As soon as Kronos had lopped off the genitals with the sickle, he tossed them from the land into the stormy sea. And as they were carried by the sea a long time, all around them white foam rose from the god

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As soon as Kronos had lopped off the genitals
with the sickle, he tossed them from the land
into the stormy sea. And as they were carried by
the sea a long time, all around them white foam
rose from the gods flesh, and in this foam a
maiden was nurtured. First she came close to
god-haunted Kythera and from there she went on to
reach sea-girt Cyprus. There this majestic and
fair goddess came out, and soft grass grew all
around her soft feet. Both gods and men call her
Aphrodite, foam-born goddess, and fair wreathed
Kythereia Aphrodite because she grew out of
aphros, foam, that is, and Kythereia because she
touched land at Kythera. Hesiod, Theogony
188ff.
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• Immortal Aphrodite of the broidered throne,
  daughter of Zeus, weaver of wiles, I pray thee
  break not my spirit with anguish and distress, O
  Queen. But come hither, if ever before thou didst
  hear my voice afar, and listen, and leaving thy
  father's golden house camest with chariot yoked,
  and fair fleet sparrows drew thee, flapping fast
  their wings around the dark earth, from heaven
  through mid sky. Quickly arrived they and thou,
  blessed one, smiling with immortal countenance,
  didst ask What now is befallen me, and Why now I
  call, and What I in my mad heart most desire to
  see. 'What Beauty now wouldst thou draw to love
  thee? Who wrongs thee, Sappho? For even if she
  flies she shall soon follow, and if she rejects
  gifts shall yet give, and if she loves not shall
  soon love, however loth.' Come, I pray thee, now
  too, and release me from cruel cares and all
  that my heart desires to accomplish, accomplish
  thou, and be thyself my ally. Sappho Fragment 1

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• Speak to me, Muse, of golden Aphrodites works,
• The Cyprians, she who sends sweet desire on the
  gods, and subdues
• The tribes of mortal men, the birds that fly
  through the air,
• And all the many wild beasts that are nurtured by
  land and sea
• The works of Kytheras fair-crowned goddess
  concern all these.
• But there are three whose minds she cannot
  persuade or beguile.
• Hymn to Aphrodite 1-7

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• Athena (goddess of war)
• ARTEMIS
• Hestia (goddess of the hearth)

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• Cypris, you guide mens hearts
• And the inflexible
• Hearts of the Gods and with you
• Comes Love and the flashing wings,
• Comes Love with the swiftest of wings.
• Over the earth he flies
• And the loud-echoing salt-sea.
• He bewitches and maddens the heart
• Of the victim he swoops upon.
• He bewitches the race of the mountain-hunting
• Lions and beasts of the sea,
• And all the creatures that earth feeds,
• And the blazing sun sees-
• And man, too-
• Over all you hold kingly power,
• Love, you are only ruler
• Over all these. Euripides, Hippolytus 1268ff.

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• Speak to me, Muse, of golden Aphrodites works

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• Come this way Alexandros is calling you back
  to the house. He is there in the bedroom, on the
  carved bed, shining in his own beauty and his
  clothing. You would not think he had come from
  fighting a man you would say he was going to the
  dance, or had just left dancing and was taking
  his rest.
• Iliad book 3

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• Hymn to Aphrodite, lines 85ff.
• . For she had put on a robe
• That blazed more brightly than fire, and was
  wearing twisted whorls.
• And gleaming floweret-cups and chains
  surpassingly fair,
• About her tender neck were hanging, beautiful,
  gold,
• Of exquisite craft right through - it seemed as
  though the moon
• About her tender breasts were shining, a marvel
  to view.

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• Aphrodite Lines 71-74
• Grey Wolves and bright-eyed lions fawning behind
  her went.
• Bears and swift-moving panthers never sated with
  deer.
• Delighted at heart by the sight, she put in their
  breasts desire.
• And all together they mated in pairs through the
  shadowy vales.

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• Descent of Ishtar to the Nether World
• when Ishtar leaves the earth.
• 'The bull springs not upon the cow,
• the ass impregnates not the jenny'

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• But destiny does not rule all. Adonis,
• Your memory will live eternally
• Each year they will repeat this final scene
• Your day of death, my day of grief, will be
• Enacted in a feast that bears your name
• Ovid, Metamorphoses Martin pp.359-61
• Meliville pp.241-2

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Lines 1-6 Prologue which invokes the Muse to
tell of golden Aphrodite, and sings of
Aphrodites power to conquer, god, man and beast
in sexual love. Muse tell me of the works of
golden Aphrodite The Cyprian, who stirs up sweet
desire amongst the gods And subdues the tribes of
mortal man, the birds that Fly through the air,
and all the many wild beasts that Are nurtured by
land and sea
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Lines 7-33 There are, however, three exceptions
to Aphrodites universal power. She is not able
to conquer Athena, Artemis, or Hestia, all virgin
goddesses. This section presents three
mini-hymns to these virgin goddesses, which act
as a foil for the important point which will be
made in the next section.
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Lines 34-44 Aphrodite can conquer even Zeus in
love, and does so frequently, making him sleep
even with mortal women!
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Lines 45-52 The narrative is introduced. Zeus,
tired of being deceived by Aphrodite and made, to
his great embarrassment, to sleep with mortal
women, exacts his revenge. He turns the tables
on Aphrodite and makes her fall in love with a
mortal man, with the intention of stopping her
laughter and boasting amongst the gods.
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Lines 53-80 We jump now to the action.
Aphrodite spies Anchises on Mount Ida for the
first time, immediately falls in love, and runs
off to her sanctuary in Paphos, in Cyprus, in
order to make herself beautiful. She has a
luxurious bath, scents herself with oils, dresses
in elaborate clothing and rushes off across Ida
to meet Anchises, followed as she goes by
sex-hungry bears, leopards and lions.
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Lines 81-90 Aphrodite reveals herself to
Anchises in the disguise of a young woman, so as
not to frighten him. He is nonetheless greatly
astonished by her beauty and falls in love with
her. Her clothes are described in detail.
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Lines 91-106 Anchises is not, however, convinced
that this beautiful woman, who just appeared out
of nowhere on the side of a mountain, is mortal.
Despite his attraction, he addresses her as a
goddess, asking which one she is, and makes a
prayer to her to grant him long life etc.
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Lines 107-143 Now that her physical disguise has
not entirely worked, Aphrodite must deceive
Anchises with words. She tells him a long and
complicated story of how she is in fact a
Phrygian princess, who was whisked away by Hermes
and brought to the mountain to be his wife. She
provides specific details, such as the name of
her father and an explanation of why she speaks
both Greek and Phrygian, which help to make her
story more believable.
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Lines 144-160 How could Anchises refuse the
persuasiveness of such a story? Even with a
lingering suspicion that this woman is more than
what she seems, he is overcome with sexual
desire. He claims even to be willing to die in
order to sleep with the her! He takes her hand,
leads her off to bed, removes her clothing piece
by piece, and sleeps with her.
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Lines 167-190 Anchises, as most men in Greek
literature do, falls asleep after he has made
love. Aphrodite wakes up and changes back into
her divine form. She wakes Anchises up, thereby
effecting an epiphany. He is terrified, hides
behinds his blanket, and begs the goddess not to
hurt him.
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Lines 191-200 191-200 Aphrodite reassures
Anchises that he will not be hurt, and makes the
prophecy that she will give birth to his son,
naming him as Aineias, and specifying that he
will rule amongst the Trojans.
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Lines 201-246 Aphrodite expands upon the myths
of Ganymedes and Tithonus. Both are members of
Anchises' family who have had relationships with
gods. Ganymedes is taken up to heaven to be the
lover of Zeus, while Tithonus reaches a nasty
fate in his relationship with Dawn she had asked
Zeus to make him immortal, but she failed to ask
also for him to remain eternally young. He lives
on forever in terrible old age, unable even to
move his limbs. Aphrodite ends these two tales
by saying that she cannot take Anchises to live
with her, because he is not immortal, and cannot
be made so.
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Lines 247-285 Aphrodite tells of how she will
now have a great shame amongst the gods. She
will no longer be able to open her mouth to boast
as she had before, because she will now give
birth to a semi-mortal son. Zeus has been
successful in his intention! Aphrodite then
spends the majority of this section speaking of
their future son Aeneas, how he will be raised by
nymphs, and (once again) how he will be a great
king amongst the Trojans.
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Lines 286-293 Aphrodite gives Anchises a warning
not to tell anyone about their affair the gods
must already know, but she wants to keep it a
secret from other mortals at least (she threatens
him with Zeus thunderbolt should he open his
mouth on the topic which, of course, later
tradition has it that he does). The narrative
then comes to an end as Aphrodite flies back up
to heaven, and the poem closes with a standard
farewell address to the goddess.