Aphrodite: Captivating Greek Myths and Facts Involving the Olympian Goddess of Love

Did you know that Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, was also associated with the sea?

Born from a strange mixture of divine blood, severed genitals, and seafoam, Aphrodite washed up on the shores of Cyprus long before the emergence of her fellow Olympians. A figure who is as petty as she is relatable, she is not only a key deity of the Greek pantheon, but she is also a central figure in many of the myths we know and love today.

With influences possibly rooted in the goddesses Ishtar and Astarte, there are scholars who believe that the concept of Aphrodite was imported to Greece from the Middle East or West Asia. Contact between cultures might have led to her incorporation into the main Greek pantheon, with her foreign origins explaining some of the regional differences regarding not just her birth but also her personality. While her connections to beauty and love are her most well-known attributes, places like Sparta and Cyprus also viewed her as a war goddess.

Depictions of Aphrodite’s powers can reveal quite a lot about how the Ancient Greeks viewed love. By looking at the life-threatening consequences faced by the mortals who cross Aphrodite’s path, one can see how, in Ancient Greece, a sour end to a relationship could destroy a person’s life through the tainting of their reputation and their honor.

This book focuses on myths that are either centered around Aphrodite or feature her as an important character. Because of her volatile nature and quick temper, Aphrodite could just as often be a force for good as she could be a force for evil. While it would be impossible to gather all the different stories related to Aphrodite in their entirety in one collection, this book provides the interested reader with a nice, if somewhat modest, the assortment of narratives that display different facets of this fascinatingly complex goddess.

Some of the myths you’ll discover by reading this book are:

Aphrodite’s birth and unexpected marriage

The life and death of Adonis

How Psyche and Eros’ love defied divine wrath

Pygmalion’s arrogance and his unusual mistress

The beginnings of the greatest war ever fought

And more!