One goddess with whom almost everyone is familiar is Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, beauty, and sexual desire. But where Aphrodite came from remains a matter of great debate.
Some believe that she was formed from seafoam, fully-grown, a nubile young beauty who simply bypassed childhood altogether. Others, however, say she was the daughter of Zeus and Dione or Zeus and Thalassa. This seems to make some sense, because Zeus was constantly scolding and punishing her as a father might do with his child.
Aphrodite was a handful to say the least. All men desired her and Zeus was afraid that she would create havoc among the gods, with all of them vying for her hand in marriage. To avoid this, he promised her to Hephaestus, blacksmith of the gods.
The pairing was not popular with Aphrodite who was mischievous, glamorous, and every bit a party girl. She couldn’t imagine life tied to a rather unattractive, dirty, god who she would see very little of since he was always working. So Aphrodite learned how play behind her husband’s back.
By all accounts, Hephaetus was a loving husband at first, but he eventually felt the angry sting of jealousy. Trying desperately to hold on to his prize, he used every ounce of his considerable skills to make Aphrodite the very best jewelry and accessories. He even made her a girdle of pure gold, which was a bit of mistake. For when she wore it, no man could resist her. The problem was, men didn’t do much resisting of her charms in the first place.
Aphrodite’s lovers were numerous and included both gods and mortals. They included:
Adonis. Originally meant to be a punishment against Myrrah, for her disdain of Aphrodite, the resulting child Adonis was so beautiful that the goddess fell immediately in love with him. She gave the baby to Persophone to protect and raise but the queen of the underworld also fell for the young man.
Eventually Zeus interceded, judging that Adonis would spend one-third of the year with Aphrodite, one-third of the year with Persophone, and one-third of the year wherever he chose (which was usually with Aphrodite). However, her young lover was eventually killed by a jealous Ares who transformed himself into a wild boar to strike at his human rival.
Anchises. Zeus, in an effort to punish Aphrodite for her numerous affairs, caused her to fall in love with a mortal named Anchises. He became the father of her son, Aeneas, who was a hero during the Trojan War and afterward, as well as the founder of Italy and a long line of Roman emperors.
Ares. By all accounts, Aphrodite’s most passionate lover, the god of war also fathered children with her. Legend says that Hephaestus caught wind of his wife’s affair with Ares and managed to catch them in bed, trapping them within a cage of his making. He then brought the other gods and goddesses together to make sport of them; an act that Zeus found totally humiliating and which forced him to take harsh actions against his wayward daughter.
Dionysos. The god of wine, supposedly only mated with the goddess after having a bit too much of his own wine. She was highly displeased that he didn’t remember their encounter and caused the god much grief over the years.
Hermes. Another of her young lovers, the messenger gods, actively sought Aphrodite’s affections and was successful in obtaining them, after a fashion. Although Aphrodite admitted that she didn’t love the young god, she considered him a decent distraction whenever Ares was unavailable.
Although she was certainly guilty, Aphrodite should not be dismissed as just a goddess of petty physical desires. She was, in truth, much more than that. She was a powerful goddess and one that believed in the value of true love. Mankind itself might not have survived without the goddess, for she inspired true love, which usually led to marriage and procreation. In that respect, Aphrodite could be called the mother of humankind.
Although it is true that Aphrodite didn’t always use her powers to the best end, her intentions were often in the right place. Such was the case with Pygmalion.
The sculptor wanted desperately to fall in love and get married but no mortal woman stirred his desire. When pressed by Aphrodite to describe his perfect woman, he made a statue that resembled Aphrodite herself, which he named her Galatea. But he fell in love with his own creation. Aphrodite took pity on him and brought his love to life. The couple married and lived happily ever after.
There were also many times when Aphrodite’s heart was not in the right place. Her indirect involvement in the Trojan War would be a good example. Everything started at a wedding when the god Eris, god of strife, threw a golden apple into the middle of the wedding guests. Paris, the Trojan prince, caught the apple that read “for the fairest of all.”
Hera, the queen of the gods insisted that he give the apple to her. After all, her could be fairer than the queen? Athena, goddess of wisdom, insisted the apple was hers. Of course Aphrodite, being the goddess of beauty, felt the prize should be hers.
With Paris unable to make up his mind, the three goddesses each offered him a bribe. Aphrodite’s bribe was that she would give him the most beautiful mortal woman as his wife. She gave no thought to the fact that Helen was already the wife of King Menelaus, ruler of Sparta. She wanted the apple and was determined to get it.
After one glance at Helen’s beauty, Paris was lost in love and, of course, awarded the apple to Aphrodite. Paris eventually ended up kidnapping Helen in order to make her his own. This event kicked off the long and bloody Trojan War.
Paris and Helen were not the only “love match” made by Aphrodite. She helped Meilanion gain Atalanta by using golden apples to distract her so that he could overtake her in the foot race. She also used her son Eros (also known as Cupid) to strike Medea with a love arrow so that she would fall for Jason of the Argonauts; delaying his search for the golden fleece.
Although the goddess had many children by both gods and men, by all accounts she was closest to her son Eros who became known as the god of love; using his arrows to make matches that pleased him and the gods. His half-brother, Anteros – – a son of Aphrodite’s liaison with the god of war, Ares, was also used to do her bidding. She used him to punish humans who misused or abused love.
An example of this was the punishment levied upon Eros, the goddess of the dawn. When Eros made a venture toward Ares, one of Aphrodite’s many paramours, Anteros was called upon to punish her. He gave her an insatiable appetite for love (nymphomania, if you will). This punishment was profound not only for Eros, but also for her many mates. Some she abducted and held against their will.
Aphrodite was not pleased when her son fell for the lovely mortal, Psyche; a maiden he was supposed to make fall in love with a hideous monster. She especially didn’t like that her son, like many of the mortals who were supposed to worship her, considered Psyche more beautiful than Aphrodite herself. She plagued the couple and almost succeeded in keeping them apart. (See my article on Cupid and Psyche for a detailed story.)
In art, Aphrodite was always shown as a young maiden of great beauty. She was generally pictured with flowers and vegetation to show her connection to fertility. Doves were also often pictured with her as well as geese, as these were her sacred birds. The Renaissance artist Botticelli painted the most famous picture of the goddess. In it she is shown springing from a giant scallop shell. On the island of Cyprus, where it is believed the goddess first stepped on earth, these shells were considered sacred.
The rose has always been Aphrodite’s flower. The scent of myrtle was her chosen “perfume.” In ancient Greece brides would were wreaths of myrtle and carry roses on their wedding day in tribute to the goddess of love. Certain dishes, particularly those that sprang from the sea like oysters, became known as aphrodisiacs. They were believed to have the power to promote romance and love.
Although Aphrodite was a goddess of questionable virtue in some respects, her passion for love and romance certainly gave mankind one of its most precious gifts. Each time a baby is born, we must remember that, if not for Aphrodite, such miracles might never occur.
