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Aphrodite Greek Goddess
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Aphrodite Greek Goddess of Love Her Link with Cyprus
Aphrodite is one of the oldest goddesses mentioned in European mythology.
Worship of the aprohdite greek goddess has crossed onto many religious levels and has had many evolutions that spread throughout countless cultures in the whole history of the human race.
The amazing Aphrodite Greek Goddess of Love and Beauty, who was she exactly? Beguiling all men and gods alike, Aphrodite greek goddess's beauty is unequaled.
There are a lot of stories about her and her adventures.
All which are relatively consistent; however, when it comes to her birthplace, or origination, if you wish, there are some minor curiosities.
More facts about Aphrodite Greek goddess of Love and Beauty.
Birth Place of Aphrodite
It was unanimously agreed by the Ancient Greek writers that Aphrodite's birthplace was near the shores of Paphos, an ancient city of Cyprus, which still exists today).
She came from the foam of the waters aphros; greek word for foam, floating on a scallop shell. She washed ashore on the beach in the form of a girl and suddenly grew into an astoundingly beautiful woman.
Though the mythological records of the family tree of aphrodite insists that she was born as a daughter of Zeus and Dione, her birthplace is still expressed as originating in Cyprus.
Two Other Versions
The reason for some confusion about Aphrodite's origins is that there seems to be two other versions of her. The first version puts Aphrodite as being older than Zeus and the other Olympian gods. In this version, she was born as a product of Ouranos's seed when Cronus (Ouranos's son) cut off his father's genitals and cast them into the sea.
Some explanations of this version contend that Aphrodite Greek Goddess of Love was not really older than Zeus; instead, she was just conceived early, held in the womb of the sea (or depths near the earth) for a long time, and was born when Zeus began overthrowing Ouranos and establishing the Olympian order of the gods.
The other version of her is that she was a daughter of Thalath, the goddess of the Mediterranean Sea, and Zeus. This version of the aprohdite greek goddess of love is more consistent with various minor tales (and yet, they're relatively specific in most details). All in all, however, the Cyprus origin is still mentioned, no matter which version is told.
Counterparts
Aphrodite has lots of counterparts. Although, it is not certain which of these counterparts were her original incarnations. It is however more likely that Aphrodite is an amalgam of many stories of goddesses told through centuries by word-of-mouth, and then evolving as the stories pass through different cultures.
Ninhursaga, Urvasi, Ishkara, Ishtar, Isis, Satis, Qetesh, Qadesh, Qadshu, Kythera, Cotys, Conchenn, Cerridwen, Cernunnos, Sjofn, Oenghus, Venus, Boann, Brangwaine, Branwen, Prende, Freya, Anna Perenna, Alpan Alpan, Manannan, Medb, Matronit, Kathirat, Anath, Oshun Anna, Odudua, Oba, Ops, Apis, Astlik, Anahita, Innana, Naamah, Annaljah Tu Bari, Asherali, Astarte, Ashtoreth, and Hathor, can all be considered as her direct counterparts.
Possible Evolution
If you look closely at the family tree of Aphrodite greek goddess of love and beauty and the whole cast of major and minor mythological characters, you'll find that there are a lot of similar gods and goddesses. Hermes for one is very much similar to Prometheus. Aphrodite was also called by the name of Cytherea before the Greek writers decided to just grant her one name.
It is also interesting to note that all those goddess names (mentioned in the previous paragraph) have linguistic similarities if you pronounce them one by one in the order of the list given.
It is scientifically proven that language evolves as time and different cultures pass. These are mostly Indo-European names and it's not too farfetched to think that the goddess of love is the same one that's being described through the generations (albeit, there are some obvious differences in each of their stories).
Various Lovers
Although Aphrodite was married off to the god Hephaestus (god of smithing), she certainly has had other lovers. Zeus gave her to Hephaestus because he was afraid that this aprohdite greek goddess of love and magnanimous beauty would be the cause of a quarrel between gods.
Marriage in Olympus certainly meant little to the gods though since they've actually broken their vows on more than one occasion. Her past lovers included Ares (the god of war), Hermes (the god of travelers as well as a deified trickster with remarkable cunning and intelligence nearly equal to that of Prometheus), Dionysus (the god of the vine), and Adonis (the vegetation god of youth).
Though she was particularly fond of Ares, spending more time with him than any other god, she fought fiercely with another goddess, Persephone (wife of Hades, god of the dead), to have Adonis.
In the end, she had to give him up to the goddess of the dead, but not without grieving at her loss. Apart from gods, she also has had relations with mortal men. Anchises is probably the most important mortal character that she's had sexual relations with.
Children
The family tree of Aphrodite Greek Goddess is almost too numerous to write about simply because she seems to have many children during her extramarital love affairs. The most prominent son of aphrodite happens to be Eros (the god of love), also known as Cupid by the Ancient Romans.
The story of Eros and Psyche is well known among mythology enthusiasts, and Aphrodite seems to play out as the jealous type of mother. She's also had other mortal children like Aeneas (a hero of Troy and the founder of Rome). Aphrodite, is certainly one of the most influential goddesses of mythology. It is also worth noting that she is probably the most celebrated goddess of the ancient times. Cyprus may be her place of origin, but the Aphrodite greek goddess of love and beauty that everybody knows, now belongs to the imaginations of people.
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