Aphrodite

(Foam Born) Greek Goddess of love, beauty, and fertility. One of the 12 Olympian Gods; identified with the Roman Venus and, much earlier, with the Near Eastern fertility goddesses Astarte and Ishtar. Aphrodite was an ancient deity, an Earth Mother whose domain embraced all creation, vegetable and animal as well as human. She represented sacred love and marriage as well as sensuality and desire. Aphrodite was so beautiful that all men who saw her loved her. The origins of Aphrodite are obscure. She is called "Foam Born" in an attempt to make her the offspring of Gaia (Earth) and Uranus (Heaven), who was cast into the sea after being mutilated by his son, Cronus. She was supposed to have emerged from the sea foam that had formed around the remains of Uranus. The myth of Aphrodite as a descendant of the Titans probably refers to a goddess who preceded the peoples later called Greeks. When the migrating tribes settled in Greece, they adopted Aphrodite into the Olympian family by making her the daughter of Zeus and Dione. According to Homer, in the Iliad, Aphrodite was the daughter of Zeus and Dione. Also according to Homer, Aphrodite was married to the smith god, Hephaestus. But Aphrodite was faithless and had many lovers. The Loves of Aphrodite Aphrodite, goddess of love, was married to Hephaestus, but she had many other loves, among them Ares, god of war. She bore him Phobos (Fear), Deimos (Terror), Harmonia (Peace or Concord) and, in some accounts, Eros (Love). Although Hephaestus was a god, he proved himself capable of subtle revenge on Aphrodite and Ares by snaring them in a skillfully crafted golden net. Poseidon, god of the sea, fell in love with Aphrodite when he saw her entrapped in the golden net. With Poseidon, the goddess had two or three sons, Rhodus and Herophilus, and, some say, Eryx. With Hermes, a son of Zeus, Aphrodite bore Hermaphroditus and, some say, Eros. With Dionysus, god of the vine, another son of Zeus, she bore Priapus. With the Trojan mortal Anchises, she bore Aeneas. With another mortal, the beautiful Adonis, Aphrodite spent the months of the year that symbolized fruitful spring and summer. Some accounts say that she bore him a son, Golgos, and a daughter, Beroe. From the legend of Aphrodite and Adonis comes the word aphrodisiac, meaning a potion or other agent that induces love. Aphrodite was also beloved by Pygmalion, who created a statue of her so beautiful that he fell in love with it. And there were many other lovers, for Aphrodite inspired love in all who saw her. Aphrodite and Eros Aphrodite was often depicted with the infant god, Eros (Love), who some said was her son with Hermes. However, mythologists believe that Eros was an ancient god, an adult rather than a child. He was to become the plump, babyish Cupid (his Roman name), companion or son of Aphrodite, only in later times. Aphrodite and Paris The tale of Aphrodite and the young mortal hero Paris is told in Homer's Iliad. Paris was supposed to choose the fairest among three Olympian gods: Hera, Athene, and Aphrodite. Each goddess offered Paris a bribe. Aphrodite offered him the love of the most beautiful woman in the world, and Paris awarded Aphrodite a golden apple as reward. The beautiful woman turned out to be Helen of Troy. The love affair of Paris and Helen was the leading cause of the Trojan War. Aphrodite and Art Aphrodite was worshiped as a great beauty as well as a goddess of fertility. She is the subject of some of the world's art masterpieces, in which she is usually known by her Roman name, Venus. The most famous statue of her was by the Greek Praxiteles (c. 350 b.c.). The original has been lost but there is a Roman copy in Athens, and the Venus de Milo, at the Louvre, in Paris, France.