Greek Mythology: “Aphrodite, Goddess of Love and Beauty”.-

“Venus Verticordia” (“Venus the Changer of Hearts”) by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1868).-

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Aphrodite (In ancient greek Ἀφροδίτη”arisen from the foam”. Roman equivalent: Venus) was the goddess of Love, Beauty and Eternal Youth, arousing desire to gods and humans. In addition, she was connected to the death/rebirth of nature and was also considered a protectress of sailors.

Aphrodite’s symbols were the girdle. the seashell and the mirror. Her sacred animal was the dove.

According to Hesiod’s “Theogony”, she was created from the foam of the waters of the sea, in the fragrant island of Cyprus, when the Titan Cronos  slew his father, the major Titan Ouranos, and threw then his genitals into the sea.

Hesiod’s reference to Aphrodite’s having been born from the sea inspired the Renaissance artist Botticelli’s famous painting of the goddess on a giant scallop shell. 

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“The Birth of Venus” by Sandro Botticelli (1486).-

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Homer, on the other hand, said that she was the daughter of Zeus and Dione.

When the Trojan prince Paris was asked to judge which of three Olympian goddesses was the most beautiful, he chose Aphrodite over Hera and Athena and gave her the Golden Apple which was labeled “To the Fairest”.

The latter two had hoped to bribe him with power and victory in battle, but Aphrodite offered the love of the most beautiful woman in the world.

This was Helen of Sparta, who became infamous as Helen of Troy when Paris subsequently eloped with her. In the ensuing Trojan War, Hera and Athena were implacable enemies of Troy while Aphrodite was loyal to Paris and the Trojans.

In Homer’s “Iliad”, Aphrodite saves Paris when he is about to be killed in single combat by Menelaus. The goddess wraps him in a mist and spirits him away, setting him down in his own bedroom in Troy. She then appears to Helen in the guise of an elderly handmaiden and tells her that Paris is waiting for her.

Helen recognizes the goddess in disguise and asks if she is being led once more to ruin. For Aphrodite had bewitched her into leaving her husband Menelaus to run off with Paris. She dares to suggest that Aphrodite go to Paris herself.

Suddenly furious, the goddess warns Helen not to go too far, lest she be abandoned to the hatred of Greeks and Trojans alike.

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“Venus induces Helen to fall in love with Paris” (detail)  by Angelica Kauffman (1790).-

“The Judgment of Paris” by Luca Giordano (1681-1683).-

”Golden Apple of Discord” by Jacob Jordaens (1633).-

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Another case in which Aphrodite came to the aid of a mortal hero also happened to involve golden apples. When the heroine Atalanta agreed to wed who beat her in a foot race, Aphrodite favored Hippomenes with a peck of golden fruit.

By strewing these apples on the race course, Hippomenes caused Atalanta to become distracted, reason why she lost the race.

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“Atlanta and Hippomenes” by Willem van Herp (1632).-

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In a different ocassion, Zeus punished Aphrodite for beguiling her fellow gods into inappropriate romances.

He caused her to become infatuated with the mortal Anchises. That’s how she came to be the mother of Aeneas. She protected this hero during the Trojan War and its aftermath, when Aeneas quested to Italy and became the mythological founder of a line of Roman emperors.

A minor Italic goddess named Venus became identified with Aphrodite, and that’s how she got her Roman name. It is as Venus that she appears in the “Aeneiad”, Virgil’s epic of the founding of Rome.

In the “Iliad”, Homer tells how Aphrodite intervened in battle to save her son Aeneas, who was obviously,  a Trojan ally. 

The Greek hero Diomedes, who had been on the verge of killing Aeneas, attacked the goddess herself, wounding her on the wrist. Aphrodite promptly dropped Aeneas, who was rescued by Apollo, another Olympian sponsor of the Trojan.

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“Venus with Iapis Tending the Wounded Aeneas” by Francesco Solimena (1695).-

“Venus Presenting Arms to Aeneas” by Nicolas Poussin (1639_.-

“Venus Directing Aeneas and Achates to Carthage” by Angelica Kauffmann. (1768).-

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►”The Aphrodite of Cnidos” by Praxiteles and Other Sculptures of Aphrodite based on it:

Coin from Cnidos showing the Aphrodite of Cnidus, by Praxiteles.

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“The Aphrodite of Cnidos” or “Cnidian Aphrodite” was one of the most famous works of the ancient greek sculptor Praxiteles (4th century BC, Classic Period). 

The statue  became famous for its beauty, meant to be appreciated from every angle, and for being the first life-size representation of the nude female form.  

Praxiteles probably used the courtesan Phryne as a model.

The Cnidian Aphrodite has not survived. Possibly the statue was removed to Constantinople and was lost in a fire.

The original statue supposedly depicted Aphrodite as she prepared for the ritual bath that restored her purity (not virginity), discarding her drapery in her left hand, while modestly shielding herself with her right hand.

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►Slideshare: Most Well Known Variations on “The Aphrodite of Cnidos”:

(Note: Click on any sculpture for further technical details on it)

“Borghese Venus”, 2nd century. Roman marble copy of the Aphrodite of Cnidus (Capitoline Venus subtype). Musée du Louvre. Paris. France.

“The Venus de Medici” is a Hellenistic sculpture depicting Aphrodite (Roman equivalent: Venus). It is a 1st-century BC marble copy of a bronze original Greek sculpture, following the type of the Aphrodite of Cnidos. Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy.

“The Capitoline Venus” It is an Antonine copy of a late Hellenistic sculpture derived from Praxiteles . “The Capitoline Venus” and her variants are recognisable from the position of the arms, as Venus begins to cover her breasts with her right hand, and her groin with her left hand. Capitoline Museums, Rome. Italy.

“The Venus of Arles” dates to the end of the 1st century BC. Musée du Louvre. Paris. France.

“Aphrodite of Menophantos” a Venus Pudica signed by Menophantos, 1st century BCE, found at San Gregorio al Celio, Rome Museo Nazionale Romano. Rome. Italy.

“Aphrodite of Milos”, better known as the “Venus de Milo” was created during the Hellenistic Period, sometime between 130 and 100 BC, by Alexandros of Antioch. Musée du Louvre. Paris. France.

“The Colonna Venus” (812) is a Roman marble copy of the lost Aphrodite of Cnidus by Praxiteles, conserved in the Museo Pio-Clementino as a part of the Vatican Museums’ collections. It is now the best-known and perhaps most faithful Roman copy of Praxiteles’ original. Museo Pio-Clementino. Vatican.

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►Links Post:

http://www.mythweb.com/encyc/entries/aphrodite.html

https://ladysighs.wordpress.com/2015/02/01/greek-9-aphrodite/

http://gogreece.about.com/cs/mythology/a/mythaphrodite.htm

http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/grecoromanmyth1/p/Aphrodite.htm

http://www.greek-gods.info/greek-gods/aphrodite/aphrodite-paintings.php

https://micromythos.wordpress.com/2015/02/01/the-weirdest-births-of-mythology/

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphrodite_of_Cnidus

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