974),Aphrodite's Entry into Greek Epic, Leiden, Germany: Brill, pp. 15–16[ISBN missing]
Bonner, Campbell (1949), "KESTOS IMAS and the Saltire of Aphrodite",The American Journal of Philology,70 (1), The Johns Hopkins University Press:1–6,doi:10.2307/290961,JSTOR290961
Graz, F. (1984), Eck, W. (ed.), "Women, War, and Warlike Divinities",Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik,55 (55), Bonn: Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH: 250,JSTOR20184039
Hard, Robin,The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004,ISBN9780415186360.Google Books.
Hiscock, Andrew (2017), ""Suppose thou dost defend me from what is past": Shakespeare'sVenus and Adonis andThe Rape of Lucrece and the appetite for ancient memory", in Hiscock, Andrew; Wilder, Lina Perkins (eds.),The Routledge Handbook of Shakespeare and Memory, New York and London: Routledge,ISBN978-1-315-74594-7
Pirenne-Delforge, Vinciane (1994),L'Aphrodite grecque: contribution à l'étude de ses cultes et de sa personnalité dans le panthéon archaïque et classique, Athènes: Centre international d'étude de la religion grecque antique (Kernos. Supplément; 4
West, M. L. (2000), "The Name of Aphrodite",Glotta,76 (1./2. H), Göttingen, Germany: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht (GmbH & Co. KG):134–38,JSTOR40267103
Witczak, Krzysztof Tomasz[in Polish] (1993), Lambert Isebaert (ed.), "Greek Aphrodite and her Indo-European origins",Miscellanea Linguistica Graeco-Latina, Namur: Société des études classiques:115–23[ISBN missing]
Witt, Reginald Eldred (1997),Isis in the Ancient World, Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press,ISBN0-8018-5642-6
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External links
Look upἈφροδίτη in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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