"
There are countless deities associated with love and/or sexuality in every
culture throughout history, here are some..
Aphrodite:
In Greek mythology, Aphrodite is the goddess of love, beauty and sexual
rapture. According to Hesiod, she was born when Uranus (the father of the gods)
w..."
There are countless deities associated with love and/or sexuality in every
culture throughout history, here are some..
In Greek mythology, Aphrodite is the goddess of love, beauty and sexual
rapture. According to Hesiod, she was born when Uranus (the father of the gods)
was castrated by his son Cronus . Cronus threw the severed genitals into the
ocean which began to churn and foam about them. From the aphros ("sea foam")
arose Aphrodite, and the sea carried her to either Cyprus or Cythera. Hence she
is often referred to as Kypris and Cytherea. Homer calls her a daughter of Zeus
and Dione. After her birth, Zeus was afraid that the gods would fight over
Aphrodite's hand in marriage so he married her off to the smith god Hephaestus
the steadiest of the gods. He could hardly believe his good luck and used all
his skills to make the most lavish jewels for her. He made her a girdle of
finely wrought gold and wove magic into the filigree work. That was not very
wise of him, for when she wore her magic girdle no one could resist her, and she
was all too irresistible already.
She loved gaiety and glamour and was not at
all pleased at being the wife of sooty, hard-working Hephaestus. Aphrodite loved
and was loved by many gods and mortals. Among her mortal lovers, the most famous
was perhaps Adonis . Some of her sons are Eros, Anteros, Hymenaios and Aeneas
(with her Trojan lover Anchises. She is accompanied by the Graces. Her festival
is the Aphrodisiac which was celebrated in various centers of Greece and
especially in Athens and Corinth. Her priestesses were not prostitutes but women
who represented the goddess and sexual intercourse with them was considered just
one of the methods of worship. Aphrodite was originally an old-Asian goddess,
similar to the Mesopotamian Ishtar and the Syro-Palestinian goddess Ashtart. Her
attributes are a.o. the dolphin, the dove, the swan, the pomegranate and the
lime tree. In Roman mythology Venus is the goddess of love and beauty and Cupid
is love's messenger...
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