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We Goddesses: Athena, Aphrodite, Hera
Of all the goddesses of ancient mythology, none was more widely venerated than the goddess of love. The Greeks
called her Aphrodite. The Romans worshiped her as Venus.
In Homer's 'Iliad' Aphrodite is said to be the daughter of Zeus and Dione, a Titan goddess. Other stories tell
how she sprang, full-grown, from the foam of the sea near the island Cythera. (Aphros is Greek for "foam.")
From there Zephyrus, the west wind, carried her gently on a shell to Cyprus, which was always regarded as her real
home. There the Hours met her, clothed her, and brought her to the gods.
Every god--even Zeus himself--wanted this beautiful, golden goddess as his wife. Aphrodite was too proud and rejected
them all. To punish her, Zeus gave her to Hephaestus (Vulcan in Roman mythology), the lame and ugly god
of the forge. This good-natured craftsman built her a splendid palace on Cyprus. Aphrodite soon left him for Ares
(Mars), the handsome god of war. One of their children was Eros (Cupid), the winged god of love.
Always eager to help lovers in distress, Aphrodite was equally quick to punish those who resisted the call of love.
Cupid shot golden arrows into the hearts of those his mother wanted to unite in marriage. Aphrodite also had a
magic girdle that made its wearer irresistible, and she sometimes loaned it to others. Under her influence Zeus
more than once fell in love with mortal maidens. Afraid of being mocked someday by Aphrodite, Zeus decreed she
should lose her heart to Anchises, a shepherd of Troy. From this union was born Aeneas, the mythical ancestor of
the Roman people (see Aeneas).
Aphrodite helped Paris of Troy win the beautiful Helen of Greece (see Trojan War).
In the war that followed she proved to be a so-called "coward goddess." When Aeneas was wounded by Diomedes,
she lifted him up in her soft arms and bore him from the field. Diomedes, advised by Athena that he could attack
Aphrodite with safety, thrust at her with his spear and cut her hand. Aphrodite fled weeping to Mount Olympus to
be healed and comforted.
Aphrodite was worshiped chiefly as the goddess of human love. She was also widely venerated as a nature goddess.
Because she came from the sea, sailors prayed to her to calm the wind and the waves.
The poets of Greece and Rome never tired of singing the praises of the love goddess. Their sculptors carved countless
figures of her. The most celebrated statue of Aphrodite in ancient times was that carved by Praxiteles at Cnidus,
on the coast of Asia Minor. This has never been found by archaeologists. The most famous one that remains today
is the beautiful 'Venus de Milo', now in the Louvre in Paris.
In the 'Iliad' Aphrodite is called the Cyprian or Cytherea. She is also referred to as Dionaea, after her mother,
or even Dione. Other names for her are Aphrogenia, Anadyomene, and Astarte. It is often written Ashtoreth, particularly
in Bible references to Philistine idols. The name may have been derived from that of the Assyrian goddess Ishtar.
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