The Greek goddess of love and beauty Aphrodite - one of the most famous representatives of the Olympic pantheon, interest in which for centuries does not become weaker. And this is quite understandable - love is the strongest stimulus, prompting the most beautiful and most disgusting deeds.
Birth of the Greek goddess Aphrodite
In all the known myths of Ancient Greece, the goddess of love Aphrodite appeared from sea foam. She was so beautiful that the nearby ores immediately adorned the young goddess with jewels and threw on her body a garment worthy of the heavenly queen. The only question that remains unclear is why the sea foam produced this beautiful creature. According to one of the versions, the blood got the blood of Crohn's uranium, in the foam, on the other - the seminal fluid of Zeus. And if the first version is considered correct, Aphrodite is a chthonic goddess, which generally explains her power.
The spontaneous love power of Aphrodite was so overwhelming that even the most powerful of the celestials of the Olympic pantheon could not resist. Only three goddesses were indifferent to love charms - the wise Athena, the virgin hunter Artemis and the humble Hestia. And among the kind of human indifferent to the charm of the goddess of love, Aphrodite was not at all - when she appeared, people began to languish in love experiences and strive to create a family. In addition to love and beauty, Aphrodite is considered the goddess of fertility, spring and life.
Among the epithets, which awarded the Greek goddess Aphrodite - fialkovenchannaya, smykolyubivaya, peno-born. She was always depicted surrounded by flowers - roses, violets, lilies, and accompanied by a suite of beautiful nymphs and harytes. In the paintings, Aphrodite appears as a magnificent maiden and slender beauty, but always invariably the same - her image fully corresponds to the accepted canons of beauty of the time when the artist lived.
Myths about the goddess of love and beauty Aphrodite
According to the ancient Greek mythology of love, the goddess Aphrodite was sought by many powerful deities, such as Poseidon. But, strangely enough, the husband of the beautiful god-born goddess became the ugly and limp Hephaestus - the god of forging skill, able to create decorations of unsurpassed beauty and magical artifacts. However, the husband treated his wife more than cool, enjoying the work. And Aphrodite herself loved Ares, who was hated by many gods of war. This extramarital relationship gave birth to Eros, Anterot, Harmony, as well as to Deimos and Phobos - the companions of Ares.
The craving of the goddess of love for the god of war and hatred also confirms the chthonic origin of Aphrodite, tk. the all-absorbing sense of any direction is more ancient than the spirituality that is prescribed by the later-born Greek myths. By the way, the god Eros, whose late myths are recorded in the number of children of Aphrodite, in ancient myths was the product of Chaos, i.e. - chthonic deity, possessing powerful energy. And even later, Eros
Like other Olympic deities, the goddess of love Aphrodite was very interested in people's lives and often interfered in their relationship. She inspired an overwhelming love affair for Paris Helen, the wife of King Menelaus. As a defender of Troy, she helped Paris escape death during a fight with a deceived husband. However, to save Troy in the end, she could not - the city fell.
In the epic of Homer and later myths, Aphrodite is already portrayed as a flirtatious, refined goddess, loving negro and voluptuous entertainment. This image is strikingly different from the image of a powerful chthonic goddess. This weakening suggests that people have become more calm about natural phenomena and less afraid of them.