Talk:Aphrodite

Children

The pages on the 3 graces indicate that Aphrodite is not their mother, yet they're listed here as children of her and Dionysus. Which is it? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.111.173.153 (talk) 00:00, 12 February 2012 (UTC)

Recent edit by IP

An IP recently sloppily inserted this text into the "Origin" section:

As the Greek goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite holds great power over both mortals and immortals. She was a Gorgeous, perfect, eternally young woman with a beautiful body. Because of her beauty other gods feared that jealousy would interrupt the peace among them and lead to war, and so Zeus married her to Hephaestus, who was not viewed as a threat.

It seems interesting enough to include within a format which is consistent with the article, yet I think a reference is required in conjunction with such an edit.--Abie the Fish Peddler (talk) 03:00, 8 January 2010 (UTC)

Additional sections

Aphrodite in popular culture Aphrodite in the modern world Landmarks of Aphrodite (to include aphrodites rock and aphrodites baths etc ) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Polysophia (talk • contribs) 22:13, 27 January 2010 (UTC)

Etymology

Aphrodite: Ap /Ab /Aba /Apa ="water", Abra = "river" , uwa ="place","temple","having to do with it", Dida/Dite = "Goddess" (in Luwian)

more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Luwian_language#Luwian_Gods_and_Goddesses

for Dite part of Aphrodite see also Titan (mythology) < Dida = "Goddess", -na = "place", "temple of" (in Luwian)Böri (talk) 10:44, 4 February 2010 (UTC)

a reference would be nice. --dab (𒁳) 18:26, 20 September 2010 (UTC)

Michael Janda has published his theory about the Indo-european origin of the name as early as 2005 in his "Elysion. Entstehung und Entwicklung der griechischen Religion" (Innsbruck 2005, pp. 349-360). The meaning of Greek *déasthai seems to be "to shine", not "to seem". Also Janda uses and explains it as "to shine". — Preceding unsigned comment added by Malcolm77 (talk • contribs) 13:36, 22 August 2011 (UTC)

Marriages

Aphrodite broke up with Hephaestus and married Ares and Hermes instead. She gave birth to Eros, Deimos and Phobos under Ares, and Hermaphroditos under Hermes. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.73.112.94 (talk) 00:50, 25 March 2010 (UTC)

False, Aphrodite never "broke up" with Hephaestus. In fact, I don't think divorces exsisted in Greece at the time. She was very unfaithful to him, but they remained married. Yes, she bore children with Ares and Hermes, and many mortals, as well, but she was still wed to Hephaestus. Zeus had married her off to Hephaestus in order to keep peace; peace would diminish if Aphrodite were to divorce Hephaestus. MelancholyPanda (talk) 23:55, 20 April 2011 (UTC)

Popular Culture

Warrants a section. Including Kyle myloe's new album Aphrodite. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Polysophia (talk • contribs)

Aphrodite's powers

Hey peoples, Does anybody have any idea what aphrodite's powers were? The question I'm asking is did she have any at all?? Write comments to help me in my reasearch please?? From nellie_66 Nellie 66 (talk) 09:40, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

Deities are not superheroes or pokemons. It may help to start by researching the general context of Ancient Greek religion and polytheism. --dab (𒁳) 08:06, 12 October 2010 (UTC)

Although gods and godesses are not generally viewed to have "powers" per say, I've heard in many cases that Aphrodite was able to make any man or woman fall in love, and could persue many men (although not all) to do her bidding on account of her beauty. I completely forget where I read that, so it's sort of an unreliable statement. MelancholyPanda (talk) 23:58, 20 April 2011 (UTC)

Changes under "Cult"

I made small changes and removed the following clause about sacred prostitution: "and can be considered a foreign import". Since we're told it was practised in Phoenicia, Cyprus, Greece and Sicily, I don't understand from what foreign country it is to be considered an import, or what non-foreign country is to be considered its destination. If the clause is to go back in, perhaps it should be clarified and referenced.

I also changed "sacred servant" to "sacred slave": the dictionary meaning of doule is "(female) slave". Andrew Dalby 19:12, 18 November 2010 (UTC)

"Janda" Etymology

Under the section "Name", it references someone named "Janda", who wrote in 2010 that "Aphrodite" may be from "aphros" ("foam") and "deato" ("to shine"). Unfamiliar with the second word, I looked it up in my Pocket Oxford Classical Greek Dictionary (2002). This was the entry, word for word.

δέαται he seems

•δέατο he seemed

Now, knowing from my Oxford Grammar Of Classical Greek (2001) that -αται is the third person singular present middle indicative ending of -αω and -ημι verbs whose middle infinitives are -ασθαι (compare τιμάται and ‘ίσταται, third person singular present middle indicative forms of τιμάω, "I honor" (middle infinitive τιμάσθαι), and ‘ίστημι, "I stand up" (middle infinitive ‘ίστασθαι), respectively), and that -ατο is the third person singular imperfect middle indicative ending of that same group of verbs (compare τιμάτο and ‘ίστατο), but also knowing that, at least according to the Pocket Oxford Classical Greek Dictionary, this word only has third person middle indicative forms, and only in the present and imperfect, and also knowing that, were *δεα- an -αω verb like τιμάω, as opposed to an -ημι word like ‘ίστημι, it would have the accent on the Α ("*δεάται" and "*δεάτο"), not on the Ε ("δέαται" and "δέατο"), I propose the theoretical present middle infinitive "*δέασθαι", and the theoretical first person singular present middle indicative "*δέαμαι".

Because "deato", the word listed in this article and quoted from the Janda source, is obviously the third person singular imperfect form of the word, I suggest that it be replaced, in the article, with a more appropriate form of the verb.

The article currently reads as follows.

According to this interpretation, the name is from aphros "foam" and deato "to shine", meaning "she who shines from the foam [ocean]", a byname of the dawn goddess (Eos).

I suggest that it be rewritten as follows.

According to this interpretation, the name is from aphrós "foam" and déatai "[she] seems" or "shines" (infinitive form *déasthai), meaning "she who shines from the foam [ocean]", a byname of the dawn goddess (Eos).

I notice that the page is semi-protected. I will make this edit myself, but if my edit is reverted, I would like the reason why posted here. Thank you. Lionboy-Renae (talk) 21:27, 14 January 2011 (UTC)

Misconceptions

Aphrodite is NOT the goddess of love. This is a common misconception today that has been accepted as fact because of its common occurance in literature and texts. In ancient Greek mythology she is the goddess of sex, desire and lust. Her son Cupid is the god of love. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Satsugi (talk • contribs) 18:41, 3 February 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia is based on facts, not opinion. There are in fact some cases that claim Aphrodite is NOT the goddess of love, yet there are other cases that confirm she was. It is opional to say which case is true, and therefore cannot be cited. MelancholyPanda (talk) 23:59, 20 April 2011 (UTC)

Edit request from Skitterz, 4 February 2011

{{edit semi-protected}} I would like to edit this because there is an error in the article.

Skitterz (talk) 21:29, 4 February 2011 (UTC)

Not done: please be more specific about what needs to be changed. Salvio ^{Let's talk about it!} 01:26, 5 February 2011 (UTC)

What's wrong with it? MelancholyPanda (talk) 00:00, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

Parentage

I've read that Aphrodite was the daughter of Zeus and Dione. I've also heard that Aphrodite formed from the sea without the blood of Ouranus. It's opinional on which case you confirm, but perhaps we should add the debating parentage to the article? MelancholyPanda (talk) 00:04, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

Questions and comments

1. "Each goddess demanded a slightly different cult but Greeks recognized in their overall similarities the one Aphrodite."

The end of this sentence is weird.

2. "In other tales, Aphrodite was a daughter of Thalassa and Zeus."

Who wrote these tales?

3. "In another version of this story, Hera, Hephaestus' mother, had cast him off Olympus"

What version is it and who wrote it?

4. "Another version of this myth tells that the women of the village where Pygmalion lived grew angry that he had not married."

Who wrote this version?

5. "In one Greek myth, Aphrodite placed the curse of snakes for hair and the stone-gaze upon Medusa and her sisters."

A source is needed for this.

6. "Other comparanda[by whom?] are Armenian Astghikand Etruscan Turan."

Should the two be divided by an "and"?

7. I placed the section about comparative mythology after mythology because the sequence is much more logic and appropriate.

ICE77 (talk) 05:56, 16 July 2011 (UTC)

The Two Aphrodites =

The existence of two Aphrodites -- the Uranian and the Pandemonic -- (mentioned at the end of the opening paragraph of the main article) is reliably proved by Plato, Symposium, at pages 180c-181a in the Stephanus pagination, where this fact is discussed in significant detail by the famous Phaedrus, whose authority on the subject cannot be much doubted. More is said about Aphrodite throughout the Symposium, notably (since it seems there is some modern debate) that in her higher form her primary form of presencing (perousia) is the emotion of love, and her lower form is sexual passion or lust. Along with the Symposium, the best authority on Aphrodite is Hesiod, who can hardly be questioned since he is the one invariably cited by the most prominent of ancient Greece's other thinkers and poets. Paul Leland Ness, B.A., J.D. (talk) 03:55, 2 February 2012 (UTC)