In the last entry, I’ve mentioned we would be talking out about overcoming obstacles today. Well, turns out we won’t after all, because we figured it would be best if we introduced Aphrodite first, since she holds such a big part in the myth.
So, Aphrodite is the goddess of love, beauty and pleasure.
There are a few stories focusing on her birth, but here’s the most interesting, so here you go: Cronus was the leader of the first generation of Titans; he overthrew his father, Uranus, by castrating him (our mythology can be so charming sometimes :-p ). He threw Uranus’s genitals into the ocean and a divine creature arose from the sea foam; that was Aphrodite (according to some, her name means “foam-risen”).
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| When Eirini first showed me this sketch, my jaw dropped to the floor; but then again, that's the case with most of her sketches. :-p |
Simply put, she’s gorgeous; long blonde hair, slender figure and fine features. Because of her immense beauty, Zeus feared the rivalry that would break out between the gods in their attempt to woe and possess her, so he married her to Hephaestus, the god of smithing, in order to indicate she was off limits.
Sadly though, Hephaestus was far from charming, since he was ugly and deformed, so Aphrodite was known to have many lovers, both gods and men. In most cases, Hephaestus turned a blind eye to her unfaithfulness, because he didn’t want to lose her.
There was a point he did do something though; when he caught her in bed with Ares (some consider his to be the father of Eros too), but that’s a story for later on! ;-)
Character wise, in most myths, Aphrodite is mild tempered and kind to people, as long as they keep worshipping her of course.
In this particular myth though, she’s the exact opposite of that and it’s actually one of the things we liked about this myth.
She’s vain, vindictive, temperamental, and, at certain points, hysterical too; poor Psyche!
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| Here she's again; the goddess of beauty and probably the most difficult mother-in-law one could ask for! :-p |
And here’s your bonus inside fun fact too: the bits of the myth that feature Aphrodite are the least changed; we were quite spot on from quite early on!
