The Goddess Among Gods : Aphrodite

Aphrodite is growing quickly. She appears to thrive on the attention she gets from us: her mother and father. Strange words those, but also true in our case. It is odd to know that we are the parents of a child; one that we will watch grow up and become a leader of our new world. That is a great future to behold.

Meanwhile, there was the mighty Zeus, the king of the gods, who was married to the goddess Hera. Hera is the goddess of War and Honesty, but she had an awful temper and often took it out on her husband, Zeus. Hera only loved Zeus because he was the king of gods and she wanted some of that power for herself, so she never let him leave her side, and although he was her husband, she talked badly about him, and constantly blamed and insulted him. Aphrodite witnessed this many times and started to feel empathy for Zeus, she knew Zeus was kind and didn’t deserve to be treated like that. At this, anger burned inside of Aphrodite for Hera and what she did to hurt Zeus, and as this anger burned she felt a passion. Aphrodite casually began to develop feelings for Zeus. She always told herself she shouldn’t, that Zeus was married and she needed to stay away, but she couldn’t help how she felt for Zeus.

Aphrodite has two sides of being an eminent goddess. One side is the “ideal of female grace and beauty” where on the outside was a radiant goddess completely flawless (APHRODITE). The darker side of this goddess was her personality that was described as “ill-tempered” and “easily offended,” this demonstrated her being easily

Holding great influence over both gods and mortals, Aphrodite could have anyone or anything she wanted. Using her unique powers, she could charm and convince her various desired lovers for much more than love and romance. Many have said that she was the goddess of lust, desire, trickery and sex appeal. Either way, Aphrodite had an assortment of engagements with other mortals and immortals. Her most recognized encounter was with the notorious Ares, who later went on to take the actual title of being her husband.

Aphrodite represents erotic love as a fascinating form of divine influence. The nude Aphrodite has powerful meaning and

The first Homeric Hymn of Aphrodite tells the story of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, desire, and beauty. She is the daughter of Zeus and highly regarded among both immortals and mortal men. The story recounts the power that Aphrodite possesses as well as the limitations of her power. One limitation this hymn primarily focuses on is a situation in which Aphrodite is humiliated. This myth utilizes strategies such as story structure and word choice in order to describe how Aphrodite is humiliated.

-Aphrodite was characterized as a mesmerizing beauty. She symbolized love and the union of marriage and she was extremely powerful. She was conceived in many different ways, she was the goddess that presided over marriage, but also prostitution.

Zeus and his sister, Hera, soon after the fall of the Titans had a son named Eelos. Eelos was a very handsome god and surpassed Apollo. He was a very kind god, teaching man to love at the age of five. Aphrodite had taught man to love before, but Eelos taught them to love deeper and think for one another, this made Aphrodite jealous. All the gods admired Eelos for his work, which made man more humble, and therefore made them worshipped the gods more. All but Aphrodite were pleased by Eelos, who felt robbed of her position on Mount Olympus. Aphrodite was also very jealous of Eelos’ beauty since it was more than she, herself had. Aphrodite spent many days planning to take Eelos’ source of power, his beauty, and give it to herself. Aphrodite created a crafty plan to seek

for her beauty. The Romans called her Venus but still thought of her the same way the

Athena and Aphrodite, two of the most well-known goddess’ from Ancient Greek mythology. Athena is the goddess of war strategy and wisdom, she never married or had relationships. Aphrodite is the goddess of love and beauty, she had a lot of relationships and had several children. Besides both of them being extremely popular and worshiped goddess’ it seems like these two goddess’ have nothing else in common. However, Athena and Aphrodite have a lot of similarities between the two of them. Some similarities are their early lives, they constantly interfered with the lives of others, and the wraiths they took on those who disrespected them. Although they bear some minor differences, the similarities between Athena and Aphrodite are pronounced.

It could be argued by some that Aphrodite became truly hideous as she had a love affair with Ares, Greek god of war, while Hephaestus was completely loyal to his wife and their marriage, making him the “beautiful” one, if only for a moment. However, it can also be said that because Aphrodite was in a passionate relationship with someone, even if it was not her husband, the passion and light in her eyes only made her more beautiful. Hephaestus was, however, able to experience life completely, including the experience of pain as he is cheated on, as he has been in the presence of, and acknowledged the true beauty of and within Aphrodite. As marriage in the Aphrodisiacal sense was not solely about loving someone else, another fundamental aspect is loving oneself (true acceptance), which only relates to Paris’ central point of beauty touching every other aspect of our lives.

Zeus was known for a number of things, but his love affairs was one of the numerous things he was famous for. Zeus was the king of all the gods, he was known for the god of the skies, weather, fate and laws. Out of all of his lovers he had over the years, his first was known as Aphrodite. She was the goddess of beauty and was followed by Zeus when she first emerged from the great sea, but she managed to escape him. It did not take much time for Zeus’ wife Hera to realize that their marriage was falling into the deep end. Zeus had a deep lust which then made Hera’s jealousy fester. (Summary 1).

It is almost like Aphrodite’s strengths are explained only to bolster up Zeus’ feats. Zeus uses this power, and “into Aphrodite herself Zeus sent sweet desire to sleep with a mortal man” (citation). Zeus is never reprimanded for this, despite the fact that it appears he used this power to admonish Aphrodite’s pride and powers. Its these same virtues that Zeus thrives through, ensuring that he is the only one who can boast these assets, so no one can challenge his authority. This authority is reference in the Hymn to Demeter, when Persephone is abducted and she calls “on Father Cronides, the highest of gods and the best. But no immortal god or mortal man heard her voice” (citation). When Zeus does not help Persephone, though, she is never abandoned, for “Thereafter for nine days Lady Deo roamed the earth” (citation). Demeter will not stand by while her daughter is abducted, going and asking of other gods, “Who it is that has gone off and ravished her away from me against her will? Who is it of gods or mortal men?” (citation). When Demeter discovers that “There is none other responsible of the immortals but Zeus himself,” Hecate tries to coax Demeter down, and although she “greatly pit[ies] and revere[s Demeter in her] sorrow,” she asks of Demeter, “Goddess, cease from your long lamenting. It is not fitting for you vainly to hold onto anger unassuaged like this” (citation). However, Demeter does not relent, and “grief more dread and bitter fell

A love goddess is a deity associated with sexuality, love, fertility, beauty, and in some occasion’s death. These goddess are common in mythology and may be found in many polytheistic religions. Although there are vast differences among these goddess’, since they have to serve each particular culture’s needs, there are also many similarities that can be drawn to them. There are two love goddess’ that are believed to have many similarities, they are the Greek goddess Aphrodite and the Norse goddess Freya. Although these goddess’ have many differences some similarities are their appearance, lost lovers, a love of beautiful things, charm, an association with the sea, the day Friday and fish.

A Similarity of both Apollo and Aphrodite manipulation is the revelations of the motives are revealed before their actions take place. In the first Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, the story describes the beautiful, virgin goddess who falls in love with the mortal, Anchises. Aphrodite eludes the most powerful Greek god Zeus and in retaliation, Zeus forces Aphrodite to fall in love with a mortal which eventually leads to her falling in love with Anchises and have sex with him. Aphrodite intentions are made clear before any actions take place and is described, “And when she saw him, Aphrodite, lover of laughter, she loved him, and a terrifying desire seized her heart” (Aphrodite 87-88). Comparing this hymn to the second Homeric Hymn to apollo, the story has similarities to the story of Aphrodite. For example, Apollo also reveals his