12.
Aphrodite:
Goddess of Love and Beauty,
Creative Woman and Lover
APHRODITE THE GODDESS
Aphrodite, Goddess of Love and Beauty, whom the Romans called
Venus, was the most beautiful of the goddesses. Poets told of the
beauty of her face and form, of her golden hair and her flashing eyes,
soft skin, and beautiful breasts. To Homer, she was “a lover of
laughter,” filled with irresistible charm. She was a favorite subject
for sculptors, who portrayed her in a state of undress or partial dress
that revealed her graceful, sensual body—the Venus de Milo and
the Aphrodite of Cnidos, known to us only through Roman copies,
are the most famous of many.
“Golden” was the most frequent eptithet used by the Greeks to
describe Aphrodite—it meant “beautiful” to the Greeks. And accord-
ing to Paul Friedrich, noted scholar of Aphrodite, gold/honey,
gold/speech, gold/semen are linguistically connected, symbolizing
Aphrodite’s deeper values of procreation and verbal creation.^1 She
was associated with doves, those billing and cooing lovebirds, and
swans, noted for their beauty and pairing; with flowers, especially
roses, traditionally the gift of lovers; with sweet fragrances and fruits,
especially golden apples and sensual, passion-red pomegranates (a
symbol shared with Persephone).