Interesting Facts about Aphrodite

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 Aphrodite refers to the Greek Goddess of love and beauty. Legend is that this goddess arose from the foam created by the waves of the sea. She is an enchanting beauty who can incite feelings of love or lust in whomsoever she desires. Aphrodite’s Roman counterpart is Venus.

Some of the interesting facts about Aphrodite are:

  • Aphrodite has a special girdle that she wears at all times around her waist; something which is capable of evoking the compelling feeling of love in people who see her or come under her spell. The girdle was made for her by her husband.

  • Apart from the legend of her having risen from the foam of the sea, Homer’s epic, the Iliad mentions that she was daughter of Zeus and Dione the mother goddess.

  • Hesiod’s Theogony states that Aphrodite rose from the sea when Uranus was castrated by his son Cronus and his genitals was thrown into the sea.

  • Hephaestus was Aphrodite’s husband who is considered to be a lame smith-god to whom she is not faithful at all. The marriage is believed to have been done by Zeus who was worried that her beauty would create a fight amongst Gods as to who would marry her. Aphrodite has many lovers, her favourite among which is Ares, the God of war.

  • Aphrodite also possesses many mortal lovers, the most famous and well-known being Adonis.

  • Aphrodite had found Adonis as a child who was the son of Myrrha. She had handed him over to Persephone to raise him. After he grew up, Aphrodite came back to claim him leading to conflict between the two women. Zeus intervened asking the women to share Adonis for 6 months at a time.

  • She has sons with her Trojan lover Anchises, four of whom are Eros, Anteros, Aeneas and Hymenaios.

  • Aphrodisiac has also been drawn in comparison with similar gods of the Mesopotamians, Ishtar, Syro, Palestinian goddess Ashtart and even Cupid.

  • Various ancient centres of Greece, especially that of Corinth and Athens continues to celebrate the Aphrodisiac festival.

  • Aphrodite’s sacred animals include the dove, sparrows, horses and swans, all of which are now considered to be symbolic of love in some form or the other.

  • In all forms of legends and mythology, Aphrodite is depicted to have had no childhood but being directly born as a nubile and an extremely desirable adult.

  • Homer’s Odyssey holds Aprhodite responsible for causing the Trojan War. She was the one for whom Paris became inflamed with desire for the Helen of Troy being compelled to abduct her.

  • Greek art did not fully depict Aphrodite until late 350 BC. It began after the first sensational statue was carved at one of her temples in Knidos by sculptor Praxiteles. He had represented Aphrodite in art as naked for the first time.

  • The original statue of Aphrodite no longer survives to this day but is believed to have created renown over the world and inspired later artists and sculptors to take up similar representations.

Aphrodite has always been a favourite subject for many writers and poets. She is even found in the tale of Cupid and Psyche delivering the ultimate message that true love conquers all. Aprhodite’s modern version can be found through pop culture’s ‘˜Wonder Woman’.

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