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¶ … Greek Goddess Aphrodite, the mythology of her birth and how she has interfered in the lives of man and woman throughout key mythological events such as the Trojan war and the journey of Odysseus as he traveled home to Ithaca from the battlefields of Troy. Using mythological and historical texts such as Hesoid's Theogony, and Homer's the Illiad and The Oddessey a brief understanding has been gleaned regarding the Greek Goddess: Bibliography cites five sources.
Aphrodite Goddess of Love and meddler in men's hearts
Aphrodite is known by many followers of Greek Mythology as the Goddess of Love, desire and beauty, amongst her normal immortal gifts Aphrodite also has a magical girdle, which compels those whom she desires to desire her.
Aphrodite has been given many names as the Goddess of Love the most famous being Venus, even within the mythos of the tales from Homer she is given this name as a substitute to Aphrodite, in some ways Homer and the Greek bards give the names of Gods and Goddess both Roman and Greek names as if they are writing for a classical Greco-Roman audience instead of a pure Greek one.
Mythology has two accounts of her birth, Hesiod in his Theogony tells of how when the Titan Kronos defeated his father Uranus, dismembering him and throwing the limbs into the sea, the flesh being immortal spread into a circle of white foam, it is from this foam that the goddess Aphrodite was spawned (Hesiod PG). Another story of Aphrodite's conception states that she was the daughter of the Greek God Zeus and the Goddess Dione.
Aphrodite's name literally translated means foam born, it is noted by Mythological writers that when she was first born she was attended by Eros and Himeros,...
Aphrodite represents sexual pleasure, affection and has an avid desire in the form of attraction that brings and binds people together in their hearts and minds.
During the Trojan War Aphrodite she and her lover Alexandros, better known as Paris helped bring the war into the worst and bloodiest time and also the saddest period. Alexandros (Paris) was dealt a mortal wound during one of the battles against the Achaeans (Greeks) and but the intervention of the Goddess Aphrodite would have died, Aphrodite used her immortal powers to shroud her lover in a mist, enabling him to be removed to his own perfumed bedchamber.
Again Aphrodite meddled with the hearts of men and women and urged Helen to go to the stricken Alexandros and give him comfort and love, if Helen failed to do this Aphrodite threatened to make give her a hard time with the warriors of Troy and Greece "Venus was very angry, and said, "Bold hussy, do not provoke me; if you do, I shall leave you to your fate and hate you as much as I have loved you. I will stir…
Homer, The Illiad [online] accessed at http://www.uoregon.edu/~joelja/iliad.html
Homer, The Odessey [online] accessed at http://www.uoregon.edu/~joelja/odessy.html
Anonymous (1998) Aphrodite: Goddess of Love [online] accessed at http://www.messagenet.com/myths/bios/aphrodite.html
Whereas the Greek had a balanced view of the values inherent in both the physical and the intellectual, the Romans were more practical, and valued war above intellectual abilities. As mentioned, Rome freely adopted parts of other cultures and religions, including Greece. The Romans hoped for a better afterlife than the Greeks did, which explains the appeal of Christianity to the nation. While a good afterlife was a prospect for
Interestingly, Venus is a goddess of love, beauty, and fertility, which is significant, since she was literally created from the male genitalia, and males were more strongly linked to sexuality than females, even at that point in Roman history. In the rest of Roman and Greek mythology, Venus/Aphrodite generally plays a benevolent role, though she does use influence women to use their sexuality in inappropriate ways, such as the
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