The nature of the Greek pantheon is varied, confusing, and full of epithets (< ἐπίθετον epí+theton “after-placed”), which are partially reflected in the characteristics of Aphrodite in this book. As a practicing Hellenic Polytheist, I would like to dedicate this info dump about Aphrodite to her, and provide it here for everyone’s benefit.

I am not marking this as a spoiler, because these are well-known mythological accounts or obscure historical facts that do not figure in the book:

Origin Story of Aphrodite Within Greek mythology and texts, there are two distinct stories regarding Aphrodite’s parentage: Either…

1. she is born from the foam caused by Uranus’ testicles hitting the sea (wave of pleasure gets a whole new meaning), or…
2. she is the daughter of Zeus conceived by Dione (The word Διώνη Diōnē is the female form of the word Ζεύς Zéus¹ ²).

With time, some cults came to distinguish these two aspects as separate deities, with (1) being called Ἀφροδίτη Οὐρανία Aphrodítē Ouranía (Aphrodite of the Heavens) – more closely tied to a ‘pure’, ’mental’ love (usually homosexual³) – vs. (2) being named Ἀφροδίτη Πάνδημος Aphrodíte Pándēmos (Aphrodite of the Commons), associated with (heterosexual or purely lust-driven) carnal pleasures and desires, and uniting all peoples together in community.

Outside of Greek mythology, it is generally accepted that Aphrodite (whose name remains etymologically unclear) was an import from the Orient, with her origins found in Astarte/Ishtar, as well as Inanna. It is probable that Astarte/Ishtar and Inanna were originally different deities, who then somehow were conflated. We are talking about more than 6000 (!) years of history here, so the details are blurry at best.

Interestingly, though, we have herein, too, a gender-bending theme, as the originally male deity representing the Morning Star (→ Venus), ‘Aŧtar, is later on conflated with his female counterpart representing the Evening Star (→ also Venus⁴), though it is the male name (‘Aŧtar/Ishtar) that goes on to supplant the female name (‘Aŧtart, Hellenised as Astarte when referring to Canaanite religious traditions).

This was happening while ‘Aŧtart was also already being conflated with the Sumerian goddess Inanna (𒈹 or 𒀭𒈹), whose name probably means “Lady (of the) Sky” (Nin-an) in Sumerian. This takes us back to the oldest of Aphrodite’s aspects: Οὐρανία Ouranía “heavenly”.

Gender-Bending Aphrodite Gender is a funny thing in the Hellenic pantheon. It is not at all surprising that gender may be fluid when you can just spawn from a severed phallus and ball sack leaking into the sea and creating foam. On Cyprus, where Aphrodite was born (read: ‘first imported from the Orient into the Hellenosphere’), she was sometimes depicted with a beard, male genitalia, but wearing a woman’s dress, and called Ἀφρόδιτος Aphróditos. This deity is later re-cast as one ‘Hermaphroditus’.

Epithets and Aspects of Aphrodite Aphrodite, being an important of the highest of goddesses in the Orient, is associated with many epithets and ruling domains in Greek texts. This shows how vast and varied her cults were, but also serves as further indicator that she was imported into the pantheon after most domains were already assigned to deities. Among these are:

• Ἀφροδίτη Οὐρανία, Aphrodítē Ouranía (Aphrodite of the Heavens)
• Ἀφροδίτη Πάνδημος, Aphrodítē Pándēmos (Aphrodite of All-Peoples)
• Ἀλιλάτ, Alilát (< al-(i)lāt, female form of Semitic al-Lāh, “the god”; according to Herodotus, this is the Arabic name of Ἀφροδίτη Οὐρανία, Aphrodítē Ouranía)
• Ἀφροδίτη Ἀνδροφόνος, Aphrodíte Androphónos (Aphrodite of Man-Murders)
• Ἀφροδίτη Ἀρεία, Aphrodítē Areía (Aphrodite of the Wars)
• Ἀφροδίτη Ἐνόπλιος, Aphrodíte Enóplios (Aphrodite of the Armour)
• Ἀφροδίτη Ἐπιτυμβιδία, Aphrodíte Epitymbidía (Aphrodite Above the Tombs; referring to her ability to help in necromancy)
• Ἀφροδίτη Θαλασσία/Ποντία, Aphrodíte Thalassía/Pontía (Aphrodite of the Seas)
• Ἀφροδίτη Μελαινίς, Aphrodíte Melainís (Black⁵ Aphrodite; referring either to carnal acts at night, or to the darkness of soil covering the earth, over which she exerts her sovereignty)
• Ἀφροδίτη Νυμφία, Aphrodíte Nymphía (Aphrodite of the Brides)

—————————— ¹ While one could interpret this as Zeus banging him(-her?-)self to make Aphrodite, Dione was more probably a general female deity as a counterpart to Zeus who may have been ‘demoted’ to a Titaness (conceived, possibly, of Uranus and Gaia) later on, though some consider her to be a nymph/Oceanid.

² The genitive case of Ζεύς Zéus is Δία Día.

³ The term “uranian” is the male counterpart of “lesbian” as pertains to sexuality, though the former is no longer in use.

⁴ It was not discovered until much later that the Morning Star and the Evening Star were, both of them, Venus – or, at the very least, they were considered different from one another in some aspects.

⁵ Honestly, I feel the interpretations of the word μελαινίς to exhibit the anti-African sentiment of scholars; considering Aphrodite comes from the Middle East, the epithet may genuinely just refer to her as having a darker complexion.