Don't Know Much About Mythology - Kenneth C. Davis [97]
In addition to these classical literary sources, recent archaeological and linguistics studies have greatly contributed to our understanding of the “historical” origins of these deities.
Aphrodite (Venus) Goddess of love and beauty, “Golden Aphrodite” supposedly emerges fully formed from the sea foam when the genitals of the castrated Uranus are cut off by Cronus and thrown into the sea. Her birth is a popular theme in art, and is perhaps most famously depicted in Sandro Botticelli’s Italian Renaissance masterpiece The Birth of Venus, in which she is seen standing on a half-shell. That was Hesiod’s version of the story. In Homeric versions, she is born of the union between Zeus and a goddess named Dione, again reflecting different regional traditions.
An ancient goddess who embodies overpowering sexuality and reproduction capability, Aphrodite may have been connected to other ancient Eastern fertility goddesses of Mesopotamia and Canaan, such as Inanna, Ishtar, and Astarte. In many ancient cities, Greek girls about to be married made a sacrifice to Aphrodite in the hopes that their first sexual experience would be productive. Aphrodite was also worshipped by prostitutes, of which there were two classes in Greece. The hetaerae were the “courtesans,” or call girls, who entertained at the drinking-and-sex parties known as symposia, enjoyed by aristocratic Greek men; and porne were the common prostitutes. (The original Greek meaning of the word “pornography” was, literally, to “write about prostitutes.”) Aphrodite was apparently highly revered in Corinth, a city of merchants famed for its prostitutes. Corinthian prostitutes were said to be especially beautiful and lived in luxury, and the city, as Thomas Cahill notes in Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea, became a “byword for sybaritic self-indulgence.”*
In Greek myth, Aphrodite is always accompanied by Eros (Cupid), the god of carnal desire. According to Hesiod, Eros is a much older deity, who emerges from Chaos at the same time as Gaia. But in later accounts, Eros is viewed as Aphrodite’s son, always armed with a bow and quiver of arrows that cause anyone struck by them to fall in love with whatever he or she sees. Greek (and, later, Roman) myths are filled with stories of Eros shooting his arrows at random, without concern for the consequences of the sexual passion he arouses.
Among her many lovers, Aphrodite counts the other gods Ares, Poseidon, Dionysus, and Zeus. She also sleeps with Hermes in return for one of her sandals, which had been stolen by Zeus’s eagle. The result of this union with the messenger god is Hermaphroditus, a boy of remarkable beauty. In a story made famous in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, a water nymph sees Hermaphroditus walking in the woods and falls in love with him. As he bathes in a spring, the nymph jumps into the water and clings to the boy, praying that they will never be separated. The nymph’s prayers are answered as they are joined into a single being with a woman’s breasts and a man’s genitals—source of the word “hermaphrodite.”
Another tale from Ovid involving Aphrodite is the famous story of Pygmalion, the legendary king of Cyprus. Pygmalion has grown so disenchanted with the women of his land that he carves a statue of a perfect maiden. He is so taken by it that he falls in love with the statue and prays that it might become real. Aphrodite hears his prayer and grants his wish. This story is the inspiration for George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion, about a linguistics professor who teaches a working-class girl to behave like royalty. Shaw’s play, in turn, inspired the musical My Fair Lady.
Priapus, an ancient Near Eastern god who appears in other mythologies, is another of Aphrodite’s children. Because he is a very old fertility symbol and a popular god of procreation, statues of Priapus were often placed in Greek and Roman gardens. Although Priapus is dwarflike, these statues