Preview

Aphrodite In Greek Mythology

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
579 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Aphrodite In Greek Mythology
In life, love and war are polar opposites. However, when it comes to Aphrodite, they are what make her the most well known goddess in Greek Mythology. When people think about Aphrodite, the image of a beautiful and gentle woman comes to mind. In spite of that, she has another side to her, as shown in the Trojan War. Her role as the goddess of love and beauty, and her fighting in the Trojan War proves that she is not only the most well known and diverse goddesses, but the best out of them all.
The first reason Aphrodite is the most important goddess is because of what she represents to others. Officially, she is the goddess of love and beauty. To regular humans, Aphrodite contains qualities that most people seek, and it always will catch someone's
…show more content…
She is associated with war because of her relationship with Ares and the Trojan War. Aphrodite did not like her husband, Hephaestus. However, she fell in love with his brother Ares, who happened to be the god of war. They would later go on to have three children of their own. Many say that Aphrodite is responsible for the Trojan War. She made Helen, the wife of the King of Sparta who happened to be the most beautiful woman in the world, fall in love with a Trojan named Paris. She was holding up her end of a bargain and came through. However, it ended in a negative way. The King of Sparta gathered an army to win back his wife, and that was the start of the Trojan War. To much surprise, Aphrodite fought along Ares in the Trojan War. According to theoi.com, when trying to rescue her son, Aeneas, "she was pursued by Diomedes, who wounded her in her hand." This shows the brave side and the war-like side of her. The goddess of love, who was fighting for her son, was strong enough to go into live combat in an environment that is a parallel universe for her symbols. Some may say it is ironic, but it shows why people know her today. What other goddesses would do what Aphrodite did, in her situation? The answer will be a lower number, and this shows why Aphrodite is the most well known and important

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Humanities Wk3 Assignment

    • 1040 Words
    • 4 Pages

    She was portrayed to be the goddess of love and beauty often shown smiling. She is the daughter of Zeus. Some myths also say they daughter of Uranus (Aphrodite, 2002). One of the more known and told myth is her helping Paris to abduct his love Helen of Troy.…

    • 1040 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    9. What were the Greek and Latin names for the two gods who were most important in the everyday lives of the people?…

    • 398 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Therefore, Athena was a very important greek goddess. She has very many sides to her, making her very likeable. Athena was smart, creative, and tough. She was a one of a kind person, one of a kind woman, and a one of kind greek goddess. Mortals look to her for her wise words and soldiers looked to her for her knowledge in…

    • 754 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dionysus Research Paper

    • 932 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Ares was the god of war. He was the son of Zeus and Hera. Ares represents the physical and violent concept of war, compared to Athena who represents military strategy. Ares is very well known for being one of Aphrodite’s main lovers while she was married to Hephaestus. Symbols of Ares include a spear and a flaming torch.…

    • 932 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Athena (Roman name: Minerva), goddess of wisdom and battle strategy, is one of the most beloved and well known gods of the Greek myths. According to Greek mythology, Athena sprang from the head of Zeus, fully grown and wearing battle attire. Athena is always portrayed with her armor and helmet, carrying her shield and lance. Athena is also a gifted craftsman; she created the bridle to tame horses, along with many other crafts and useful objects. Her favorite bird is the owl, which is the symbol of wisdom, watchfulness and the hunt. Athena made all of her followers live a life of purity, and she created a big impact on Greece’s history. On of the most famous myths involving Athena is the origination of the city of the Athens’ symbol. The story begins when Poseidon and Athena have a dispute over who is to rule Athens. Whoever greats the best symbol to represent the city would become patron god or goddess. Poseidon, god of the sea, produced a freshwater spring for the Acropolis. Athena chose to present an olive tree, one of her many symbols. Because olive trees are deemed very useful, Athena became crowned patron goddess of Athens, and she has been ever since.…

    • 302 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Athena is one of the most important Goddesses of Mount Olympus. She gave guidance to those who seeked it. She was brave and very intelectual no matter the circumstance. She was also has one of the strangest stories of becoming a goddess. Let’s start with the story of how Athena came to be.…

    • 875 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Athena Role Model

    • 801 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Athena is one of the most well known goddesses from ancient Greece. She is Goddess of Wisdom and of War and is a good example of the template used for our modern day female superhero. Often called a feminist goddess, she is described as strong in both her character and body, independent and fierce, wise and rational. The story of Athena’s birth is well known. Zeus consumed the Titan goddess Metis and began to suffer a headache, Hephaestus then splits Zeus’ head open to relieve the ache and out of the wound sprung Athena. If you look close enough, Athena was born of man and woman asexually, but it was often said, even by Athena herself that she was born only of man. This course of action is a denial of the maternal origin and her mother is never seen in ancient myth as a disrespect. The denial of birth and female power to give birth commandeers this power and creates another layer of patriarchal views on the creation of life in the world. She belongs to only her father and sees herself as his greatest and most trusted heir. She was a part of the world in a way the women of her time were not allowed to be, a goddess of both war and wisdom, when the women in society were seen as irrational and unpredictable by the men around them. But she still remains a beacon of what a perfect women should be in their society, virginal, beautiful and loyally pledged to…

    • 801 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    With a magical girdle, many idolized her, and desired her, for her looks, and intellectualness. However, at the central of her dawning beauty laid a rivalry between two other women, Hera and Athena, for the so-called “battle” of who was the most beautiful woman in the whole world. At the end of the day she won, at the choice of Trojan prince Paris, at the cost of bribery, by giving Paris Helen. However, Helen was already married, and not looking for another, or an additional man into her life. This event, of course led to a major turning point in Greek and Trojan relations, causing strife between the two nations. The importance of Aphrodite is that she caused the trouble between the Trojans and the Greeks, all over one bribe. The significance of her role in the Trojan War is legendary, even just by kick starting all of the…

    • 1022 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Aphrodite agreed to it but Ares would not agree unless she promised he would win. Demi refused to promise he would win so he got mad at her and decided that she was not a goddess anymore, so he kicked her out of Mount Olympus. Aphrodite was sad and refused to let anyone fall in love until Demi was a goddess again and was allowed back on Mount Olympus. Ares refused, so Aphrodite decided to get help from Athena so she could trick Ares into letting Demi back on Mount Olympus.…

    • 433 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Madlibs Are Bad Libs

    • 4040 Words
    • 17 Pages

    Homer's The Iliad presents many key details on the Trojan War. The Iliad tells of the Trojan War, saying that there was a war and that it was an expedition to rescue Helen after her abduction by Paris. It tells us that "Agamemnon King of Men" (Homer, p.1) moved the Greek people to unite and take up arms against Priam's city of Troy where Helen was being held after she was stolen from Menelaus. The Iliad, however also brings myth into the mix with the idea that when Paris was asked to judge the beauty of the Goddesses, Athena, Aphrodite and Hera, he picked Aphrodite who offered him the love of the most beautiful woman in the world (Helen). It is these ideas that lead us to question the accuracy of The Iliad, and before considering The Iliad to be true, Homer's reliability as a creditable writer must be considered.…

    • 4040 Words
    • 17 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The most important immortal character in the Odyssey would undoubtedly be Athena, who is the daughter of Zeus, and the goddess of wisdom, battle, and other feminie arts such as weaving and farming. In homer’s epic, she plays the role of the guardian of Odysseus and Telemachus, saving Odysseus and helping him through many difficult situations, including his shipwreck caused by Poseidon (homer 5) and the encouraging him through the one-sided battle with the suitors (Homer 22). She does not merely impart sense and safety to her passive charge, however. She takes an interest in Odysseus for the talents he already has and actively demonstrates. She also often helps Telemachus—as when she sends him off to Pylos and Sparta to earn a name for himself. But she has the most affection for Odysseus. Athena is practical, clever and a master of disguises, and a great warrior, for an example of Athena being a master of disguises, she, on several occasions, transformed herself into either an old man or a “forgotten” friend of Odysseus’ father (Homer 17). Athena is one of the most typical femme fatale portrayed in ancient Greek literature due to the skills she possess which are potentially lethal…

    • 897 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Gods and Goddesses of Greek mythology have gained their fame based on their own roles within Greek culture, and have been attributed to becoming the God or Goddess of a specific concepts, objects, or personal talents. Basing his novel mainly on this idea, Riordan forms a world within the novel, where the behaviors of characters refers to the titles or powers of certain Gods or Goddess. Specifically the Goddesses of Athena and Aphrodite, Riordan steadily allows the put down of Aphrodite and raises Athena on a pedestal. Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love and Beauty, is seen to represent the old fashioned mindset of women as being only figures of physical beauty and having little to no role in society. Shown by Percy’s calm tone and attitude in…

    • 296 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Women In The Iliad

    • 808 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Iliad of Homer, showed women as being items of exchange for the men who had possessed them. They are shown in their social roles as mothers and wives. He states stereotypical characterizations of them. The reader understands that women are being treated as prizes, and that the male hero has to win or he'd have to resist fulfilling his heroic destiny. The characters of Hera and Athena, who are among the immortals, they are certainly strong women. Hera is the wife of Zeus and queen of the Olympians. She tricked her husband so that she is able to play with in the affairs of the Trojan War. The goddess of wisdom, and war, Athena attacked Ares two different occasions and still had to have him flee to Mount Olympus in defeat.…

    • 808 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Helen in Iliad

    • 2703 Words
    • 11 Pages

    as the woman for whose sake the Trojan War was fought.But Helen is something more than that.She is depicted within a framework of multiple constraints in the Iliad.…

    • 2703 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Helen of Troy was one of these women. Like so many women Homer speaks of, her beauty alone could be the cause of a catastrophic outcome. It is argued she began the Trojan War when she was given to Paris, the prince of Troy, who chose Aphrodite over Athena and Hera, who, furious at being seen with any less beauty, urged the Greeks to march towards Troy. Born to Zeus and Leda, Helen is a central female figure in both of Homer 's poems. From what we can tell, she was always treated well by the Trojans, and generally badmouthed by the Greeks.…

    • 825 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays