January 16, 2017

When it comes to matters of the heart, Aphrodite reigns supreme in Greek mythology. Aphrodite was the Greek goddess of love and beauty. The Romans, who named their gods and goddesses after planets and stars, called her Venus. Aphrodite was the daughter of Zeus, the king of the gods, and the goddess Dione. According to some myths, when Aphrodite was born, she rose full-grown from sea foam. The name Aphrodite may come from the Greek word aphros, which means foam.

This photograph shows a statue of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty in Greek mythology. Aphrodite plays a role in many myths, often starting love affairs among mortals. Credit: © Thinkstock

In ancient Greece, Aphrodite wore many hats, so to speak. For instance, the Greeks worshiped her as a universal goddess called Urania, which means queen of heaven. She was also worshiped as a goddess of civic life called Pandemos, which means goddess of all people. Some Greeks considered Aphrodite to be the goddess of seafaring and warfare.

According to mythology, Aphrodite delighted in instigating love affairs between the gods and mortals—affairs that often included her. She was married to Hephaestus, the blacksmith of the gods, but Aphrodite had many lovers among the gods, as well as among mortal men. Her lovers included Ares, the god of war, and the mortal Anchises, a Trojan prince with whom she had a famous son, Aeneas. Her most famous lover, however, was the handsome and youthful mortal Adonis. Aphrodite was so attracted by his good looks that her jealous husband, Hephaestus, disguised himself as a boar and killed Adonis. Supposedly, a flower called the anemone sprang up either from Aphrodite’s tears over the death of Adonis or from the handsome mortal’s spilled blood. Even today, the red anemone is considered a symbol of the death of a loved one, or of forsaken love.

January 9, 2017

When it comes to mythical figures, few have greater literary fame than the pious Trojan and Roman hero, Aeneas. Son of the human prince Anchises and the Greek goddess Aphrodite, Aeneas was a demigod. There was nothing half-god about his exploits, however. Aeneas compiled such a legendary record, in fact, that he is the subject of one of the world’s greatest poems of heroic adventure, the Aeneid.

This painting shows Aeneas carrying his father, Anchises, as they flee the destruction of Troy. Credit: Aeneas Fleeing Troy oil painting by Pompeo Batoni (1708-1787), Galleria Sabauda, Turin, Italy (© Scala/Art Resource)

The powerful goddess Aphrodite (called Venus by the Romans) enjoyed making other gods fall in love with mortals. As punishment for her mischief, Zeus—the top god in Greek mythology—forced the same fate upon Aphrodite, who fell in love with a mere man, Anchises of Troy. The result of their love was Aeneas, who grew up to be a famous and powerful Trojan soldier. Largely through the protection of Aphrodite and other gods, Aeneas survived the tragedy that befell his home during the Trojan War.

According to the Aeneid (written by the Roman poet Virgil), after the fall of Troy, Aeneas fled the ruined city with his father and his son Ascanius. On nearby Mount Ida, Aeneas gathered the few other Trojan survivors and sailed away to found a new home. They stopped at various places and had many adventures. In the city of Carthage in northern Africa, Aeneas met Queen Dido. She fell in love with Aeneas, but his destiny and sense of duty (Aeneas’s descendants—namely Romulus and Remus—would found the great city of Rome) forced him to leave Carthage. Dido was so distraught that she committed suicide.

Aeneas finally arrived in Italy. There, he visited the underworld, where he learned about Rome’s future glory. Aeneas then traveled to the Italian region of Latium (now often called Lazio), where he became friends with King Latinus. Aeneas married the king’s daughter Lavinia and founded the port city of Lavinium. Aeneas later disappeared from the mortal world during a battle with a neighboring people called the Etruscans. According to some versions of the myth, he was taken to heaven and became the god Jupiter Indiges.

Aeneas never disappeared from legend, however, thanks to the great poet Virgil. He wrote the Aeneid between 30 and 19 B.C., a period of national pride for the Romans (and some 1,200 years after the Trojan War). The emperor Augustus had just united the people of the Italian peninsula to defeat Rome’s enemies in the eastern provinces. Virgil chose the myth of Aeneas to express ancient Rome’s moral and religious values and to honor Augustus, who claimed to be descended from Aeneas.