Aphrodite: an important character of mythology
introduction
The Greek goddess of love, passion and procreation, the sensual Aphrodite was the source of homosexual and heterosexual erotic desire, generously nutritious and passionately destructive. The goddess of love, passion and procreation, the sensual Aphrodite was the source of erotic desire both homosexual and heterosexual. A generously nutritious and passionately destructive figure, Aphrodite embodied all the possibilities that love and desire had to offer. The many epithets and descriptors of Aphrodite reflected her duality: she knew her as Philommeidḗs (‘Lover of Smile’) and Skotia (‘The Dark’). She was also called Ambologra, or ‘the one who postpones old age’, as well as Androphones (‘The murderer of men’) and Tymborychos (‘grave’).
Developing
While all previous descriptors were used occasionally, Aphrodite was most commonly described as ourania, ‘heavenly’ and we pand, ‘for all people’ ’. In ancient times, the Greeks believed that the name ‘Aphrodite’ was derived from the Greek word Aphrós, which means ‘sea foam’, a reference to their supposed origins. Modern philologists have theorized that this derivation was simply popular etymology; They also suggested that the Greeks widowed their name to coincide with their history of origin. The first versions of his name were probably from the Near East Assyria or Phenicia.
Aphrodite was clearly the Greek version of the Phenicia Astarté goddess and the goddess Assyria Ishtar. Aphrodite was the daughter without the mother of the primary god Uranus, since she was created from her amputated genitals. Although she usually presented it as married to Hefesto, the god of crafts and metallurgy, the ties of marriage were not a barrier to Aphrodite, who she wanted, and she was desired by many, many. The continuous and repeat affront romance with Ares produced several children whose nature represented the extremes of their own personality. Among these children were Phobos (God of fear), Deimos (God of terror), Harmonia (goddess of harmony and well -being), adrestia (‘the one who cannot escape’, a goddess of justice).
And the deities known as the erotes: eros, anteros, hymos and pothos, all associated with erotic love and desire. With Dionysus, the god of wine known for inducing religious ecstasy, Aphrodite had Himenus (god of marriage ceremonies), Iacchus (a minor deity known for his role in the mysteries of Eleusis), Priapus (a god of cattle) and The deities known as Las Caritas: Aglaea, Euphrosyne and Thalia, all associated with charm, beauty and fertility. With Hermes, Aphrodite had hermaphroditos (a name formed by "Hermes" and "Aphrodite") that possessed male and female genitals (a sign of Aphrodite’s duality).
Aphrodite also had children with Poseidon (Rhodos) and the beautiful Adonis, the most charming of mortal males. There were at least two known versions of Aphrodite’s birth (or creation). The first, told by Hesiod in theogony, placed the creation of Aphrodite at the beginning of the mythical time, when the Titan Cronos, son of Uranus, rose against his father. Uranus was a primary deity and the ruler of the universe whose union with Gaia, the earth, began all things. When Cronos overthrew his father (starting a cycle that would have an impact on the entire Greek myth), he cut the Uranus genitals and threw them into the seas off the coast of Citera.
From the blood of Uranus, the erinias, the giants and the nymphs arose, and from the foam that swirled around the amputated genitals of him arose Aphrodite. Hesiod’s poetry gave life to the wild scene: then the son of the ambush extended his left hand and on his right he took the great long hoz with teeth, and quickly cut the members of his own father and threw them to fall behind the. And not in vain they fell hand in hand; Because all the drops of blood that sprouted received the Earth, and as the stations moved around it, she wore the strong Erinias and the great giants with gleaming armor.
She holding long spears in her hands and the nymphs they call meliae throughout the earth without limits. And as soon as he cut the members with flint and threw them from the earth to the raging sea, they were dragged by the main network for a long time: and a white foam extended around them from the immortal meat, and in it a grew a maid. She first approached the Holy Citera, and from there, then arrived in Cyprus, surrounded by the sea, and a terrible and beautiful goddess left her, and the grass grew around her under her well -formed feet. The gods and men of her call Aphrodite. The other version of the origins of Aphrodite, told by Homer, presented Aphrodite as the daughter of Zeus and Done.
A mysterious figure that could have been a titan or an oceanida. This version was not counted as much as Homero assumed, who simply described Aphrodite as Dione’s daughter. However, the contrasting stories surrounding the origins of Aphrodite created some confusion among the ancient Greeks, a situation that Plato tried to solve in his dialogue, the symposium . In this famous conversation at a dinner, Plato, speaking through the character of Pausanias, suggested that Aphrodite Uranus (‘Celestial Aphrodite’) and Aphrodite Pandamos (‘Common AfroDITA’ or ‘Aphrodite of the people’), the most popular epithets for the Goddess, they were separate deities fused in the collective consciousness of the Greeks.
According to Plato, Aphrodite Pandimos represented the type of ‘lower’ or ‘common’ sexual love between a man and a woman. Aphrodite Uranus, on the other hand, represented the type of ‘superior’ love, more rare. or a child who becomes male adult. Aphrodite, the lover and creator. Many stories of Aphrodite focused on her famous beauty and sexual passions of her, as well as the passions she inspired by others. In a story, she appeared as a beautiful dead.
Near the legendary city of Troy. Aphrodite seduced in a similar way to Adonis, the handsome mortal, whom she discovered when she was a baby and of which she fell in love as a man. Adonis divided his time between living with his stepmother, Persephone, and going to bed with Aphrodite. Finally, Adonis was killed by a wild boar sent by the virgin goddess Artemis in revenge for the abuse of Aphrodite to Hipólito, the virgin son of Theseus. As the goddess of love and sex, Aphrodite apparently did not appreciate virginity. Aphrodite’s pain became a focal point of Adonia, a cult celebration held in honor of Aphrodite and Adonis that was reserved only for women.
Aphrodite’s participation with the sexual passions of mortals was not surprising since she created sexual passion in the first place. In the creation stories, it was usually Aphrodite who created the first mortal woman: Pandora. According to the stories, Aphrodite made Pandora beautiful to wish her. She also imbued Pandora from her own wishes, ensuring that humanity would be tempted forever. In her female weakness, a classic characteristic of misogynist stories, Pandora was tempted to reveal the content of her pidos (a uterus -shaped bottle, often badly translated as ‘box’ and colloquially used to refer to a uterus ).
An event that unleashed the horrors of misery and death over humans. In spite of her love, Aphrodite could be as vindictive as any other deity. According to a story, the women of the island of Lemnos attracted her anger by refusing to offer sacrifices in her honor. In response, Aphrodite caused women to stink so much that they became disgusting for their husbands. Rejecting the insinuations of their smelly wives, Lemnos’ husbands chose to have sex with slaves. Women aggravated then murdered their husbands and slaves. At this point, Jason and the Argonauts visited Lemnos. Seeing that the island’s population was in danger.
The sailors agreed to have sex with smelly women. The island thus saved demographic collapse and its women learned a valuable lesson about Aphrodite. In the tragedy of Euripides of the 5th century, Hipólito, Aphrodite’s jealousy were once again in full exhibition. Hipólito, the eponymous hero of the work, dedicated himself to the worship of the virgin goddess, Artemis, and as a faithful acolyte he refused to participate in sexual activities. Taking this as a personal affront, Aphrodite promised revenge. She succeeded in making Fedra, Hipólito’s stepmother, fell in love with the young man. Aphrodite knew that Hipólito, a devout artemisa follower, would reject the advances of her stepmother.
This sends when she did, Fedra fell into a deep depression and committed suicide, leaving a note that accused Hipólito of trying to violate her. Theseus, Hipólito’s father, promised revenge for this imaginary act and asked Poseidon to help him kill Hipólito. Poseidon obeyed and sent a wild bull to attack Hipólito while he rode his car along a rocky coast. The bull frightened the horses and Hipólito crashed into the cliffs, being mortally injured in the process. This long chain of events was the direct result of Aphrodite’s jealousy. The Greeks liked to blame women for causing problems, and such was the case of the Trojan War.
The most important and shocking of all mortal conflicts. According to legend, Hera, Athena and Aphrodite were to blame; However, it was Aphrodite who loaded with the greatest weight of responsibility. The events that led to the Trojan War began with a small disagreement between Hera, Athena and Aphrodite about who was the most beautiful. To solve the issue once and for all, they decided to do a contest. The winner of this contest would receive a gold apple with the registration ‘to the most beautiful’. Zeus commissioned Paris, prince of Troy, to decide. Anxious for setting up the matter, the goddesses appeared before Paris naked, but he refused to choose.
conclusion
Then, the goddesses turned to the bribes: Hera promised political power while Athena promised wisdom and glory. However, it was Aphrodite who offered Paris the most beautiful mortal woman in the world. Paris chose this last gift, which turned out to be Helena, wife of King Menelao de Esparta. In compliance with his promise, Aphrodite had kidnapped Helena and taken to Troy; It was this act that finally caused the conflict. During the war, Aphrodite constantly defended the Trojans and personally watch over the fortunes of Paris and Helena. She intervened to rescue Paris after she challenged the powerful King Menelao to a melee fight, and then returned to save her son Aeneas from the great warrior Diomedes.
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