Classical Mythology

APHRODITE AND EROS 175

The Godhead Fires. By Edward Burne-Jones (1833-1898); oil in canvas, 1878, 39 X 30 in.

This is the third of the four scenes painted by Burne-Jones to illustrate William Morris'

poem "Pygmalion and the Image" in The Earthly Paradise. Venus, clothed in a diaphanous

garment and holding a sprig of myrtle, appears with her doves and roses and by her

touch brings Galatea to life, with the words, "Come down, and learn to love and be alive."

(Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery.)

has something in common with Hermes. He also resembles Dionysus and Pan
(two of his other reputed fathers), and is sometimes confused with them or their
retinues. Whatever the origins of Priapus in terms of sincere and primitive rev-
erence for the male powers of generation, stories about him usually came to be
comic and obscene. In the jaded society of later antiquity, his worship meant lit-
tle more than a cult of sophisticated pornography. (See Color Plate 6.)

PYGMALION

Although many stories illustrate the mighty power of Aphrodite, the story of

Pygmalion has provided a potent theme in subsequent literature. Ovid tells how

Aphrodite (Venus in his version) was enraged with the women of Cyprus be-