Aphrodite

The Greek goddess Aphrodite calls to mind ideas of sex, love, pleasure, and beauty. In the Greek language her name has generated the expression ta aphrodisia. The semantic field of this word points to what is called "sexuality"—that is, the set practices and imagery associated with sex. Aphrodite is the only Greek divinity whose name generates a word that designates her sphere of intervention. Two fields have to be investigated to understand this divine representation of sexuality: Greek literature carrying myths on the one hand and Greek cult practice on the other.

The first important myth with Aphrodite is the Hesiodic tradition of her birth. According to the Theogony (conventionally dated from the early seventh century bce), the first creatures emerging in the cosmos are the physical entities: earth (Gaia), sky (Uranus), mountains, and so on. Amongst these cosmic gods appears also Eros, whose name in Greek means more or less "Love," the sexual impulse that promotes union and reproduction. Aphrodite emerges as the first anthropomorphic goddess from the genitals of the sky god, Uranus, severed by his son Cronos and thrown into the sea god, Pontos. The poet explains the name "Aphrodite" by the marine and seminal foam (aphros) from which she grows. At this moment Eros becomes the goddess's powerful agent. Her sphere of honor and of intervention in the human world will be "virgins' whisperings, smiles, deceits, pleasure and sexual relationship." The deep ambivalence of sexuality, expressed as "works of Aphrodite," is rooted in the description of her sudden epiphany, a subtle mixture of desire and violence, tension and appeasement (Theogony, 188-206).

In Homer's Iliad (conventionally dated from the eighth century bce), Aphrodite is the daughter of Zeus and Dione, and concerned with the "works of marriage" or "works of sex," according to the translation chosen for the Greek word gamos (Iliad 5, 429). Aphrodite's genealogy is not the same as in the Theogony, but her sphere of intervention remains unchanged: the sexuality legitimated by society (with marriage), as well as its destructive aspect (the rape of Helen by Paris, presented as a reward offered by Aphrodite, is the core of the Trojan war narrated by the Homeric Iliad). This ambivalence is exemplified by many other Greek texts, mainly in the classical Athenian tragedies of the fifth century bce, which illustrate how necessary it is to submit to sexual union and to what extent the goddess's anger can be disastrous to the human, male or female, refusing this destiny. The young Hippolytus, son of Theseus and an Amazon, despises sexual union and marriage, just as do the fifty daughters of Danaos, the Danaides. Hippolytus must die, and the Danaides must each kill her husband during the wedding night (forty-nine do). On the Athenian stage, the contempt of sexuality breeds an outburst of violence and fury. This tradition intersects the theme of submission to sexuality with that of the production of children to assure the survival of the community. As goddess of sexuality, Aphrodite's field of manifestation includes fecundity and fertility in close connection, but it would be inadequate to interpret the Greek Aphrodite only as a "mother-goddess" or a "fertility-goddess." From Sappho to Lucretius, poetry celebrates the power of love, the impact of beauty, the force of desire and its violence, closely connecting them with Aphrodite's sphere.

The common thread that runs through the cult worship of Aphrodite in the Greek cities is her patronage of the sphere of sexuality, in all its complexity. Thus in many cities, girls about to be married sacrificed to Aphrodite so that their first sexual experience might be propitious. Boys, too, may have worshiped her, but the evidence is not so well attested. Widows prayed to the goddess for another marriage. But sexuality is much broader than marriage; Aphrodite protected all forms of sexual union: in or outside marriage, heterosexual or homosexual, with concubines, courtesans, or prostitutes. The city of Corinth was particularly known for the beauty and luxurious living of its courtesans, who revered the local Aphrodite. It is unlikely, however, that her sanctuary on Acrocorinth was the location of an institutionalized form of what is generally called "sacred prostitution" a strictly modern term that associates prostitution with sanctuaries: Girls or women dedicated to a goddess, temporarily or for life, would have sold their bodies inside the sacred place at the financial advantage of the temple. This practice is not documented in ancient Greece. This term amalgamates the Greek practice of manumission of slaves by consecration to a god and some doubtful evidence of prostitution inside sanctuaries in Mesopotamia.

The field of sexuality for the Greeks includes charis, "grace" and "charm." As soon as young people become full of active charis, Aphrodite is present. In mythology, Harmony is daughter of Aphrodite and Ares, "Love" and "War." Such symbolic associations encompass the goddess's associations with civic harmony, concord, and order. Since the fifth century bce at least, magistrates honored her in their official capacity at the end of service. Two interpretations, which are not incompatible, have been proposed: on the one hand, these officials thank the goddess for the harmonious performance of their duties; on the other hand, these aphrodisia mark the return from duty to the pleasures of private life and the release of tension. This "civic" aspect of Aphrodite's sphere is an extension of her patronage of sexuality: Her powerful ability to rouse up the vital impulse, to unite beings and to mingle their bodies, is connected with social cohesion. Aphrodite is often called Aphrodite Pandemos ("she of all the people"), a qualification that declares the goddess responsible for political concord and civic inclusiveness.

Plato in his Symposium (180d-e) opposes Aphrodite Pandemos with Aphrodite Urania ("celestial Aphrodite"). They represent, respectively, vulgar heterosexual love and spiritual love between males. This philosophical fantasy became very popular in antiquity, but it contradicts the evidence for both cults. Pandemos does not mean "vulgar love" in the cult (even if comic poets associate the cult's foundation and funds received from public brothels), and the Athenian cult of Urania is deeply rooted in heterosexual love and marriage. On the island of Cos, Aphrodite was worshipped as Pandamos (Doric form of Pandemos), just like in Athens, but also as Pontia, "she of the sea." Both aspects are reflected in the worshippers' quality and obligations. All women who marry on the island—citizen women, illegitimate women, and metics (free non-citizens)—have to offer a sacrifice to the goddess within a year: a good summary of sexual and inclusive divine functionality. On the other hand, sea-traders also have to honor the goddess, "she of the sea." Such an association with the sea is widely attested in the Mediterranean by epithets like Euploia ("she who gives good sailing") or Limenia ("she of the shore"). One way to explain this refers to the peculiar birth of the goddess from the sea foam. Another refers to her general power to provoke but also to calm and to dissolve disorder, be it human or natural.

Another prerogative of the goddess is the martial dimension that characterizes some of her cults. In myth and cult, her relationship with Ares is well attested. A priori, the goddess has little concern for such matters. Once more, one has to engage with the notion of "sexuality": In literature, the martial imagery is used to describe the sexual union itself and the tremendous impulse that it provokes in human beings. Inversely, sexual imagery is used in epic descriptions of the battlefield. Sexuality is an ambiguous force, and Aphrodite's connections with war belong to this ambivalence.

A last prerogative is the connection with the black earth when the goddess is worshiped as Melainis, "the black one." One way of interpreting the name is to refer to the blackness of night and the nocturnal sexuality. However the web of mythical imagery comes to support and makes another interpretation possible: Fertilizing moisture and the growth of vegetation are conceived on the model of the sexual union between the sky and the earth. Aphrodite's patronage of vital humors fits well in this context.

The desiring impulse is the very image of life and of its drive, creative and potentially destructive. This impulse and its fulfillment in sexual union constitute the frame on which mythical discourse and cultic performances are woven, the imagery of myths and cults concerned with Aphrodite and her aphrodisia are woven. The myths and cults of Aphrodite are closely connected to this imagery.

see also Anahita; Inanna-Ishtar; Venus.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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                                  Vinciane Pirenne-Delforge