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The Greek Goddess Aphrodite

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The Greek Goddess Aphrodite
Niveditha Chalam
Melissa Bijas
Meredith
English 1 H
8 October 2010
The Greek Goddess Aphrodite
The ancient Greek times spoke of many heavenly beings: Greek gods and goddesses who united together with their many powers to oversee the ancient world. One glorious goddess was Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. Aphrodite was a pulchritudinous goddess whose role lied in the field of love, glamor, and fertility. "Aphrodite Greek Goddess" states that “worship of the aphrodite 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.” Her background was (and still is) argued about by historians from all ages. How she came to exist in the world was a little more unique and different than the histories of the other Greek gods and goddesses. Aphrodite has many important characteristics that are interesting to one learning about the ancient Greeks ' angelic role models.
Some sources argue that the eternally young deity was “born when Uranus [the sky] was castrated by his son Cronus” (Lindemans), rising, fully matured, from the churning sea foam, while others debate that she was the offspring of the god Zeus and mortal Dione. According to Regula DeTraci, author of “Aphrodite, Greek Goddess of Love and Beauty,” she “rose from the foam off of the islands of Cyprus or Kythira.” To her great disappointment, Aphrodite was married off to Hephaestus, the ugly smith god. To elaborate, “Zeus, ruler of the gods, arranged the union to prevent dissension among the gods over her beauty” (ACWriter101). However, Aphrodite was very unfaithful to her husband and had many affairs with other men (mortal) and Ares (God of War). One of her many offspring was Eros, god of Love. In addition, some of her followers believed that sexual intercourse was a way to worship her, although they were not considered to be prostitutes (Lindemans). Aphrodite 's other attributes were also as



Cited: ACWriter101. “Greek Mythology: Fun Facts About Aphrodite.” associatedcontent.com. Assoc. Content, Inc., 2 July 2009. Web. 5 Oct. 2010. <http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1892502/greek_mythology_fun_facts_about_aphrodite.html>. “Aphrodite Greek Goddess of Love and Beauty.” Cyrpruskeysadvisers.net. Site Build It!, 2010. Web. 5 Oct. 2010. <http://www.cypruskeysadvisers.net/aphrodite-greek-goddess.html>. DeTraci, Regula. “Aphrodite, Greek Goddess of Love and Beauty.” About.com. The New York Times Co., 2010. Web. 5 Oct. 2010. <http://gogreece.about.com/cs/mythology/a/mythaphrodite.htm>. Lindemans, Micha F. “Aphrodite.” Encyclopedia Mythica. N.p., 17 July 1999. Web. 5 Oct. 2010. <http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/aphrodite.html>. Lombardi, Anne J. “Aphrodite.” Arthistory. N.p., 1998. Web. 5 Oct. 2010. <http://www.arthistory.sbc.edu/imageswomen/papers/lombardiaphrodite/aphrodite.html>. Skidmore, Joel. “Aphrodite.” Mythweb. Fleet Gazelle, 30 July 2010. Web. 5 Oct. 2010. <http://www.mythweb.com/gods/Aphrodite.html>.

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