|
ISBN 0-8018-5642-6</ref>
== ชีวิตรัก ==
เทพีแอโฟรไดทีเป็นหนึ่งในเทพีที่เลื่องชื่อด้านความสัมพันธ์เชิงชู้สาว พระนางได้รับบัญชาจากซูสให้สมรสกับเทพฮิฟีสตัสผู้อัปลักษณ์และพิการ ความสัมพันธ์ระหว่างเทพทั้งสอไม่ได้ดำเนินไปอย่างราบรื่น เทพีแอโฟรไดทีทรงมีความสัมพันธ์กับเทพและมนุษย์เป็นจำนวนมาก
หนึ่งในชู้รักของเทพีแอโฟรไดทีทีคือเทพแอรีส เทพแห่งสงครามผู้เป็นพระโอรสอีกองค์ของซูสและฮีรา เทพฮิฟีสตัสทรงดัดหลังทั้งคู่โดยวางกับดักตาข่ายไว้ที่เตียงนอน เมื่อถึงเวลาเช้าที่แอรีสจะหลบออกไปจากห้องบรรทมของแอโฟรไดที ทั้งเทพแอรีสและเทพีแอโฟรไดทีจึงรู้ตัวว่าติดกับดัก และต้องทนอับอายต่อการที่ถูกเทพทั้งมวลมองดูร่างเปลือยเปล่าของทั้งคู่อยู่เป็นเวลานาน
==Etymology==
''อโฟรไดท์'' perhaps altered after ''aphrós'' ({{lang|el|ἀφρός}}) "foam", stems from the more archaic [[Cretan]] ''Aphordíta'' and Cypriot ''Aphorodíta'', and was probably ultimately borrowed from Cypriot [[Phoenician language|Phoenician]].<ref>Robert Beekes, ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', vol. 1, (Leiden: Brill, 2010), 179.</ref> [[Herodotus]] and [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] recorded that Aphrodite's oldest non-Greek temple lay in the Syrian city of [[Ashkelon|Ascalon]] where she was known as ''Ourania'', an obvious reference to [[Astarte]]. This suggests that Aphrodite's cult located at [[Cythera (island)|Cythera]]-[[Cyprus]] came from the Phoenicians. The fact that one of Aphrodite's chief centers of worship remained on the southwestern Cypriot coast settled by Phoenicians, where the goddess had long been worshiped as ''[[Astarte|Ashtart]]'' (ʻštrt), points to the transmission of Aphrodite's original cult from Phoenicia to Cyprus then to mainland Greece.<ref>Pausanias 1.14.6-7, W.S. Jones (trans.), Pausianas: Descriptions of Greece (London, 1931).</ref> So far, however, attempts to derive the name from Aphrodite's Semitic precursor have been inconclusive.
== บุตร ==
A number of [[folk etymology|folk etymologies]] have been proposed through the ages. [[Hesiod]] derives ''Aphrodite'' from ''aphrós'' "foam," interpreting the name as "risen from the foam".<ref>Hesiod, ''[[Theogony]]'', 176ff.</ref><ref>Kretschmer ''KZ'' 33 (1895): 267.</ref> Janda (2010), accepting this as genuine, claims the foam birth myth as an [[Proto-Indo-European mythology|Indo-European]] mytheme. Janda intereprets the name as a compound ''aphrós'' "foam" + ''déatai'' "[she] seems, shines" ([[infinitive]] *''déasthai''<ref>Pocket Oxford Classical Greek Dictionary (2002)<br>Oxford Grammar Of Classical Greek (2001)</ref>), meaning "she who shines from the foam [ocean]", supposedly a byname of [[Eos]], the [[Hausos|dawn goddess]].<ref name="Janda">Janda, Michael, ''Die Musik nach dem Chaos'', Innsbruck 2010, p. 65</ref> Likewise, Mallory and Adams (1997)<ref>Mallory, J.P. and D.Q. Adams. ''[[Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture]]''. London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishing, 1997.</ref> propose an Indo-European compound ''{{PIE|*abʰor-}}'' "very" and ''{{PIE|*dʰei-}}'' "to shine", also referring to Eos. However, etymologies based on comparison with Eos are unlikely since Aphrodite's attributes are entirely different from those of Eos (or Vedic Ushas).<ref>Charles Penglase, ''Greek Myths and Mesopotamia: Parallels and Influence in the Homeric Hymns and Hesiod'' (Routledge, 1997), 164; citing Deborah Boedeker, ''Aphrodite's Entry into Greek Epic'' (Leiden: Brill, 1974), 15-6.</ref> Finally, the medieval ''[[Etymologicum Magnum]]'' offers a highly contrived folk etymology, deriving ''Aphrodite'' from the compound ''habrodíaitos'' ({{lang|grc|ἁβροδίαιτος}}), "she who lives delicately", from ''habrós'' + ''díaita''. The alteration from ''b'' to ''ph'' is explained as a "familiar" characteristic of Greek "obvious from the [[Ancient Macedonian language|Macedonians]]",<ref>Etymologicum Magnum, Ἀφροδίτη</ref> despite of course that the name cannot be of Macedonian origin.
แอโฟรไดทีมีบุตรกับแอรีส 3 องค์ คือ
# [[เอียรอส]] กามเทพ
# [[แอนติรอส]] ผู้เป็นเทพแห่งรักที่ไม่สมหวัง การรักตอบ และเป็นผู้ลงโทษผู้ที่ดูถูกความรัก
# [[ฮาร์โมเนีย]] ผู้เป็นเทพีแห่งความปรองดอง
# [[บาส เซอร์รี่]] เทพีผู้คุมครองโสเภณี
บุตรของแอโฟรไดทีกับเฮอร์มีส มี 1 องค์ คือ [[เฮอร์แมฟระไดทัส]]
นอกจากนี้แอโฟรไดทียังมีบุตรเจ้าชายแอนคีซีสแห่งโทรจันซึ่งเป็นมนุษย์ 1 คน คือ [[อีเนียส]] ผู้เป็นกำลังสำคัญในสงครามแห่งทรอย
A number of improbable non-Greek etymologies have been suggested in scholarship. One Semitic etymology compares Aphrodite to the Assyrian ''barīrītu'', the name of a female demon that appears in Middle Babylonian and Late Babylonian texts.<ref>see Chicago Assyrian Dictionary vol. 2 p. 111</ref> Hammarström (1921)<ref>M. Hammarström, ''Glotta: Zeitschrift für griechische und lateinische Sprache'' 11 (1921): 215f.</ref> looks to [[Etruscan language|Etruscan]], comparing ''(e)prϑni'' "lord", an Etruscan honorific loaned into Greek as [[Prytaneis|πρύτανις]]. This would make the theonym in origin an honorific, "the lady". [[Hjalmar Frisk]] and Robert Beekes (2010) rejects this etymology as implausible, especially since Aphrodite actually appears in Etruscan in the borrowed form ''Apru'' (from Greek ''Aphrō'', clipped form of ''Aphrodite'').
== ตำนาน ==
==Mythology==
แอโฟรไดทีเป็นเทพีที่มีความเกี่ยวข้องกับตำนาน เรื่องเล่า และมหากาพย์มากมาย ไม่ว่าจะเป็นมหากาพย์โอดิสซีย์ และอีเลียด ตำนานดอกกุหลาบ ตำนานดอกนาซิสซา ฯลฯ
ในมหากาพย์อีเลียด ของโฮเมอร์ แอโฟรไดทีเป็นสาเหตุหลักที่ทำให้เกิดสงครามแห่งทรอย นางได้ทำให้ปารีสหลงรักเฮเลน ผู้หญิงที่สวยที่สุดในโลกซึ่งเป็นมเหสีของกษัตริย์เมเนลาอุส ทำให้ชาวกรีกทั้งหลายมุ่งหน้าไปยังทรอยเพื่อชิงตัวเฮเลนคืนมา
=== Birth ===
[[File:Sandro Botticelli - La nascita di Venere - Google Art Project - edited.jpg|thumb|410px|''[[The Birth of Venus (Botticelli)|The Birth of Venus]]'' by [[Sandro Botticelli]], ''circa'' 1485.]]
Aphrodite is usually said to have been born near her chief center of worship, [[Paphos]], on the island of [[Cyprus]], which is why she is sometimes called "Cyprian", especially in the poetic works of [[Sappho]]. However, other versions of her myth have her born near the island of [[Cythera (island)|Cythera]], hence another of her names, "Cytherea".<ref>Homer, ''Odyssey'' viii. 288; Herodotus i. 105; Pausanias iii. 23. § 1; Anacreon v. 9; Horace, ''Carmina'' i. 4. 5.</ref> Cythera was a stopping place for trade and culture between [[Crete]] and the [[Peloponnese|Peloponesus]], so these stories may preserve traces of the migration of Aphrodite's cult from the [[Levant|Middle East]] to mainland [[Greece]].
ส่วนใหญ่แล้วกวีจะมอบบทบาทของหญิงสาวขี้อิจฉาที่ไร้เหตุผลให้กับแอโฟรไดที นางเป็นผู้ลบปัญหาออกจากสมองของนักปราชญ์ บันดาลให้เกิดความรักที่บ้าคลั่งและเป็นไปไม่ได้ นำความทุกข์ใหญ่หลวงมาสู่คู่รักที่นางไม่โปรดปราน ซึ่งหนึ่งในนั้นคือ เอียรอส ลูกชายของนางกับไซคี
In the most famous version of her myth, her birth was the consequence of a castration: [[Cronus]] severed [[Uranus (mythology)|Uranus']] genitals and threw them behind him into the sea. The foam from his genitals gave rise to Aphrodite (hence her name, meaning "foam-arisen"), while the [[Erinyes]] (furies), and the [[Meliae]] emerged from the drops of his blood.<ref>{{cite book | title=The Greek Myths | publisher=Penguin Books | author=Graves, Robert | year=1960 | location=London | pages=37 | isbn=9780140171990}}</ref> [[Hesiod's Theogony|Hesiod]] states that the genitals "were carried over the sea a long time, and white foam arose from the immortal flesh; with it a girl grew." The girl, Aphrodite, floated ashore on a [[scallop]] shell. This iconic representation of Aphrodite as a mature "Venus rising from the sea" (''[[Venus Anadyomene]]''<ref>''Αναδυόμενη'' (''Anadyómenē''), "rising up".</ref>) was made famous in a much-admired painting by [[Apelles]], now lost, but described in the ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'' of [[Pliny the Elder]].
== อ้างอิง ==
[[File:Aphrodites Rock.jpg|thumb|right|250px|[[Petra tou Romiou]] ("The rock of the [[Greeks|Greek]]"), Aphrodite's legendary birthplace in [[Paphos]], Cyprus.]]
{{รายการอ้างอิง}}
{{คอมมอนส์-หมวดหมู่|Aphrodite|แอโฟรไดที}}
In another version of her origin,<ref>''[[Iliad]]'' (Book V)</ref> she was considered a daughter of Zeus and [[Dione (Titaness/Oceanid)|Dione]], the mother goddess whose oracle was at [[Dodona]]. Aphrodite herself was sometimes also referred to as "Dione". "Dione" seems to be a feminine form of "Dios", the [[genitive]] form case of [[Zeus]], and could be taken to mean simply "the goddess" in a generic sense. Aphrodite might, then, be an equivalent of [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]], the [[Earth Mother]], whom Homer relocated to Olympus.
{{เทพปกรณัมกรีก}}
In Homer, Aphrodite ventures into battle to protect her son, [[Aeneas]], is wounded by [[Diomedes]]k and returns to her mother to sink down at her knee and be comforted.
[[หมวดหมู่:เทพเจ้ากรีก]]
[[หมวดหมู่:วีนัส]]
===Adulthood===
{{โครงความเชื่อ}}
Aphrodite is consistently portrayed, in every image and story, as having had no childhood, and instead being born as a nubile, infinitely desirable adult. She is often depicted nude. In many of the later myths, she is portrayed as vain, ill-tempered and easily offended. Although she is married—she is one of the few gods in the [[List of Greek mythological characters|Greek Pantheon]] who is—she is frequently unfaithful to her husband.
Aphrodite's husband [[Hephaestus]] is one of the most even-tempered of the Hellenic deities, but in the Odyssey she is portrayed as preferring [[Ares]], the volatile god of war because she is attracted to his violent nature. Aphrodite is one of a few characters in the Odyssey whose actions are a major contributing cause of the [[Trojan War]]: she offers [[Helen of Troy]] to [[Paris (mythology)|Paris]], and as the goddess of desire, she is responsible for Paris becoming so inflamed with desire for Helen at first sight that he is moved to abduct her.
According to one version of Aphrodite's story, because of her immense beauty Zeus fears that the other gods will become violent with each other in their rivalry to possess her. To forestall this, he forces her to marry [[Hephaestus]], the dour, humorless god of smithing. In another version of the story, Aphrodite marries Hephaestus after his mother, [[Hera]] casts him off Olympus, deeming him too ugly and deformed to inhabit the home of the gods. His revenge is to trap his mother in a magic throne. In return for her release, he demands to be given Aphrodite's hand in marriage.
Hephaestus is overjoyed to be married to the goddess of beauty, and forges her beautiful jewelry, including the cestus, a [[girdle]] that makes her even more irresistible to men. Her unhappiness with her marriage causes Aphrodite to seek other male companionship, most often Ares, but also sometimes [[Adonis]].
===Adonis===
[[File:Venus and Adonis - Titian.png|thumb|370px|''Venus and Adonis'' by [[Titian]], ''circa'' 1554.]]
Aphrodite was [[Adonis]]' lover and a surrogate mother to him. [[Cinyras]], the King of [[Cyprus]], had an intoxicatingly beautiful daughter named [[Myrrha]]. When Myrrha's mother commits [[hubris]] against Aphrodite by claiming her daughter is more beautiful than the famed goddess, Myrrha is punished with a never-ending lust for her own father. Cinyras is repulsed by this, but Myrrha disguises herself as a prostitute, and secretly sleeps with her father at night.
Eventually, Myrrha becomes pregnant and is discovered by Cinyras. In a rage, he chases her out of the house with a knife. Myrrha flees from him, praying to the gods for mercy as she runs. The gods hear her plea, and change her into a myrrh tree so her father cannot kill her. Eventually, Cinyras takes his own life in an attempt to restore the family's honor.
Myrrha gives birth to a baby boy named Adonis. Aphrodite happens by the myrrh tree and, seeing him, takes pity on the infant. She places Adonis in a box, and takes him down to [[Hades]] so [[Persephone]] can care for him. Adonis grows into a strikingly handsome young man, and Aphrodite eventually returns for him. Persephone, however, is loath to give him up, and wishes Adonis would stay with her in the underworld. The two goddesses begin such a quarrel, Zeus is forced to intercede. He decrees that Adonis will spend a third of the year with Aphrodite, a third of the year with Persephone, and a third of the year with whomever he wishes. Adonis, of course, chooses Aphrodite.
Adonis begins his year on the earth with Aphrodite. One of his greatest passions is hunting, and although Aphrodite is not naturally a hunter, she takes up the sport just so she can be with him. They spend every waking hour with one another, and Aphrodite is enraptured with him. However, her anxiety begins to grow over her neglected duties, and she is forced to leave him for a short time. Before she leaves, she gives Adonis one warning: do not attack an animal which shows no fear. Adonis agrees to her advice, but, secretly doubting her skills as a huntress, quickly forgets her warning.
Not long after Aphrodite leaves, Adonis comes across an enormous wild boar, much larger than any he has ever seen. It is suggested that the boar is the god [[Ares]], one of Aphrodite's lovers made jealous through her constant doting on Adonis. Although boars are dangerous and will charge a hunter if provoked, Adonis disregards Aphrodite's warning and pursues the giant creature. Soon, however, Adonis is the one being pursued; he is no match for the giant boar.
In the attack, Adonis is [[castrated]] by the boar, and dies from a loss of blood. Aphrodite rushes back to his side, but she is too late to save him and can only mourn over his body. Wherever Adonis' blood falls, Aphrodite causes [[anemone]]s to grow in his memory. She vows that on the anniversary of his death, every year there will be a festival held in his honor.
On his death, Adonis goes back to the underworld, and Persephone is delighted to see him again. Eventually, Aphrodite realizes he is there, and rushes back to retrieve him. Again, she and Persephone bicker over who is allowed to keep Adonis until Zeus intervenes. This time, he says Adonis must spend six months with Aphrodite and six months with Persephone, the way it should have been in the first place.
===The Judgement of Paris===
{{Main|Judgement of Paris}}
[[File:Enrique Simonet - El Juicio de Paris - 1904.jpg|thumb|right||This painting shows [[Paris (mythology)|Paris]] surveying Aphrodite naked, with the other two goddesses watching nearby. This is one of the [[Judgement of Paris#Gallery|numerous works]] that depict the event. (''[[El Juicio de Paris (Simonet)|El Juicio de Paris]]'' by [[Enrique Simonet]], ''circa'' 1904)]]
The gods and goddesses, as well as various mortals, were invited to the marriage of [[Peleus]] and [[Thetis]] (the eventual parents of [[Achilles]]). Only the goddess [[Eris (mythology)|Eris]] (Discord) was not invited, but she arrived with a [[Apple of Discord|golden apple]] inscribed with the word ''kallistēi'' ("to the fairest one"), which she threw among the goddesses. Aphrodite, [[Hera]], and [[Athena]] all claimed to be the fairest, and thus the rightful owner of the apple.
The goddesses chose to place the matter before [[Zeus]], who, not wanting to favor one of the goddesses, put the choice into the hands of Paris. After bathing in the spring of [[Mount Ida]] (where [[Troy]] was situated), the goddesses appeared before Paris. Having been given permission by Zeus to set any conditions he saw fit, Paris required the goddesses to undress before him to be evaluated. (Alternatively, the goddesses themselves chose to disrobe.) Still, Paris could not decide, as all three were ideally beautiful, so the goddesses resorted to bribes.
Hera tried to bribe Paris with control over all [[Asia]] and [[Europe]], while Athena offered wisdom, fame, and glory in battle, and Aphrodite offered the most beautiful mortal woman in the world as a wife, and he accordingly chose her. This woman was Helen, who was, unfortunately for Paris, already married to King [[Menelaus]] of [[Sparta#Prehistory|Sparta]]. The other two goddesses were enraged by this, and through Helen's abduction by Paris, they brought about the [[Trojan War]].
===Consorts and children===
# [[Hephaestus]]
# [[Ares]]
## [[Phobos (mythology)|Phobos]]
## [[Deimos (mythology)|Deimos]]
## [[Harmonia (mythology)|Harmonia]]
## [[Adrestia]] (or [[Adrasteia]] (nymph) or [[Adrasteia (goddess)]])
## [[Erotes (mythology)|The Erotes]]
### [[Eros]]<ref name="eros"/>
### [[Anteros]]
### [[Himeros]]
### [[Pothos (mythology)|Pothos]]
# [[Poseidon]]
## [[Rhode (mythology)|Rhode]] (possibly)
# [[Hermes]]
## [[Tyche]] (possibly)
## [[Hermaphroditos]]
# [[Dionysus]]
## The [[Charites]] (Graces)
### [[Thalia (Grace)|Thalia]]
### [[Euphrosyne (mythology)|Euphrosyne]]
### [[Aglaea]]
## [[Priapus]] ([[Nota bene|N.B.]] Some say that Adonis, not Dionysus was the father of Priapus)<ref name=Graves70>{{cite book | title=The Greek Myths | publisher=Penguin Books | author=Graves, Robert | year=1960 | location=London | pages=70 | isbn=9780140171990}}</ref>
# Zeus
## Tyche (possibly)
#[[Adonis]]
##[[Beroe (mythology)|Beroe]]
##[[Golgos]]<ref name=Graves70 />
# [[Phaethon (son of Eos)]]
## Astynoos
# [[Anchises]]
## [[Aeneas]]
## Lyrus
# [[Butes]]
## [[Eryx]]
#unknown father
## Meligounis + several more unnamed daughters<ref>[[Hesychius of Alexandria]] s. v. Μελιγουνίς: "Meligounis: this is what the island [[Lipara]] was called. Also one of the daughters of Aphrodite."</ref>
## [[Peitho]]
===Other myths===
[[File:Turtle Aphrodite AO20126 mp3h9188.jpg|thumb|''Aphrodite Ourania'', draped rather than [[nude]], with her foot resting on a tortoise ([[Musée du Louvre]])]]
In one version of the story of [[Hippolytus (mythology)|Hippolytus]], she was the catalyst for his death. He scorned the worship of Aphrodite for [[Artemis]] and, in revenge, Aphrodite caused his stepmother, [[Phaedra (mythology)|Phaedra]], to fall in love with him, knowing Hippolytus would reject her.
In the most popular version of the story, as told in the play ''[[Hippolytus (play)|Hippolytus]]'' by [[Euripides]], Phaedra seeks revenge against Hippolytus by killing herself and, in her [[suicide note]], tells [[Theseus]], her husband and Hippolytus' father, that Hippolytus had raped her. Hippolytus was oath-bound not to mention Phaedra's love for him and nobly refused to defend himself despite the consequences.
Theseus then cursed his son, a curse [[Poseidon]] was bound to fulfill, so Hippolytus was laid low by a bull from the sea that caused his chariot-team to panic and wreck his vehicle. Hippolytus forgives his father before he dies and Artemis reveals the truth to Theseus before vowing to kill the one Aphrodite loves (Adonis) for revenge.
[[Glaucus (son of Sisyphus)|Glaucus]] of Corinth angered Aphrodite. When he was competing in the chariot race at the funeral games of King [[Pelias]] she drove his horses mad and they tore him apart. His ghost was said to frighten horses during the [[Isthmian Games]].<ref>[[Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' 250.3, 273.11; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Guide to Greece'' 6.20.19</ref>
In one Greek myth, Aphrodite placed the curse of snakes for hair and the stone-gaze upon [[Medusa]] and her sisters. Aphrodite was jealous of the three sisters' beauty, and she grew so jealous, she cursed them.
==Forms of Aphrodite==
{{About||the Amathusian Aphrodite|Aphroditus}}
[[File:The Birth of Venus by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1879).jpg|thumb|''[[The Birth of Venus (Bouguereau)|The Birth of Venus]]'' by [[William-Adolphe Bouguereau]], c. 1879]]
By the late 5th century BC, certain philosophers had begun to draw a distinction between two separate "Aphrodites" (as opposed to a single Aphrodite whose characteristics varied slightly in different local cults of the goddess): ''Aphrodite Ourania'', the celestial Aphrodite, born from the sea foam after Cronus castrated Uranus, and ''Aphrodite Pandemos'', the common Aphrodite "of all the folk", born from the union of Zeus and [[Dione (Titaness/Oceanid)|Dione]].<ref>E.g. [[Plato]], ''[[Symposium (Plato)|Symposium]]'' 181a-d.</ref> Among the [[neo-Platonist]]s and, later, their Christian interpreters, Aphrodite Ourania is associated with spiritual love, and Aphrodite Pandemos with physical love (desire). A representation of Aphrodite Ourania with her foot resting on a tortoise came to be seen as emblematic of discretion in conjugal love. (We know of this representation, said to have been a [[chryselephantine]] sculpture made by [[Phidias]] for [[Elis]], only from a parenthetical comment by the geographer [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]]).<ref>Pausanias, ''Periegesis'' vi.25.1; ''Aphrodite Pandemos'' was represented in the same temple riding on a goat, symbol of purely carnal rut: "The meaning of the tortoise and of the he-goat I leave to those who care to guess," Pausanias remarks. The image was taken up again after the Renaissance: see [http://www.emblems.arts.gla.ac.uk/french/emblem.php?id=FALc195 Andrea Alciato, ''Emblemata / Les emblemes'' (1584)].</ref>
[[Plato]], in his ''[[Symposium (Plato)|Symposium]]'',<ref>Plato, ''[[Symposium (Plato)|Symposium]]'' 180e.</ref> has one of his characters, an Athenian named [[Pausanias of Athens|Pausanias]] (no relation to the geographer [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]]), describe Aphrodite as two goddesses, one older, the other younger. The older one, Urania, is the daughter of Uranus, and inspires homosexual male (and more specifically, [[Ephebic Oath|ephebic]]) love/eros; the younger is named Pandemos, the daughter of Zeus and Dione, and all love for women comes from her. The speech of [[Pausanias of Athens|Pausanias]] distinguishes two manifestations of Aphrodite, represented by the two stories: Aphrodite Ourania ("heavenly" Aphrodite), and Aphrodite Pandemos ("Common" Aphrodite).<ref>Richard L. Hunter, ''Plato's Symposium'', Oxford University Press: 2004, p. 44</ref>
Aphrodite is also known as Areia,<ref>T.T. Kroon, art. Areia (1), in T.T. Kroon, Mythologisch Woordenboek, ’s Gravenshage, 1875.</ref> showing her connection to Ares, the god of war, whom she had extramarital relations with. As a result, she was, to some extent, made into a goddess of war. This is especially true in Sparta.
==Cult of Aphrodite==
The epithet ''Aphrodite Acidalia'' was occasionally added to her name, after the spring she used for bathing, located in [[Boeotia]] ([[Virgil]] I, 720). She was also called ''Kypris'' or ''Cytherea'' after her birth-places in [[Cyprus]] and [[Cythera (island)|Cythera]], respectively, both centers of her cult. She was associated with [[Hesperides|Hesperia]] and frequently accompanied by the [[Oread]]s, [[nymph]]s of the mountains.
Her festival, ''[[Aphrodisia]]'', was celebrated across Greece, but particularly in [[Athens]] and [[Ancient Corinth|Corinth]]. At the temple of Aphrodite on the summit of [[Acrocorinth]] (before the Roman destruction of the city in 146 BC), intercourse with her priestesses was considered a method of worshiping Aphrodite. This temple was not rebuilt when the city was re-established under Roman rule in 44 BC, but the fertility rituals likely continued in the main city near the agora.
Aphrodite was associated with, and often depicted with, the sea, dolphins, doves, swans, [[pomegranate]]s, sceptres, apples, [[Myrtus|myrtle]], rose trees, [[lime (fruit)|lime]] trees, clams, scallop shells, and pearls.
One aspect of the [[cult (religion)|cult]] of Aphrodite and her precedents that [[Thomas Bulfinch]]'s much-reprinted ''The Age of Fable; or Stories of Gods and Heroes'' (1855 etc.) elided<ref>"Our work is not for the learned, nor for the theologian, nor for the philosopher, but for the reader of English literature, of either sex, who wishes to comprehend the allusions so frequently made by public speakers, lecturers, essayists, and poets, and those which occur in polite conversation." Bulfinch's obituary in the ''Boston Evening Standard'' noted that the contents were "expurgated of all that would be offensive".</ref> was the practice of [[Religious prostitution|ritual prostitution]] in her shrines and temples. The euphemism in Greek is ''hierodoule'', "sacred slave." The practice was an inherent part of the rituals owed to Aphrodite's Near Eastern forebears, Sumerian [[Inanna]] and Akkadian [[Ishtar]], whose temple priestesses were the "women of Ishtar," ''ishtaritum''.<ref>Miroslav Marcovich, "From Ishtar to Aphrodite" ''Journal of Aesthetic Education'' '''30'''.2, Special Issue: Distinguished Humanities Lectures II (Summer 1996) p 49.</ref>
The practice has been documented in Babylon, Syria and Palestine, in Phoenician cities and the [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyrian]] colony [[Carthage]], and for Hellenic Aphrodite in [[Cyprus]], the center of her cult, Cythera, [[Ancient Corinth|Corinth]] and in Sicily (Marcovich 1996:49); the practice however is not attested in Athens. Aphrodite was everywhere the patroness of the ''[[hetaera]]'' and [[courtesan]]. In [[Ionia]] on the coast of Asia Minor, ''[[Hierodule|hierodoulai]]'' served in the [[temple of Artemis]].
===Modern Worship of Aphrodite===
As one of the Twelve Olympians of the Greek pantheon and thus a major deity, worship of Aphrodite, (or ''Aphrodíti''), as a living goddess is one of the more prominent devotionals in [[Hellenismos]] or Hellenic Polytheistic Reconstructionism.<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22972610 BBC News - The Greeks who worship the ancient gods<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Hellenismos or Hellenic Polytheistic Reconstructionism, revives ancient Greek religious practices for the present day.<ref>[http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/pagantraditions/p/Hellenism.htm Hellenic Polytheism: Following the Ways of the Ancient Greeks<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
Worship in the Cult of Aphrodite today differs from the devotional practices of the ancient Greeks in several ways. Among Hellenistic Reconstructionists, views of Aphrodite as a lust or fertility goddess have largely given way to an understanding of her chiefly as a goddess of love and passion.<ref>[http://www.hellenicgods.org/aphrodite Aphrodite - www.HellenicGods.org<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Such things as ritual temple prostitution are thought of as, at best, completely anachronistic outside of ancient Greek society, if not actually outright disapproved of. Instead, modern Hellenistic devotees make offers to her and invoke her name for her blessings and her favor for their romantic relationships, including sexually monogamous ones.<ref name="neokoroi.org">[http://www.neokoroi.org/religion/gods/aphrodite Aphrodite<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Here, ethical convictions of modern Hellenic polytheists are inspired by ancient Greek virtues of [[self-control]] and [[moderation]].
Hellenic polytheists of today celebrate their religious devotion of Aphrodite during three main festival days. Aphrodisia, is her main festival day and is celebrated with the [[Attic calendar]] on the 4th of ''Hekatombaion'', falling on the [[Gregorian calendar]] between the months of July and August, depending on the year. Adonia, a joint festival of Aphrodite and her partner Adonis, which is celebrated on the first [[full moon]] following the [[Northern spring equinox]], often roughly as the same week the Christian festival of [[Easter]] is celebrated. And the fourth of each month, which is considered a sacred day of both Aphrodite and her son Eros.<ref name="neokoroi.org"/>
Offerings to Aphrodite for the purposes of devotionals can include incense, fruit; particularly apples and pomegranates, flowers; particularly fragrant roses, sweet desert wine; particularly ''Commandaria'' wine from [[Cyprus]], and cakes made with honey.<ref>[http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/godsandgoddesses/a/Offerings_Gods.htm Offerings to the Gods<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref>[http://sacredhaven.ca/aphrodite Aphrodite | Sacred Haven Coven<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
==Comparative mythology==
===Ancient Near Eastern parallels===
The [[religions of the ancient Near East]] have a number of love goddesses that can be argued to be similar to certain aspects of Aphrodite.
Her cult in Greece was imported from, or influenced by, the cult of [[Astarte]] in [[Phoenicia]].
Hans Georg Wunderlich further connects Aphrodite with the [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]] [[Snake Goddess|snake goddess]].<ref>Wunderlich (R. Winston, tr.).''The secret of Crete'' (1987:134)</ref>
The Egyptian snake goddess [[Wadjet]] was associated with the city known to the Greeks as ''Aphroditopolis'' (the city of Aphrodite).<ref>C.L. Whitcombe.''Minoan snake goddess''.8.''Snakes, Egypt magic and women''.[http://witcombe.sbc.edu/snakegoddess/ Minoan Snake Goddess]</ref>
[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] states the first to establish a cult of Aphrodite were the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire|Assyrians]], after the Assyrians the [[Paphos|Paphians]] of Cyprus and then the Phoenicians at [[Ashkelon|Ascalon]]. The Phoenicians, in turn, taught her worship to the people of [[Cythera (island)|Cythera]].<ref>Pausanias, Description of Greece, [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Paus.+1.14.7 I. XIV.7]</ref>
An origin of (or significant influence on) the Greek love goddess from Near Eastern traditions was seen with some skepticism in classical 19th-century scholarship. Authors such as A. Enmann (''Kypros und der Ursprung des Aphroditekultes'' 1881) attempted to portray the cult of Aphrodite as a native Greek development.
Scholarly opinion on this question has shifted significantly since the 1980s, notably due to [[Walter Burkert]] (1984), and the significant influence of the Near East on early Greek religion in general (and on the cult of Aphrodite in particular) is now widely recognized as dating to a period of [[Orientalizing period|orientalization]] during the 8th century BC, when [[archaic Greece]] was on the fringes of the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]].<ref>see Burkert in his introduction to ''The Orientalizing Revolution: Near Eastern Influence on Greek Culture in the Early Archaic Age'' (1992), especially in pp 1-6.</ref>
In native Greek tradition, the planet had two names, ''Hesperos'' as the evening star and ''Eosphoros'' as the morning star. The Greeks adopted the identification of the morning and the evening stars, as well as its identification as Ishtar/Aphrodite, during the 4th century BC, along with other items of Babylonian astrology, such as the [[zodiac]] ([[Eudoxus of Cnidus]]).
===Comparison with the Indo-European dawn goddess===
It has long been accepted in [[comparative mythology]] that Aphrodite (regardless of possible oriental influences) preserves some aspects of the [[Proto-Indo-European mythology|Indo-European]] dawn goddess [[Hausos|*Hausos]] (properly Greek [[Eos]], Latin [[Aurora (mythology)|Aurora]], Sanskrit [[Ushas]]).<ref>Dumézil.''Ouranos-Vàruna:Ètude de mythologie compáree indo-européene''. Paris Maisonneuve.1934</ref>
Janda (2010) etymologizes her name as "she who rises from the foam [of the ocean]" and points to Hesiod's ''Theogony'' account of Aphrodite's birth as an archaic reflex of Indo-European myth. Aphrodite rising out of the waters after Cronus defeats Uranus as a mytheme would then be directly cognate to the [[Rigveda|Rigvedic]] myth of [[Indra]] defeating [[Vrtra]], liberating [[Ushas]].<ref name="Janda"/>
==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:CallipygianVenus.jpg|''The [[Venus Kallipygos]].'' ''Aphrodite Kallipygos'', "Aphrodite of the Beautiful Buttocks"),<ref>The word callipygian is defined as "having shapely buttocks" by [[Merriam-Webster]].</ref> is a type of nude female statue of the [[Hellenistic]] era. It depicts a partially draped woman<ref>Conventionally presumed to be [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]], though it may equally be a portrait of a mortal woman, such as a [[hetaira]], or an image of the goddess modeled on one such</ref> raising her light [[peplos]]<ref>The gesture of Aphrodite/Venus lifting of the robe symbolized religious initiation and the ancient Greeks worshiped the woman's "rich" buttocks to obtain great wealth on earth as the two Syracusan sisters who inspired the Kallipygos idea, had accomplished.</ref> to uncover her [[hip (anatomy)#Cultural significance of hips|hips]] and [[buttocks]], and looking back and down over her shoulder, perhaps to evaluate them
File:Cnidus Aphrodite Altemps Inv8619.jpg|The Ludovisi ''Cnidian Aphrodite'', Roman marble copy (torso and thighs) with restored head, arms, legs and drapery support. The ''[[Aphrodite of Cnidus]]'' was one of the most famous works of the [[Attica|Attic]] [[Sculpture|sculptor]] [[Praxiteles]] (4th century BC).
File:Venere di Milo 02.JPG|''[[Aphrodite of Milos ]]'' (c.100 BC), [[Louvre]]
File:Venus pudica Massimo.jpg|''[[Aphrodite of Menophantos]]'' a [[Venus Pudica]] signed by [[Menophantos]], 1st century BC, found at San Gregorio al Celio, Rome ([[Museo Nazionale Romano]]), of the [[Capitoline Venus]] type.
File:Aphrodite fountain.jpg|''Fountain of Aphrodite in [[Mexico City]].
File:Altes Museum - Aphrodite Heyl.jpg|''[[Aphrodite Heyl]]'', [[terracotta]] statuette of very high quality, probably from [[Myrina (Mysia)|Myrina]], 2nd century BC
File:Aphrodite Anadyomene from Pompeii cropped.jpg|The [[Venus Anadyomene]], from [[Pompeii]], believed to be a copy of a lost work by [[Apelles]].
File:Ludovisi throne Altemps Inv8570.jpg|The [[Ludovisi Throne]] (460 BC?) is believed to be a classical Greek [[bas-relief]], although it has also been alleged to be a 19th-century forgery
File:Venus redon.jpeg|''The Birth of Venus'' (1912), by [[Odilon Redon]].
File:Aphrodite swan BM D2.jpg|Aphrodite riding a swan: Attic white-ground red-figured ''[[kylix (drinking cup)|kylix]]'', c. 460, found at Kameiros (Rhodes).
</gallery>
== See also ==
[[Hellenismos]]
{{Portal|Hellenismos }}
{{Portal|Greek mythology}}
==References and sources==
;References
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}
;Sources
* C. Kerényi (1951). ''The Gods of the Greeks''.
* Walter Burkert (1985). ''Greek Religion'' ([[Harvard University Press]]).
==External links==
{{wiktionary|Ἀφροδίτη}}
{{Commons|Aphrodite}}
*[http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/Aphrodite.html Theoi Project, Aphrodite] information from classical literature, Greek and Roman art
*[http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/19/arts/design/19wome.html?em The Glory which Was Greece from a Female Perspective]
*[http://afrodite.saffo.googlepages.com/aphrodite-sappho.html Sappho's Hymn to Aphrodite, with a brief explanation]`
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