Αφροδιτη - Aphroditê
Categories or Retinues to Which She Belongs:
Gamêlioi theoi - Gods of Marriage
Theoi Daitoi - Deities of feasts and banquets
Theoi Mousikoi - Deities of music, dance, and the arts
Domains:
Beauty
Birth
Love
Marriage
Pleasure
Procreation
War
Symbols:
Apples
Dove
Goose
Fish
Mirrors
Myrtle
Pearl
Pomegranate
Rose
Sparrows
Swallows
Swans
Traditional Offerings:
Flowers
Pigs
Goats
Young cows
Hares
Incense
Oil
Traditional Methods of Devotional Worship:
Prostitution
Epithets:
Αμβολογηερα - Ambologêra - Delaying Old Age; she had a statue in Sparta under this epithet
Κηποις - Anaduomenê - Rising Out of the Sea
Antheia - Blooming
Απατουρος - Apatouros - Deceitful
Αποστροφια - Apotrophia - The Expeller; she was worshipped at Thebes as the goddess who expelled from men the desire for sinful pleasure and lust
Αρεια - Areia - Warlike; she was represented in full armor under this epithet
Επιστροφια - Epistrophia - She who Turns to Love
Kallipugos - a surname of Aphrodite under which she is depicted distinctly as being soft, round, and full of form
Despoina - Ruling Goddess or Mistress
Genetullis - Protectoress of Birth
Μαχανιτις - Mêchanitis - Skilled in Inventing
Μελαινις - Melainis - The Dark
Μιγωντις - Migôntis - Of Union
Μορφω - Morphô - Fair Shaped
Νικηφορος - Nikêphoros - Bringing Victory
Νυμφια - Nymphia - Bridal
Πανδημος - Pandêmos - Common to All People
Peithô - Persuasive
Πραξις - Praxis - Sexual Action
Ουρανια - Ourania - Heavenly
Festivals:
4th of each lunar month is Sacred to Aphrodite
Adônia - Athenian festival taking place annually in honor of Adonis’ death, it was one of a number of Athenian festivals which were celebrated solely by women and addressed sexual or reproductive subjects. Athenian women took to the rooftops of their houses where they danced, sang, and ritually mourned Adonis’ death. They planted “Gardens of Adonis” consisting of lettuce and fennel seeds, planted in potsherds – which sprouted before withering and dying. After the rooftop celebrations, the women descended to the streets with these Gardens of Adonis, and small images of the god; they then conducted a mock funeral procession, before ritually burying the images and the remains of the gardens at sea or in springs. Date is contested, most likely placed in spring or summer.
Anagôgia - The Festival of Embarkation, held in Aphrodite’s honor, when she leaves for Libya, and is followed nine days later by Katagôgia.
Aphrodisia - An annual festival held in honor of Aphrodite. First worshipers would purify the temple with the blood from a dove. Afterwards, worshipers would carry sacred images of the goddess in a procession to be washed. In Cyprus, participants who were initiated into the Mysteries of Aphrodite were offered salt, a representation of Aphrodite’s connection to the sea, and bread baked in the shape of a phallus. After the initial sacrifice of the dove, it was not permitted to make bloody sacrifices, since the altar could not be polluted.
Katagôgia - Celebration of Aphrodite’s return after Anagogia.
Birth:
Several accounts of Aphrodite’s birth exist. Hesiod in the Theogony claims Aphrodite was born of the sea foam that resulted when Ouranos was castrated. Homer alleges that Aphrodite is the daughter of Zeus and Dione, Titaness Goddess of the oracle of Dodona in Thesprotia.
Children:
Anteros - God of recipricol love, son of Ares and Aphrodite
Beroe - Goddess of the city Beroe, daughter of Adonis and Aphrodite
Deimos - God of fear, son of Ares and Aphrodite
Eros - God of love, mixed accounts of parentage. Some claim Ares, others claim Aphrodite was born pregnant with Eros
Harmonia - Goddess of civil and marital harmony, daughter of Ares and Aphrodite
Hermaphroditos - God son of Hermes and Aphrodite
Himeros - God of desire, twin brother of Eros
Iakkhos - A god of the Eleusinian Mysteries, son of Dionysos and Aphrodite
Peitho - Goddess of persuasion and seduction, sometimes depicted as a daughter of Aphrodite, alternatively a daughter of Okeanos and Tethys
Phobos - Son of Ares and Aphrodite
Praipus - God of vegetable gardens beehives, flocks and vineyards, parentage is disputed. Some claim a son of Dionysos and Aphrodite, others of Hermes, others yet of Aphrodite and Zeus, and others of Dionysos with varying nymphs.
Bibliography:
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Atsma, A. J. (n.d.). Aphrodite. Retrieved January 31, 2021, from https://www.theoi.com/
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Goff, Barbara (2004). Citizen Bacchae: Women’s Ritual Practice in Ancient Greece. Berkeley: University of California Press.
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Hesiod, Theogony, (lines 173-205), Perseus Digital Library
In Horster, M. (2013). Cities and priests: Cult personnel in Asia Minor and the Aegean Islands from the Hellenistic to the Imperial period.
Kate McK. Elderkin. (1925). Aphrodite
Sale, W. (1961). Aphrodite in the Theogony. Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, 92, 508-521. doi:10.2307/283834
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Welch, K. (1998). The Stadium at Aphrodisias. American Journal of Archaeology, 102(3), 547-569. doi:10.2307/506401
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