Mythology

Aphrodite

Copyright © 2005 Jonathan Dee

Though several Greek gods had unusual births, none can be stranger than that of Aphrodite, goddess of Love. Everyone knows that this most beautiful of goddesses was born from the ocean and rose to the surface on a half shell, but the true tale of her beginning goes back to the very earliest days of the world, when Uranus, lord of the starry heavens, was ruler of the universe.

Uranus was married to Gaia the earth, but it was not a happy union, marred by the unfortunate tendency of the children of this pair to be either unreasonably huge Titans or hideous monsters. The embarrassment these offspring caused Uranus was solved by the unconventional means of thrusting the worst ones back into their mother’s womb and refusing to let them out. One can imagine that this caused Gaia no small measure of discomfort.

One child who escaped this fate was Cronos, god of Time, who, understandably enough, took his mother’s part in this dreadful domestic quarrel. He made a wickedly sharp sickle and with it castrated his father, who fled screaming into the firmament, which was his home. Cronos then freed his brothers and sisters from their horrid captivity within their mother and when this task was accomplished cast, the still bleeding genitals into the sea.

There, they bubbled and frothed for thousands of years until, one day, the beauteous Aphrodite emerged off the coast of Cyprus, though some say Cythera.

This strange birth may have something to do with Aphrodite’s insatiable sexuality, which she took great pleasure in exercising at every opportunity. Be that as it may, Aphrodite was welcomed to Olympus and adopted as Zeus’s own daughter. To cement this alliance, the King of the Gods married her off to his ugly, crippled son, Hephaestus the Smith, even though all the other gods wanted her, too.

Though Aphrodite had affairs with Hermes, Zeus, Adonis and various other immortals and humans, she seems to have developed a particular passion for Aries, god of war.

The lovers would meet while Hephaestus was working at his forge, and all went so well that when Aphrodite gave birth to Harmonia, she passed the child off as her husband’s (not for the first time, since Eros or Cupid was probably the son of Hermes). It is doubtful that the slow-witted Hephaestus would ever have discovered the deception had not the perceptive Helios, the Sun Titan, not seen fit to inform him.

The skilful Hephaestus then set about arranging a trap for his faithless wife. He wove a net finer than silk, yet stronger than iron, entwining it in the canopy of his bed. Then, as usual he set off for his workshop on volcanic Lemnos.

As soon as Aphrodite and Aries tumbled into bed, the net closed about them. Soon the deities of love and war were obliged to call for help and were extremely embarrassed when the rest of the gods (who were in on the plot) arrived to mock them.

Once freed, Aphrodite and Hephaestus continued to live together, but at a greater distance. The Love goddess blamed Helios for her shame, though, and, since she could not strike at the sun directly, she took her vengeance on his daughter Phaedra.

Aphrodite’s beauty was deeply resented by the virginal Athena and the imperious Hera, so when a question arose as to which of them was the most seductive of all, Olympus was threatened with strife. The three goddesses appealed to Zeus to rule on the matter, but he wisely refused, saying that a mortal was a more suitable judge.

Paris, Prince of Troy, was chosen, and the heavenly trio paraded their charms before him. Hera promised that he would have dominion over the earth if he chose her, Athena offered the wisdom of the ages, but the irresistible Aphrodite merely showed Paris a vision of the loveliest woman in the world, adding the promise that he could possess her. Paris immediately awarded the prize of a golden apple to the Love goddess… incidentally, starting ten years of suffering in the Trojan War in the process.

Though undeniably beautiful, part of Aphrodite’s charm resided in her magical girdle, which compelled all gods and mortals to fall in love with her on sight. The girdle itself had been worn by more than one goddess. It is said that even Hera wore it on occasion when she wanted to ask Zeus for a favour. However, none could truly compare with the divine Aphrodite when it came to winding a male around her little finger.