I have been thinking about this goddess recently. And, I am curious what Et=
idorpha - has with Aphrodite?..Queen?
Greg
In Greek mythology, Aphrodite is the goddess of love, beauty and sexual rap=
ture. According to Hesiod, she was born when Uranus (the father of the gods)=
was castrated by his son Cronus. Cronus threw the severed genitals into the=
ocean which began to churn and foam about them. From the aphros ("sea foam"=
) arose Aphrodite, and the sea carried her to either Cyprus or Cythera. Henc=
e she is often referred to as Kypris and Cytherea. Homer calls her a daughte=
r of Zeus and Dione.
After her birth, Zeus was afraid that the gods would fight over Aphrodite's=
hand in marriage so he married her off to the smith god Hephaestus, the ste=
adiest of the gods. He could hardly believe his good luck and used all his s=
kills to make the most lavish jewels for her. He made her a girdle of finely=
wrought gold and wove magic into the filigree work. That was not very wise =
of him, for when she wore her magic girdle no one could resist her, and she =
was all too irresistible already. She loved gaiety and glamour and was not a=
t all pleased at being the wife of sooty, hard-working Hephaestus.
Aphrodite loved and was loved by many gods and mortals. Among her mortal lo=
vers, the most famous was perhaps Adonis. Some of her sons are Eros, Anteros=
, Hymenaios and Aeneas (with her Trojan lover Anchises). She is accompanied =
by the Graces.
Her festival is the Aphrodisiac which was celebrated in various centers of =
Greece and especially in Athens and Corinth. Her priestesses were not prosti=
tutes but women who represented the goddess and sexual intercourse with them=
was considered just one of the methods of worship. Aphrodite was originally=
an old-Asian goddess, similar to the Mesopotamian Ishtar and the Syro-Pales=
tinian goddess Ashtart. Her attributes are a.o. the dolphin, the dove, the s=
wan, the pomegranate and the lime tree.
In Roman mythology Venus is the goddess of love and beauty and Cupid is lov=
e's messenger.
Related thread: Aphrodite — The Etidorhpa/Aphrodite point raised in this topic