APHRODITE
Aphrodite, the "Golden One", was the Greek Goddess of Love who was born
from the foam of the sea. She was attended by the Hours and the Graces
who made her even more beautiful before she set foot on shore. As she
walked to meet the rest of the goddesses and gods for the first time,
flowers sprang up at her feet. She fell in love with Adonis, a beautiful
young man who, one day went hunting and was killed by a boar; she
turned him into an anemone. As the vegetation god, he died and was reborn.
Her origins can be traced back to Cyprus, where her temple was decorated
with a star, a crescent moon and a dove, and further back to
Mesopotamia in her form as Inanna-Ishtar where the myth of her consort Tammuz
(Dumuzi) was similar to that of Adonis. The myth of Isis and Osiris was
also similar. Before the classical period, Aphrodite's realm was Nature.
It was only after the patriarchal takeover that she became the Goddess
of Love in various forms: as Aphrodite Urania she represented ideal
love. The statue of Aphrodite is from Myrina, 2nd century BCE; the "Birth
of Aphrodite" on the shell is from the Ludovisi Throne, 470-60 BCE; the
figurine of Aphrodite on a swan is from Boeotia, Greece, 6th century
BCE. The necklace and earrings are Roman, early 3rd century and 3rd-4th
century respectively.