Aphrodité

Aphrodité, one of the chief divinities of the Greeks, the goddess of love and beauty, so called because she was sprung from the foam (aphros) of the sea. She was the wife of Hephaestus, but she loved besides, among gods, Ares and Dionysus, and among mortals, Anchises and Adonis. The chief places of her worship in Greece were Cyprus and Cythera. Aphrodite not only surpassed all other goddesses in beauty, but she had the power of granting irresistible beauty and attractiveness to others, especially to wearers of her magic girdle. The sparrow, the dove, and the swan were sacred to her, as also the myrtle, the rose, and the poppy. In the later poets, Eros is her son and her constant companion. Only such sacrifices as flowers and incense were made to Aphrodite. In earlier times the patroness of marriage and maternity, she became later the ideal of graceful womanhood, and was spiritualised by Plato as Aphrodite Urania. By others she was degraded in Aphrodite Pandemos to be the patroness of mere sensual love. Mysteries of an impure kind formed part of the ceremonial of the aphrodisia, or festivals held in her honour. The worship of Aphrodite was undoubtedly of Eastern origin, and she was originally a symbol of the fructifying powers of nature. Her cult was introduced by the Phoenicians into Cyprus, and soon spread over all Greece. She was originally identical with Astarte, the Ashtoreth of the Hebrews. By the Romans she was identified with Venus, hitherto one of the least important Roman divinities (see VENUS). Aphrodite has had the most important place in the history of art as the Greek ideal of feminine grace and beauty. Her most famous statue in antiquity was that of Praxiteles at Cnidos; her most famous picture, the Aphrodite Anadyomene of Apelles. The finest statues of the goddess that still exist are those of Melos (Milo) at Paris, of Capua at Naples, and of the Medici at Florence.