The Unsung Goddess: The Story of Aphrodite

The Unsung Goddess: The Story of Aphrodite The goddess of love, beauty, and desire appears in so many myths as to become somewhat cliché. But what if the objective was not to depict this particular deity but rather to illustrate the essential nature of these traits? If that’s so, then we’re seeing an example with Aphrodite. She may not be a very well-known goddess , but she is one that all worshipers recognize: she’s the goddess of desire.

And because of her importance to us all—not just New Agers or extraverts—we must think about who she may have been before coming to be known as the Unsung Goddess. Fortunately, some of her earliest depictions are starting to emerge thanks to new research into her origins. The Mythological Origin of Aphrodite The earliest representations of Aphrodite can be traced back to ancient Mesopotamia, where she was known as Inanna’s spouse, Ishtar.

As the goddess of love and desire, she naturally became associated with sexual relationships and fertility, and so was often associated with other goddesses. In Roman myth, she was known as Venus, and her worship was carefully intertwined with the worship of the Roman gods . Both the Mesopotamian and Roman mythologies tell us that Aphrodite was born from the primal ocean god , Uranus after he was castrated by his son Cronus.

Her mother was the goddess of love, Cytherea, and she had six daughters with her husband, Adonis. Aphrodite’s most important mythological role is as a goddess of lust, but she also has a number of other significant roles. One is a goddess of prostitutes, as she was said to have been born of a poor fisherman’s daughter, whose family did not want her to be a prostitute by giving her away.

Her Greek Roots Aphrodite is mentioned in the earliest known Greek myth , the story of the union of Uranus and Gaia. She is not herself present, but Uranus is, and the two become lovers. Later in Greek myth , Aphrodite is seen as the daughter of Zeus and Cytherea. In later versions of the story of Uranus and Gaia, Aphrodite and her sisters were said to be born from the foam created when Gaia and Uranus made love.

In later versions of this story, too, it was said that Zeus had fathered Aphrodite so that she also came from a non-sexual union. Her Roman Roots As Venus, Aphrodite was known to be the daughter of Jupiter, born out of a mixture of water, clay, and sunlight. The Romans also recognized that she was related to the Greek Aphrodite, and so incorporated a number of elements from her Greek origins into the Roman version of the goddess .