The Greek Gods

Another of the famous Greek Gods was the goddess Aphrodite (also known as Anadyomene or Venus). Aphrodite was the goddess of love, beauty, and fertility. She was also the goddess who protected the sailors. There are several translations as to who the parents of Aphrodite was. One translation says that she was the daughter of Zeus and Dione. Another story says she was born from sea foam which came from the testicles of Uranus after Cronus cast them into the sea. Uranus (also known as the Sky) hid his children in the Underworld because he both feared them and also was ashamed of how they looked.. Mother Earth (or also known as Gaea, Gaia, Ge, and Earth) was the mother of Cronus and his siblings. Gaea made a sickle for Cronus and when he came down to lay with Gaea, Cronus cut off his testicles and threw them into the sea. It is said that a large area of foam formed on the water and from it came Aphrodite. This castration separated Uranus from Gaea and from then on it no longer connected.

The Trojan prince Paris was once asked who he believed was the most beautiful of the three Olympian goddesses and he chose Aphrodite instead of Hera or Athena. The latter two had tried to bribe him by offering him power and victory in battle. Aphrodite offered him the love of the most beautiful woman in the world. To Paris, Helen of Sparta was the most beautiful woman in the world. Helen became famous as the Helen of Troy. Paris eloped with her and during the Trojan War, Hera and Athena were enemies of Troy and Aphrodite was loyal to the Trojans and Paris.

It is recorded in Homer’s Illiad that during the Trojan War, Aphrodite tried to save her son, Aeneas, who was a Trojan ally. The Greek hero known as Diomedes, was on the verge of killing Aeneas. When Aphrodite interfered, Diomedes then attacked and wounded her on her wrist with a spear. Aphrodite then dropped Aeneas and Apollo rescued him. Aphordite then borrowed her brother, Ares’ chariot and flew to Olympus. Her mother soothed her and cured her wound. According to Homer, Aphrodite also saved Paris when he was about to be killed in a combat against Menelaus. She wrapped him in a mist and took him away and set him down in his own bedroom in Troy. It seems that Helen of Troy was the wife of Menelaus and Aphrodite talked her into going to Paris.

The ancient Greeks believed that Aphrodite was both Greek and foreign. When Jason, a mortal hero, asked permission of the king of Colchis, to remove the Golden Fleece from the grove where it hung, the king refused. The goddess, Hera, had sponsored Jason’s quest and she asked Aphrodite to intervene. Aphrodite made the King’s daughter, Medea, fall in love with Jason and Medea helped Jason succeed with his request.