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145-480: Priapus was described in varying sources as the son of Aphrodite by Dionysus ; as the son of Dionysus and Chione ; as perhaps the father or son of Hermes ; or as the son of Zeus or Pan . According to legend, Hera cursed him with inconvenient impotence (he could not sustain an erection when the time came for sexual intercourse), ugliness and foul-mindedness while he was still in Aphrodite's womb, in revenge for

290-541: A strophion ( στρόφιον ) known as the kestos himas ( κεστὸς ἱμάς ), a saltire-shaped undergarment (usually translated as the girdle of Aphrodite ), which accentuated her breasts and made her even more irresistible to men. Such strophia were commonly used in depictions of the Near Eastern goddesses Ishtar and Atargatis . Aphrodite is almost always accompanied by Eros , the god of lust and sexual desire. In his Theogony , Hesiod describes Eros as one of

435-595: A Semitic deity, may have been influenced by the Indo-European dawn goddess. Both Aphrodite and Eos were known for their erotic beauty and aggressive sexuality and both had relationships with mortal lovers. Both goddesses were associated with the colors red, white, and gold. Michael Janda etymologizes Aphrodite's name as an epithet of Eos meaning "she who rises from the foam [of the ocean]" and points to Hesiod's Theogony account of Aphrodite's birth as an archaic reflex of Indo-European myth. Aphrodite rising out of

580-670: A suicide note to Theseus telling him that she killed herself because Hippolytus attempted to rape her. Theseus prays to Poseidon to kill Hippolytus for his transgression. Poseidon sends a wild bull to scare Hippolytus's horses as he is riding by the sea in his chariot, causing the horses to bolt and smash the chariot against the cliffs, dragging Hippolytus to a bloody death across the rocky shoreline. The play concludes with Artemis vowing to kill Aphrodite's own mortal beloved (presumably Adonis) in revenge. Glaucus of Corinth angered Aphrodite by refusing to let his horses for chariot racing mate, since doing so would hinder their speed. During

725-525: A Greek folk tale , originally independent of the Odyssey . In a much later interpolated detail, Ares put the young soldier Alectryon by the door to warn of Helios's arrival but Alectryon fell asleep on guard duty. Helios discovered the two and alerted Hephaestus; Ares in rage turned Alectryon into a rooster , which unfailingly crows to announce the sunrise. After exposing them, Hephaestus asks Zeus for his wedding gifts and dowry to be returned to him; by

870-579: A Near Eastern origin argued that Aphrodite originated as an aspect of the Greek dawn goddess Eos and that she was therefore ultimately derived from the Proto-Indo-European dawn goddess * H a éusōs (properly Greek Eos , Latin Aurora , Sanskrit Ushas ). Most modern scholars have now rejected the notion of a purely Indo-European Aphrodite, but it is possible that Aphrodite, originally

1015-502: A class, they are called " apotropaic " (Greek for "prophylactic", "apotraiptic" / προφυλακτικός, αποτρεπτικός or "protective" or "determent", literally: "turns away") talismans, meaning that they turn away or turn back harm. Disks or balls, consisting of concentric blue and white circles (usually, from inside to outside, dark blue, light blue, white, and dark blue) representing an evil eye are common apotropaic talismans in West Asia and

1160-409: A compliment is to be made. Although Śrauta traditions do not have a concept of evil, it has been incorporated as a mainstream practice within modern Hinduism . For example, when a mother observes that her child is being excessively complimented, it is common for the mother to attempt to neutralize the effects of the evil eye ( nazar utarna , drshti teeta or drushti tegeyodu ). A common example of

1305-455: A different aspect of the same goddess or used by a different local cult. Thus she was also known as Cytherea ( Lady of Cythera ) and Cypris ( Lady of Cyprus ), because both locations claimed to be the place of her birth. Sappho 's Ode to Aphrodite is one of the earliest poems dedicated to the goddess and survives from the Archaic period nearly complete. In Greek mythology , Aphrodite

1450-496: A disembodied phallus attacking an evil eye by ejaculating towards it. In describing their ability to deflect the evil eye, Ralph Merrifield described the Roman phallic charm as a "kind of lightning conductor for good luck". Another way for protection from fascination used by the ancient Greeks and Romans was by spitting into the folds of the clothes. Ancient Greeks also had an old custom of dressing boys as girls in order to avert

1595-650: A festival on the anniversary of his death. In one version of the story, Aphrodite injured herself on a thorn from a rose bush and the rose, which had previously been white, was stained red by her blood. According to Lucian 's On the Syrian Goddess , each year during the festival of Adonis, the Adonis River in Lebanon (now known as the Abraham River ) ran red with blood. The myth of Adonis

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1740-551: A fine, near invisible net. The next time Ares and Aphrodite had sex together, the net trapped them both. Hephaestus brought all the gods into the bedchamber to laugh at the captured adulterers, but Apollo , Hermes , and Poseidon had sympathy for Ares and Poseidon agreed to pay Hephaestus for Ares's release. Aphrodite returned to her temple in Cyprus, where she was attended by the Charites . This narrative probably originated as

1885-401: A handsome mortal shepherd who lived in the foothills beneath Mount Ida near the city of Troy . Aphrodite appears to Anchises in the form of a tall, beautiful, mortal virgin while he is alone in his home. Anchises sees her dressed in bright clothing and gleaming jewelry, with her breasts shining with divine radiance. He asks her if she is Aphrodite and promises to build her an altar on top of

2030-533: A highly contrived etymology, deriving Aphrodite from the compound habrodíaitos ( ἁβροδίαιτος ), "she who lives delicately", from habrós and díaita . The alteration from b to ph is explained as a "familiar" characteristic of Greek "obvious from the Macedonians ". In the Cypriot syllabary , a syllabic script used on the island of Cyprus from the eleventh until the fourth centuries BC, Aphrodite's name

2175-750: A neutralizing ritual involves holding red chilies in one hand and circling the child's head a few times, then burning the chilies. The evil eye ( Albanian : syri i keq ) is a folk belief widespread among all Albanians . Objects that are traditionally used by Albanians for prevention, protection, and healing from the evil eye are: fire ( zjarri ), smoke, ashes and embers, and fire related metallic objects; serpent/snake ( symbolism , as well as amulets with snakeskin and snake head); garlic ; house carvings and house dolls ( dordolec in human shape or kukull in animal shape); amulets or pendants made with thunderstones ( kokrra e rrufesë or guri i rejës ), wolf teeth, seashells; etc. In order to contrast or avert

2320-448: A noun (to have/get maljo) referring to persons who have been afflicted. Maljo may be passed on inadvertently, but is believed to be more severe when coming from an envious person or one with bad intentions. It is thought to happen more readily when a person is stared at–especially while eating food. A person who has been taken by the ‘bad eye’ may experience unexplained illness or misfortune. In traditional rural legends, "[t]he general belief

2465-416: A patron god for merchant sailors in ancient Greece and Rome is that of a protector and navigational aide. Recent shipwreck evidence contains apotropaic items carried on board by mariners in the forms of a terracotta phallus, wooden Priapus figure, and bronze sheath from a military ram. Coinciding with the use of wooden Priapic markers erected in areas of dangerous passage or particular landing areas for sailors,

2610-581: A port city in what is now Syria , attests to the concept of 'evil eye' – the city existed until about 1180 BC, during the late Bronze Age collapse . In Greek Classical antiquity , the 'evil eye' ("mati") is referenced by Hesiod , Callimachus , Plato , Diodorus Siculus , Theocritus , Plutarch , Heliodorus , Pliny the Elder , and Aulus Gellius . Peter Walcot's Envy and the Greeks (1978) listed more than one hundred works by these and other authors mentioning

2755-434: A public display of grief. In Hesiod's Works and Days , Zeus orders Aphrodite to make Pandora , the first woman, physically beautiful and sexually attractive, so that she may become "an evil men will love to embrace". Aphrodite "spills grace" over Pandora's head and equips her with "painful desire and knee-weakening anguish", thus making her the perfect vessel for evil to enter the world. Aphrodite's attendants, Peitho,

2900-513: A separate gate, so that they would not be gazed upon by the local Egyptians and, thereby, trigger a malevolent response (the Evil eye) by their onlookers, seeing that they were all handsome and of brave and manly dispositions. Some Jews believe that a "good eye" designates an attitude of goodwill and kindness towards others. Someone who has this attitude in life will rejoice when his fellow man prospers; he will wish everyone well. An "evil eye" denotes

3045-499: A son of Dionysus and Aphrodite. In later antiquity, his worship meant little more than a cult of sophisticated pornography. Outside his "home" region in Asia Minor, Priapus was regarded as something of a joke by urban dwellers. However, he played a more important role in the countryside, where he was seen as a guardian deity. He was regarded as the patron god of sailors and fishermen and others in need of good luck, and his presence

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3190-413: A spirit of fertility and growth, though he was perennially frustrated by his impotence. In a ribald anecdote told by Ovid, he attempted to rape the goddess Hestia but was thwarted by an ass , whose braying caused him to lose his erection at the critical moment and woke Hestia. The episode gave him a lasting hatred of asses and a willingness to see them killed in his honour. The emblem of his lustful nature

3335-451: A symbol of health and fertility. The 13th century Lanercost Chronicle , a history of northern England and Scotland, records a "lay Cistercian brother" erecting a statue of Priapus ( simulacrum Priapi statuere ) in an attempt to end an outbreak of cattle disease. In the 1980s, D. F. Cassidy founded the St. Priapus Church as a modern church centred on worship of the phallus . Priapus' role as

3480-515: A temple to Aphrodite Hathor at Philae . Statuettes of Aphrodite for personal devotion became common in Egypt starting in the early Ptolemaic times and extending until long after Egypt became a Roman province . The ancient Romans identified Aphrodite with their goddess Venus , who was originally a goddess of agricultural fertility, vegetation, and springtime. According to the Roman historian Livy , Aphrodite and Venus were officially identified in

3625-463: A variety of quick-growing plants, such as lettuce and fennel , or even quick-sprouting grains such as wheat and barley . The women would then climb ladders to the roofs of their houses, where they would place the gardens out under the heat of the summer sun. The plants would sprout in the sunlight but wither quickly in the heat. Then the women would mourn and lament loudly over the death of Adonis, tearing their clothes and beating their breasts in

3770-569: A victim of the evil eye by virtue of an "unfavorable celestial configuration" at the time of victim's birth, "according to some scholars". The evil eye causes its victim to become unwell the next day, unless a protective phrase such as "with the will of God" ( mashallah in Arabic) or “May Allah Bless You” (Alhumma Barik) is recited. Among the rituals to ward off the evil eye are to say " TabarakAllah " ( تبارك الله ) ("Blessings of God") or " Masha'Allah " ( ما شاء الله ) ("God has willed it") if

3915-430: A woman steals from me, or a man, or a boy, let the first give me her cunt, the second his head, the third his buttocks. per medios ibit pueros mediasque puellas mentula; barbatis non-nisi summa petet. My dick will go through the middle of boys and the middle of girls, but with bearded men it will aim only for the top. A number of Roman paintings of Priapus have survived. One of the most famous images of Priapus

4060-547: Is Philommeidḗs ( φιλομμειδής ), which means "smile-loving", but is sometimes mistranslated as "laughter-loving". This epithet occurs throughout both of the Homeric epics and the First Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite . Hesiod references it once in his Theogony in the context of Aphrodite's birth, but interprets it as "genital-loving" rather than "smile-loving". Monica Cyrino notes that the epithet may relate to

4205-716: Is a supernatural belief in a curse brought about by a malevolent glare, usually inspired by envy . Amulets to protect against it have been found dating to around 5,000 years ago. It is found in many cultures in the Mediterranean region , the Balkans , Eastern Europe , the Middle East , Central Asia , South Asia , Africa , the Caribbean , and Latin America , with such cultures often believing that receiving

4350-399: Is a common belief that individuals have the power to cause harm to people, animals or objects, by looking at them in a way that indicates jealousy. Although envy activates the evil eye, this happens (or usually happens) unconsciously, and the person who casts it is not responsible (or usually not responsible) for it. In addition to being looked at, astrology may play a part. Someone may become

4495-626: Is a similar symbol of protection and good health and luck, the Greek evil eye talisman specifically protects against malevolent gazes. Similarly, the Eye-Idols ( c.  8700–3500 BC ) excavated at the Tell Brak Eye Temple are believed to have been figurines offered to the gods, and according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art , are unrelated to a belief in the evil eye. The evil eye is mentioned several times in

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4640-468: Is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, procreation, and as her syncretized Roman goddess counterpart Venus , desire, sex , fertility , prosperity, and victory. Aphrodite's major symbols include seashells, myrtles , roses, doves, sparrows, and swans. The cult of Aphrodite was largely derived from that of the Phoenician goddess Astarte , a cognate of

4785-403: Is associated with spiritual love, and Pandemos with physical love (desire). A representation of Ourania with her foot resting on a tortoise came to be seen as emblematic of discretion in conjugal love; it was the subject of a chryselephantine sculpture by Phidias for Elis , known only from a parenthetical comment by the geographer Pausanias . One of Aphrodite's most common literary epithets

4930-591: Is associated with the festival of the Adonia , which was celebrated by Greek women every year in midsummer. The festival, which was evidently already celebrated in Lesbos by Sappho's time, seems to have first become popular in Athens in the mid-fifth century BC. At the start of the festival, the women would plant a "garden of Adonis", a small garden planted inside a small basket or a shallow piece of broken pottery containing

5075-509: Is attested in the forms 𐠀𐠡𐠦𐠭𐠃𐠂 (a-po-ro-ta-o-i, read right-to-left), 𐠀𐠡𐠦𐠯𐠭𐠂 (a-po-ro-ti-ta-i, samewise), and finally 𐠀𐠡𐠦𐠯𐠪𐠈 (a-po-ro-ti-si-jo, " Aphrodisian ", "related to Aphrodite", in the context of a month). The cult of Aphrodite in Greece was imported from, or at least influenced by, the cult of Astarte in Phoenicia , which, in turn, was influenced by

5220-432: Is generally accepted to be of non-Greek (probably Semitic ) origin, but its exact derivation cannot be determined with confidence. Scholars in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, accepting Hesiod's "foam" etymology as genuine, analyzed the second part of Aphrodite's name as * -odítē "wanderer" or as * -dítē "bright". More recently, Michael Janda, also accepting Hesiod's etymology, has argued in favor of

5365-437: Is often seen as Aphrodite's son, but this is actually a comparatively late innovation. A scholion on Theocritus 's Idylls remarks that the sixth-century BC poet Sappho had described Eros as the son of Aphrodite and Uranus, but the first surviving reference to Eros as Aphrodite's son comes from Apollonius of Rhodes 's Argonautica , written in the third century BC, which makes him the son of Aphrodite and Ares. Later,

5510-693: Is probably derived from the ancient Sumerian legend of Inanna and Dumuzid . The Greek name Ἄδωνις ( Adōnis , Greek pronunciation: [ádɔːnis] ) is derived from the Canaanite word ʼadōn , meaning "lord". The earliest known Greek reference to Adonis comes from a fragment of a poem by the Lesbian poet Sappho ( c.  630 – c.  570 BC ), in which a chorus of young girls asks Aphrodite what they can do to mourn Adonis's death. Aphrodite replies that they must beat their breasts and tear their tunics. Later references flesh out

5655-736: Is that from the House of the Vettii in Pompeii . A fresco depicts the god weighing his phallus against a large bag of coins. In nearby Herculaneum , an excavated snack bar has a painting of Priapus behind the bar, apparently as a good-luck symbol for the customers. The medical condition priapism derives its name from Priapus, alluding to the god's permanently engorged penis. [REDACTED] The dictionary definition of Priapus at Wiktionary Aphrodite Aphrodite ( / ˌ æ f r ə ˈ d aɪ t iː / , AF -rə- DY -tee )

5800-514: Is the younger of the two goddesses: the common Aphrodite, born from the union of Zeus and Dione, and the inspiration of heterosexual desire and sexual promiscuity, the "lesser" of the two loves. Paphian (Παφία), was one of her epithets, after the Paphos in Cyprus where she had emerged from the sea at her birth. Among the Neoplatonists and, later, their Christian interpreters, Ourania

5945-570: Is unmarried and the wife of Hephaestus is Aglaea , the youngest of the three Charites . In Book Eight of the Odyssey , however, the blind singer Demodocus describes Aphrodite as the wife of Hephaestus and tells how she committed adultery with Ares during the Trojan War . The sun-god Helios saw Aphrodite and Ares having sex in Hephaestus's bed and warned Hephaestus, who fashioned

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6090-461: The Bibliotheca of Pseudo-Apollodorus tells how, when the women of the island of Lemnos refused to sacrifice to Aphrodite, the goddess cursed them to stink horribly so that their husbands would never have sex with them. Instead, their husbands started having sex with their Thracian slave-girls . In anger, the women of Lemnos murdered the entire male population of the island, as well as all

6235-464: The Balkans , found on the prows of boats and elsewhere; in some forms of the folklore, the staring eyes are supposed to bend the malicious gaze back to the sorcerer . Known as nazar ( Turkish : nazar boncuğu or nazarlık ), this talisman is most frequently seen in Turkey , found in or on houses and vehicles or worn as beads. The word hamsa, also spelled khamsa, means "five" referring to

6380-663: The Bible . In Luke 11:34 Jesus referenced to the eye as the lamp of the body. If a person's eye is generous, then their whole body will be full of light. If their eye is evil, then their whole body will be full of darkness. In the Gospel of Mark at Mark 7 :22 it mentions the ὀφθαλμὸς , which is translated as "an evil eye" in the King James Version and other translations of the Bible. The Greek word ophthalmos simply means

6525-496: The Church of Aphrodite , Wicca , and Hellenism . Hesiod derives the name Aphrodite from aphrós ( ἀφρός ) "sea-foam", interpreting the name as "risen from the foam", but most modern scholars regard this as a spurious folk etymology . Early-modern scholars of classical mythology attempted to argue that Aphrodite's name was of Greek or Indo-European origin, but these efforts have mostly been abandoned. Aphrodite's name

6670-593: The East Semitic goddess Ishtar , whose cult was based on the Sumerian cult of Inanna . Aphrodite's main cult centers were Cythera , Cyprus , Corinth , and Athens . Her main festival was the Aphrodisia , which was celebrated annually in midsummer. In Laconia , Aphrodite was worshipped as a warrior goddess. She was also the patron goddess of prostitutes , an association which led early scholars to propose

6815-559: The Garden of the Hesperides and instructed him to toss them in front of Atalanta as he raced her. Hippomenes obeyed Aphrodite's order and Atalanta, seeing the beautiful, golden fruits, bent down to pick up each one, allowing Hippomenes to outrun her. In the version of the story from Ovid's Metamorphoses , Hippomenes forgets to repay Aphrodite for her aid, so she causes the couple to become inflamed with lust while they are staying at

6960-633: The Theogony , Hesiod describes Dione as an Oceanid , but Apollodorus makes her the thirteenth Titan , child of Gaia and Uranus. Aphrodite is consistently portrayed as a nubile, infinitely desirable adult, having had no childhood. She is often depicted nude. In the Iliad , Aphrodite is the apparently unmarried consort of Ares , the god of war, and the wife of Hephaestus is a different goddess named Charis . Likewise, in Hesiod's Theogony , Aphrodite

7105-530: The Vedic deity Ushas . Modern scholars, due to the believed Near Eastern origins of Aphrodite's worship, have since proposed Semitic origins for the name. Some scholars, such as Fritz Hommel , have suggested that Aphrodite's name is a hellenized pronunciation of the name " Astarte "; other scholars, however, reject this as being linguistically untenable. Martin West reconstructs a Cyprian Canaanite form of

7250-620: The "eye", but can be used figuratively to mean Envy , as seen in the Weymouth New Testament translation and others. A simple and instant way of protection in European Christian countries is to make the sign of the cross with your hand and point two fingers, the index finger and the middle finger , towards the supposed source of influence or supposed victim as described in the first chapter of Bram Stoker 's novel Dracula published in 1897: When we started,

7395-561: The Charites, and the Horae, adorn Pandora with gold and jewelry. According to one myth, Aphrodite aided Hippomenes , a noble youth who wished to marry Atalanta , a maiden who was renowned throughout the land for her beauty, but who refused to marry any man unless he could outrun her in a footrace . Atalanta was an exceedingly swift runner and she beheaded all of the men who lost to her. Aphrodite gave Hippomenes three golden apples from

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7540-734: The Latin verb fascinare "to cast a spell" (the origin of the English word " fascinate "), is one example of an apotropaic object used against the evil eye. They have been found throughout Europe and into the Middle East from contexts dating from the first century BC to the fourth century AD . The phallic charms were often objects of personal adornment (such as pendants and finger rings), but also appeared as stone carvings on buildings, mosaics, and wind-chimes ( tintinnabula ). Examples of stone phallic carvings, such as from Leptis Magna , depict

7685-525: The Romans, who saw Venus as a mother goddess, seized on this idea of Eros as Aphrodite's son and popularized it, making it the predominant portrayal in works on mythology until the present day. Aphrodite's main attendants were the three Charites , whom Hesiod identifies as the daughters of Zeus and Eurynome and names as Aglaea ("Splendor"), Euphrosyne ("Good Cheer"), and Thalia ("Abundance"). The Charites had been worshipped as goddesses in Greece since

7830-519: The Thracian slaves. When Jason and his crew of Argonauts arrived on Lemnos, they mated with the sex-starved women under Aphrodite's approval and repopulated the island. From then on, the women of Lemnos never disrespected Aphrodite again. In Euripides 's tragedy Hippolytus , which was first performed at the City Dionysia in 428 BC, Theseus's son Hippolytus worships only Artemis ,

7975-456: The beginning of Greek history, long before Aphrodite was introduced to the pantheon. Aphrodite's other set of attendants was the three Horae (the "Hours"), whom Hesiod identifies as the daughters of Zeus and Themis and names as Eunomia ("Good Order"), Dike ("Justice"), and Eirene ("Peace"). Aphrodite was also sometimes accompanied by Harmonia , her daughter by Ares, and Hebe , the daughter of Zeus and Hera. The fertility god Priapus

8120-471: The chariot race at the funeral games of King Pelias , Aphrodite drove his horses mad and they tore him apart. Polyphonte was a young woman who chose a virginal life with Artemis instead of marriage and children, as favoured by Aphrodite. Aphrodite cursed her, causing her to have children by a bear. The resulting bear-like offspring Agrius and Oreius were wild cannibals who incurred the hatred of Zeus for attacking traveling strangers. Ultimately, Ares (who

8265-413: The city. Arsinoe II introduced the cult of Adonis to Alexandria and many of the women there partook in it. The Tessarakonteres , a gigantic catamaran galley designed by Archimedes for Ptolemy IV Philopator , had a circular temple to Aphrodite on it with a marble statue of the goddess herself. In the second century BC, Ptolemy VIII Physcon and his wives Cleopatra II and Cleopatra III dedicated

8410-489: The classic Pirkei Avot (Ethics of Our Fathers) . In Chapter II, five disciples of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai give advice on how to follow the good path in life and avoid the bad. Rabbi Eliezer says an evil eye is worse than a bad friend, a bad neighbor, or an evil heart. Talmudic exegete, Rashi , says in the wake of the words of Israel's Sages that when the ten sons of Jacob went down into Egypt to buy provisions, they made themselves inconspicuous by each entering into

8555-471: The cloth. Ashes and embers are believed to have protective and healing properties, especially for children. In order to get protection against the evil eye, the face of a child is covered with ashes. When children have been taken by the evil eye, they are washed on the ashes. Other Albanian rituals to avert evil, illness and harm in general are performed with fire ( zjarri ), seeking assistance from its supernatural power. Albanians traditionally believed in

8700-472: The concept of " sacred prostitution " in Greco-Roman culture, an idea which is now generally seen as erroneous. A major goddess in the Greek pantheon, Aphrodite featured prominently in ancient Greek literature . In Hesiod 's Theogony , Aphrodite is born off the coast of Cythera from the foam ( ἀφρός , aphrós ) produced by Uranus 's genitals, which his son Cronus had severed and thrown into

8845-468: The concept of the evil eye belief emerged from ancient Mesopotamia and spread to surrounding areas. Written documents and archaeological data reveal that the people of Sumer, who are believed to be the first inhabitants of the region, initiated, continued, and extended this belief. The evil eye belief spread from Mesopotamia to other regions, including: Assyrians and Phoenicians, Celts, Hellenistic Era, Romans, Jews, and Europe Texts from ancient Ugarit ,

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8990-450: The crowd round the inn door, which had by this time swelled to a considerable size, all made the sign of the cross and pointed two fingers towards me. With some difficulty, I got a fellow passenger to tell me what they meant. He would not answer at first, but on learning that I was English, he explained that it was a charm or guard against the evil eye. In Islam , the evil eye, or al-ʽayn ( Arabic : العين , also عين الحسودة ),

9135-752: The cult of the Mesopotamian goddess known as "Ishtar" to the East Semitic peoples and as " Inanna " to the Sumerians . Pausanias states that the first to establish a cult of Aphrodite were the Assyrians , followed by the Paphians of Cyprus and then the Phoenicians at Ascalon . The Phoenicians, in turn, taught her worship to the people of Cythera . Aphrodite took on Inanna-Ishtar's associations with sexuality and procreation. Furthermore, she

9280-586: The donkey, which was put by Dionysus among the stars. The first extant mention of Priapus is in the eponymous comedy Priapus , written in the 4th century BC by Xenarchus . Originally worshipped by Greek colonists in Lampsacus in Asia Minor , the cult of Priapus spread to mainland Greece and eventually to Italy during the 3rd century BC. Lucian ( De saltatione ) tells that in Bithynia Priapus

9425-485: The evil eye are commonly woven into tribal kilim rugs. Such motifs include a cross (Turkish: Haç) to divide the evil eye into four, a hook (Turkish: Çengel) to destroy the evil eye, or a human eye (Turkish: Göz) to avert the evil gaze. The shape of a lucky amulet (Turkish: Muska; often, a triangular package containing a sacred verse) is often woven into kilims for the same reason. While the Egyptian Eye of Horus

9570-494: The evil eye during antiquity varied across different regions and periods. The evil eye was not feared with equal intensity in every corner of the Roman Empire. There were places in which people felt more conscious of the danger of the evil eye. In Roman times, not only were individuals considered to possess the power of the evil eye but whole tribes, especially those of Pontus and Scythia , were believed to be transmitters of

9715-558: The evil eye include the nazar amulet , itself a representation of an eye, and the hamsa , a hand-shaped amulet. Older iterations of the symbol were often made of ceramic or clay; however, following the production of glass beads in the Mediterranean region in approximately 1500 BC, evil eye beads were popularised with the Indians , Phoenicians , Persians , Arabs , Greeks , Romans and Ottomans . Illyrians used objects with

9860-419: The evil eye is "an example of how one soul may affect another through unseen connections between them. We are all influenced by our environment [...] The evil eye is the venomous impact from malignant feelings of jealousy and envy of those around us." Many observant Jews avoid talking about valuable items they own, good luck that has come to them and, in particular, their children. If any of these are mentioned,

10005-571: The evil eye is found in the Islamic doctrine, based upon the statement of the Islamic prophet Muhammad , "The influence of an evil eye is a fact..." [Sahih Muslim, Book 26, Number 5427]. Authentic practices of warding off the evil eye are also commonly practiced by Muslims: rather than directly expressing appreciation of, for example, a child's beauty, it is customary to say Masha'Allah , that is, "God has willed it", or invoking God's blessings upon

10150-469: The evil eye take the form of eyes looking back at someone. These amulets are known as Greek eyes or Turkish eyes, depending on the region. In the painting by John Phillip, we witness the culture-clash experienced by a woman who suspects that the artist's gaze implies that he is looking at her with the evil eye. Among those who do not take the evil eye literally, either by reason of the culture in which they were raised or because they simply do not believe it,

10295-460: The evil eye will cause misfortune or injury, while others believe it to be a kind of supernatural force that casts or reflects a malevolent gaze back upon those who wish harm upon others (especially innocents). The idea also appears multiple times in Jewish rabbinic literature . Different cultures have pursued measures to protect against the evil eye. Some of the most famous talismans against

10440-412: The evil eye, several rituals with fire , smoke, ashes and embers are practiced. A typical ritual performed by the oldest woman of the family consists in taking a bunch of dry grass and burning it somewhere near the cloth that is being woven, so that the smoke goes towards it. If the grass crackled during the burning, even the evil eye would explode and not be able to do any harm, granting the good luck of

10585-591: The evil eye. Belief in the evil eye is strongest in West Asia , Latin America , East and West Africa , Central America , South Asia , Central Asia , the Caribbean , and Europe , especially the Mediterranean region ; it has also spread to areas, including northern Europe, particularly in the Celtic regions, and the Americas , where it was brought by European colonists and West Asian immigrants. Belief in

10730-531: The evil eye. Many different objects and charms were used for protection from fascination. The protective items referred to by the Greeks with a variety of names such as apotropaia, probaskania, periammata, periapta and profylaktika. Greeks placed talismans in their houses and wore amulets to protect them from the evil eye. Peisistratus hung the figure of a kind of grasshopper before the Acropolis of Athens for protection. The fascinus or fascinum , from

10875-476: The evil eye. Ancient Greek authors frequently mentioned the ὀφθαλμὸς βάσκανος ( ophthalmòs báskanos ; evil eye). As widely documented in archaeologic findings and in ancient literature, the Illyrians believed in the force of spells and the evil eye, in the magic power of protective and beneficial amulets which could avert the evil eye or the bad intentions of enemies. Such amulets included objects with

11020-399: The evil eye. An example of this is the textile neckbands worn by boys for their brit milah , especially in the regions of Alsace , Southern Germany and Switzerland . The neckbands often had a central coin or colourful coral, designed to draw the evil eye away from the boy and thus protect him during circumcision. Christianity 's beliefs of the evil eye can be located in some passages of

11165-422: The fact that, in many artistic depictions of Aphrodite, she is shown smiling. Other epithets of her include Mechanitis meaning skilled in inventing and Automata because, according to Servius , she was the source of spontaneous love. Common literary epithets of Aphrodite are Cypris and Cythereia , which derive from her associations with the islands of Cyprus and Cythera respectively. On Cyprus, Aphrodite

11310-614: The fingers of the hand. In the Levantine Christian culture is called the Hand of Mary , in some Muslim and Balkan cultures, the Hand of Fatima . Though condemned as superstition by doctrinaire Muslims, the power of such talismans against the evil eye is almost exclusive to the Near East and Mediterranean regions. To many individuals, though, the hamsa or nazar are simply used as decoration. A variety of motifs to ward off

11455-448: The four original primeval forces born at the beginning of time, but, after the birth of Aphrodite from the sea foam, he is joined by Himeros and, together, they become Aphrodite's constant companions. In early Greek art, Eros and Himeros are both shown as idealized handsome youths with wings. The Greek lyric poets regarded the power of Eros and Himeros as dangerous, compulsive, and impossible for anyone to resist. In modern times, Eros

11600-510: The function of Priapus is much more extensive than previously thought. Although Priapus is commonly associated with the failed attempts of rape against the nymphs Lotis and Vesta in Ovid's comedy Fasti and the rather flippant treatment of the deity in urban settings, Priapus' protection traits can be traced back to the importance placed on the phallus in ancient times (particularly his association with fertility and garden protection). In Greece,

11745-471: The goddess of virginity, and refuses to engage in any form of sexual contact. Aphrodite is infuriated by his prideful behavior and, in the prologue to the play, she declares that, by honoring only Artemis and refusing to venerate her, Hippolytus has directly challenged her authority. Aphrodite therefore causes Hippolytus's stepmother, Phaedra , to fall in love with him, knowing Hippolytus will reject her. After being rejected, Phaedra commits suicide and leaves

11890-405: The goddess of virginity. Aphrodite tells Anchises that she is still a virgin and begs him to take her to his parents. Anchises immediately becomes overcome with mad lust for Aphrodite and swears that he will have sex with her. Anchises takes Aphrodite, with her eyes cast downwards, to his bed, which is covered in the furs of lions and bears. He then strips her naked and makes love to her. After

12035-475: The goddess to claim that Ourania and Pandemos are, in fact, separate goddesses. He asserts that Aphrodite Ourania is the celestial Aphrodite, born from the sea foam after Cronus castrated Uranus, and the older of the two goddesses. According to the Symposium , Aphrodite Ourania is the inspiration of male homosexual desire , specifically the ephebic eros , and pederasty . Aphrodite Pandemos , by contrast,

12180-410: The hero Paris having the temerity to judge Aphrodite more beautiful than Hera. In another account, Hera's anger and curse were because the baby had been fathered by her husband Zeus. The other gods refused to allow him to live on Mount Olympus and threw him down to Earth, leaving him on a hillside. He was eventually found by shepherds and was brought up by them. Priapus joined Pan and the satyrs as

12325-457: The inner recesses of a person possessing the evil eye. Plutarch treated the phenomenon of the evil eye as something seemingly inexplicable that is a source of wonder and cause of incredulity. Pliny the Elder described the ability of certain African enchanters to have the "power of fascination with the eyes and can even kill those on whom they fix their gaze". The idea of the evil eye appears in

12470-631: The islands of Cyprus , Cythera , and Sicily . Aphrodite's Mesopotamian precursor Inanna-Ishtar was also closely associated with prostitution. Scholars in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries believed that the cult of Aphrodite may have involved ritual prostitution , an assumption based on ambiguous passages in certain ancient texts, particularly a fragment of a skolion by the Boeotian poet Pindar , which mentions prostitutes in Corinth in association with Aphrodite. Modern scholars now dismiss

12615-518: The later legends of Hermaphroditus . Aphrodite's main festival, the Aphrodisia , was celebrated across Greece, but particularly in Athens and Corinth . In Athens, the Aphrodisia was celebrated on the fourth day of the month of Hekatombaion in honor of Aphrodite's role in the unification of Attica. During this festival, the priests of Aphrodite would purify the temple of Aphrodite Pandemos on

12760-493: The latter of these interpretations and claims the story of a birth from the foam as an Indo-European mytheme . Similarly, Krzysztof Tomasz Witczak proposes an Indo-European compound *abʰor- "very" and *dʰei- "to shine", also referring to Eos , and Daniel Kölligan has interpreted Aphrodite's name as "shining up from the mist/foam". Other scholars have argued that these hypotheses are unlikely, since Aphrodite's attributes are entirely different from those of both Eos and

12905-555: The lovemaking is complete, Aphrodite reveals her true divine form. Anchises is terrified, but Aphrodite consoles him and promises that she will bear him a son. She prophesies that their son will be the demigod Aeneas , who will be raised by the nymphs of the wilderness for five years before going to Troy to become a nobleman like his father. The story of Aeneas's conception is also mentioned in Hesiod's Theogony and in Book II of Homer's Iliad . The myth of Aphrodite and Adonis

13050-451: The most famous story, Zeus hastily married Aphrodite to Hephaestus in order to prevent the other gods from fighting over her. In another version of the myth, Hephaestus gave his mother Hera a golden throne, but when she sat on it, she became trapped and he refused to let her go until she agreed to give him Aphrodite's hand in marriage. Hephaestus was overjoyed to be married to the goddess of beauty, and forged her beautiful jewelry, including

13195-641: The mother of the entire Roman nation. Julius Caesar claimed to be directly descended from Aeneas's son Iulus and became a strong proponent of the cult of Venus. This precedent was later followed by his nephew Augustus and the later emperors claiming succession from him. This syncretism greatly impacted Greek worship of Aphrodite. During the Roman era, the cults of Aphrodite in many Greek cities began to emphasize her relationship with Troy and Aeneas. They also began to adopt distinctively Roman elements, portraying Aphrodite as more maternal, more militaristic, and more concerned with administrative bureaucracy. She

13340-464: The mountain if she will bless him and his family. Aphrodite lies and tells him that she is not a goddess, but the daughter of one of the noble families of Phrygia . She claims to be able to understand the Trojan language because she had a Trojan nurse as a child and says that she found herself on the mountainside after she was snatched up by Hermes while dancing in a celebration in honor of Artemis ,

13485-532: The name as either *ʿAprodît or *ʿAproḏît , and cautiously suggests the latter as being an epithet with the meaning "She of the Villages". Aren Wilson-Wright suggests the Phoenician form *ʾAprodīt as an elative epithet meaning "unique, excellent, sublime". A number of improbable non-Greek etymologies have also been suggested. One Semitic etymology compares Aphrodite to the Assyrian barīrītu ,

13630-666: The name of a female demon that appears in Middle Babylonian and Late Babylonian texts. Hammarström looks to Etruscan , comparing (e)prθni "lord", an Etruscan honorific loaned into Greek as πρύτανις . This would make the theonym in origin an honorific, "the lady". Most scholars reject this etymology as implausible, especially since Aphrodite's name actually appears in Etruscan in the borrowed form Apru (from Greek Aphrō , clipped form of Aphrodite ). The medieval Etymologicum Magnum ( c.  1150 ) offers

13775-560: The new gardens. A number of epigrams , apparently written as if to adorn shrines of Priapus, were collected in the Priapeia . In these, Priapus frequently threatens sexual assault against potential thieves: Percidere, puer, moneo; futuere, puella; barbatum furem tertia poena manet. I warn you, boy, you will be screwed; girl, you will be laid with; a third penalty awaits the bearded thief. Femina si furtum faciet mihi virve puerve, haec cunnum, caput hic praebeat, ille nates. If

13920-595: The notion of ritual prostitution in Greece as a "historiographic myth" with no factual basis. During the Hellenistic period , the Greeks identified Aphrodite with the ancient Egyptian goddesses Hathor and Isis . Aphrodite was the patron goddess of the Lagid queens and Queen Arsinoe II was identified as her mortal incarnation. Aphrodite was worshipped in Alexandria and had numerous temples in and around

14065-521: The object or person that is being admired. A number of beliefs about the evil eye are also found in folk religion , typically revolving around the use of amulets or talismans as a means of protection. In the Aegean Region and other areas where light-colored eyes are relatively rare, people with green eyes , and especially blue eyes, are thought to bestow the curse, intentionally or unintentionally. Thus, in Greece and Turkey amulets against

14210-415: The oldest strata of her worship and see it as an indication of her Near Eastern origins. Nineteenth-century classical scholars had a general aversion to the idea that ancient Greek religion was at all influenced by the cultures of the Near East, but, even Friedrich Gottlieb Welcker , who argued that Near Eastern influence on Greek culture was largely confined to material culture, admitted that Aphrodite

14355-468: The opposite attitude. A man with "an evil eye" will not only feel no joy but experience actual distress when others prosper and will rejoice when others suffer. A person of this character represents a great danger to moral purity, according to some Jews. In halachic literature there are a few customs that deal with situation's that can spike evil eye, such as one looking at his friends field when collecting his crops. Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook explained that

14500-458: The other Olympians come to her rescue. Ovid's anecdote served to explain why donkeys were sacrificed to Priapus in the city of Lampsacus on the Hellespont, where he was worshipped among the offspring of Hermes . Once, a donkey that had been given human speech by Dionysus challenged Priapus to a contest about which between them had the better penis . Priapus won the contest, and then killed

14645-480: The owners of the thunder-stones. A common practice was to hung a thunder-stone pendant on the body of the cattle or on the pregnant woman for good luck and to contrast the evil eye. In Trinidad and Tobago , the evil eye is called bad eye , maljo (from French Creole mal yeux , literally meaning 'bad eye') and najar by the Indo-Trinidadians . The term is used in the infinitive (to maljo) and as

14790-402: The party with "raucous braying". Lotis awoke and pushed Priapus away, but her only true escape was to be transformed into the lotus tree . To punish the donkey for spoiling his opportunity, Priapus bludgeoned it to death with his gargantuan phallus. When the same story is recounted later in the same book, Lotis is replaced with the virginal goddess Hestia , who avoids being changed into a tree as

14935-432: The phallus was thought of to have a mind of its own, animal-like, separate from the mind and control of the man. The phallus is also associated with "possession and territorial demarcation" in many cultures, attributing to Priapus' other role as a navigational deity. Priapus' iconic attribute was his priapism (permanently erect penis ); he probably absorbed some pre-existing ithyphallic deities as his cult developed. He

15080-857: The phrase " Masha'Allah " ( ما شاء الله ) ("God has willed it") alongside a compliment prevents the compliment from attracting the evil eye, whereas in some countries, such as Iran , certain specific plants – such as rue – are considered prone to protecting against the evil eye. The evil eye originated in ancient Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq). The earliest evidence excavated from various ancient cities include: Written documents: A Sumerian cuneiform mentions an "eye ad-gir" that afflicts people with evil Archaeological data: Alabaster idols with incised eyes were found in Tell Brak, one of Mesopotamia's oldest cities Amulets: Eye-shaped amulets were found in Mesopotamia Most experts, believe that

15225-493: The phrase, "to give someone the evil eye" usually means simply to glare at the person in anger or disgust. The term has entered into common usage within the English language . Within the broadcasting industry, it refers to when a presenter signals to the interviewee or co-presenter to stop talking due to a shortage of time. Attempts to ward off the curse of the evil eye have resulted in a number of talismans in many cultures. As

15370-445: The poetry of Virgil in a conversation between the shepherds Menalcas and Damoetas. In the passage, Menalcas is lamenting the poor health of his stock: "What eye is it that has fascinated my tender lambs?". The Christian Gospels record the fact that Jesus warned against the evil eye in a list of evils (Mark 7:22). Ancient Greeks and Romans believed that the evil eye could affect both humans and animals, for example cattle. Belief in

15515-406: The sea a long time, and white foam arose from the immortal flesh; with it a girl grew." After Aphrodite was born from the sea-foam, she washed up to shore in the presence of the other gods. Hesiod's account of Aphrodite's birth following Uranus's castration is probably derived from The Song of Kumarbi , an ancient Hittite epic poem in which the god Kumarbi overthrows his father Anu , the god of

15660-466: The sea. In Homer 's Iliad , however, she is the daughter of Zeus and Dione . In his Symposium , Plato asserts that these two origins actually belong to separate entities; Aphrodite Urania (a transcendent "Heavenly" Aphrodite) and Aphrodite Pandemos (Aphrodite common to "all the people"). The epithet Aphrodite Areia (the "Warlike") reveals her contrasting nature in ancient Greek religion . Aphrodite had many other epithets, each emphasizing

15805-522: The shape of phallus , hand , leg , and animal teeth against the evil eye. Ancient Romans used representations of phallus , such as the fascinus , to protect against the evil eye, while in modern-day Southern Italy a variety of amulets and gestures are used for protection, including the cornicello , the cimaruta , and the sign of the horns . In different cultures, the evil eye can be fought against with yet other methods – in Arab culture , saying

15950-412: The shape of phallus , hand , leg , and animal teeth . Classical authors attempted both to describe and to explain the function of the evil eye. Plutarch in his work entitled Symposium has a separate chapter describing such beliefs. In his scientific explanation, he stated that the eyes were the chief, if not sole, source of the deadly rays that were supposed to spring up like poisoned darts from

16095-541: The sky, and bites off his genitals, causing him to become pregnant and give birth to Anu's children, which include Ishtar and her brother Teshub , the Hittite storm god. In the Iliad , Aphrodite is described as the daughter of Zeus and Dione. Dione's name appears to be a feminine cognate to Dios and Dion , which are oblique forms of the name Zeus . Zeus and Dione shared a cult at Dodona in northwestern Greece. In

16240-561: The southwestern slope of the Acropolis with the blood of a sacrificed dove . Next, the altars would be anointed and the cult statues of Aphrodite Pandemos and Peitho would be escorted in a majestic procession to a place where they would be ritually bathed. Aphrodite was also honored in Athens as part of the Arrhephoria festival. The fourth day of every month was sacred to Aphrodite. Pausanias records that, in Sparta, Aphrodite

16385-454: The speaker and/or listener will say b'li ayin hara ( Hebrew : בלי עין הרע ), meaning "without an evil eye", or keyn eyn-hore ( Yiddish : קיין עין־הרע ; often shortened to kinehore , קינעהאָרע ), "no evil eye". Another way to ward off the evil eye is to spit three times (or pretend to). Romans call this custom "despuere malum," to spit at evil. Rituals surrounding birth and young children are often centred around protection from

16530-410: The story with more details. According to the retelling of the story found in the poem Metamorphoses by the Roman poet Ovid (43 BC – 17/18 AD), Adonis was the son of Myrrha , who was cursed by Aphrodite with insatiable lust for her own father, King Cinyras of Cyprus , after Myrrha's mother bragged that her daughter was more beautiful than the goddess. Driven out after becoming pregnant, Myrrha

16675-641: The story, the boar was either sent by Ares, who was jealous that Aphrodite was spending so much time with Adonis, or by Artemis, who wanted revenge against Aphrodite for having killed her devoted follower Hippolytus . In another version, Apollo in fury changed himself into a boar and killed Adonis because Aphrodite had blinded his son Erymanthus when he stumbled upon Aphrodite naked as she was bathing after intercourse with Adonis. The story also provides an etiology for Aphrodite's associations with certain flowers. Reportedly, as she mourned Adonis's death, she caused anemones to grow wherever his blood fell and declared

16820-399: The supreme powers of thunder-stones, which were believed to be formed during lightning strikes and to be fallen from the sky ( qielli ). Thunder-stones were preserved in family life as important cult objects . It was believed that bringing them inside the house could bring good fortune , prosperity and progress in people, in livestock and in agriculture, or that rifle bullets would not hit

16965-405: The temple of Cybele . The couple desecrate the temple by having sex in it, leading Cybele to turn them into lions as punishment. The myth of Pygmalion is first mentioned by the third-century BC Greek writer Philostephanus of Cyrene , but is first recounted in detail in Ovid's Metamorphoses . According to Ovid, Pygmalion was an exceedingly handsome sculptor from the island of Cyprus, who

17110-527: The third century BC when the cult of Venus Erycina was introduced to Rome from the Greek sanctuary of Aphrodite on Mount Eryx in Sicily. After this point, Romans adopted Aphrodite's iconography and myths and applied them to Venus. Because Aphrodite was the mother of the Trojan hero Aeneas in Greek mythology and Roman tradition claimed Aeneas as the founder of Rome, Venus became venerated as Venus Genetrix ,

17255-649: The time of the Trojan War , he is married to Charis / Aglaea , one of the Graces , apparently divorced from Aphrodite. Afterwards, it was generally Ares who was regarded as the husband or official consort of the goddess; on the François Vase , the two arrive at the wedding of Peleus and Thetis on the same chariot, as do Zeus with Hera and Poseidon with Amphitrite . The poets Pindar and Aeschylus refer to Ares as Aphrodite's husband. Later stories were invented to explain Aphrodite's marriage to Hephaestus. In

17400-569: The version of her birth recounted by Hesiod in his Theogony , Cronus severed Uranus' genitals and threw them behind him into the sea. The foam from his genitals gave rise to Aphrodite (hence her name, which Hesiod interprets as "foam-arisen"), while the Giants , the Erinyes (furies), and the Meliae emerged from the drops of his blood. Hesiod states that the genitals "were carried over

17545-461: The waters after Cronus defeats Uranus as a mytheme would then be directly cognate to the Rigvedic myth of Indra defeating Vrtra , liberating Ushas . Another key similarity between Aphrodite and the Indo-European dawn goddess is her close kinship to the Greek sky deity, since both of the main claimants to her paternity (Zeus and Uranus) are sky deities. Aphrodite's most common cultic epithet

17690-660: The year with Aphrodite, one third with Persephone, and one third with whomever he chose. Adonis chose to spend that time with Aphrodite. Then, one day, while Adonis was hunting, he was wounded by a wild boar and bled to death in Aphrodite's arms. In a semi-mocking work, the Dialogues of the Gods , the satirical author Lucian comedically relates how a frustrated Aphrodite complains to the moon goddess Selene about her son Eros making Persephone fall in love with Adonis and now she has to share him with her. In different versions of

17835-593: Was Ourania , meaning "heavenly", but this epithet almost never occurs in literary texts, indicating a purely cultic significance. Another common name for Aphrodite was Pandemos ("For All the Folk"). In her role as Aphrodite Pandemos, Aphrodite was associated with Peithō ( Πείθω ), meaning "persuasion", and could be prayed to for aid in seduction. The character of Pausanias in Plato 's Symposium , takes differing cult-practices associated with different epithets of

17980-480: Was Polyphonte's grandfather) and Hermes (who was originally dispatched by Zeus to kill them) transformed all Polyphonte, Agrius, and Oreius into birds of ill omen while the servant who begged for mercy was transformed into a woodpecker. According to Apollodorus , a jealous Aphrodite cursed Eos , the goddess of dawn, to be perpetually in love and have insatiable sexual desire because Eos once had lain with Aphrodite's sweetheart Ares. Evil eye The evil eye

18125-459: Was a place of pilgrimage in the ancient world for centuries. Other versions of her myth have her born near the island of Cythera , hence another of her names, "Cytherea". Cythera was a stopping place for trade and culture between Crete and the Peloponesus , so these stories may preserve traces of the migration of Aphrodite's cult from the Middle East to mainland Greece . According to

18270-404: Was a trunk of fig, a useless piece of wood, when a carpenter, unsure whether he should make a bench or a Priapus, decided to make a god. So I am a god, of thieves and birds a very great scarer; for my right hand curbs thieves, as does the red pole which projects from my indecent groin; but as for the importunate birds, the reed fixed on my head terrifies them and forbids them to settle in

18415-498: Was accounted as a warlike god, a rustic tutor to the infant Ares , "who taught him dancing first and war only afterwards," Karl Kerenyi observed. Arnobius is aware of the importance accorded Priapus in this region near the Hellespont . Also, Pausanias notes: This god is worshipped where goats and sheep pasture or there are swarms of bees; but by the people of Lampsacus he is more revered than any other god, being called by them

18560-433: Was believed to avert the evil eye . Priapus does not appear to have had an organized cult and was mostly worshiped in gardens or homes, though there are attestations of temples dedicated to the god. His sacrificial animal was the ass , but agricultural offerings (such as fruit, flowers, vegetables and fish) were also very common. Long after the fall of Rome and the rise of Christianity , Priapus continued to be invoked as

18705-449: Was changed into a myrrh tree, but still gave birth to Adonis. Aphrodite found the baby and took him to the underworld to be fostered by Persephone . She returned for him once he was grown and discovered him to be strikingly handsome. Persephone wanted to keep Adonis, resulting in a custody battle between the two goddesses over whom should rightly possess Adonis. Zeus settled the dispute by decreeing that Adonis would spend one third of

18850-470: Was claimed as a divine guardian by many political magistrates. Appearances of Aphrodite in Greek literature also vastly proliferated, usually showing Aphrodite in a characteristically Roman manner. Aphrodite is usually said to have been born near her chief center of worship, Paphos , on the island of Cyprus , which is why she is sometimes called "Cyprian", especially in the poetic works of Sappho . The Sanctuary of Aphrodite Paphia , marking her birthplace,

18995-469: Was clearly of Phoenician origin. The significant influence of Near Eastern culture on early Greek religion in general, and on the cult of Aphrodite in particular, is now widely recognized as dating to a period of orientalization during the eighth century BC, when archaic Greece was on the fringes of the Neo-Assyrian Empire . Some early comparative mythologists opposed to the idea of

19140-522: Was his permanent erection and his large penis. Another myth states that he pursued the nymph Lotis until the gods took pity on her and turned her into a lotus plant. "Priapos" is a title given to Eros Phanes in the Orphic Hymn to Protogonos, the "firstborn" god of the Greeks who came from the Cosmic Egg . In The Orphic Hymn to Dionysus, Dionysus is given epithets similar to Protogonos and

19285-579: Was horrified to see that the child had a massive, permanently erect penis , a potbelly , and a huge tongue. Aphrodite abandoned the infant to die in the wilderness, but a herdsman found him and raised him, later discovering that Priapus could use his massive penis to aid in the growth of plants. The First Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite ( Hymn 5 ), which was probably composed sometime in the mid-seventh century BC, describes how Zeus once became annoyed with Aphrodite for causing deities to fall in love with mortals, so he caused her to fall in love with Anchises ,

19430-462: Was killed by a wild boar . Along with Athena and Hera , Aphrodite was one of the three goddesses whose feud resulted in the beginning of the Trojan War and plays a major role throughout the Iliad . Aphrodite has been featured in Western art as a symbol of female beauty and has appeared in numerous works of Western literature . She is a major deity in modern Neopagan religions , including

19575-720: Was known as Ourania (Οὐρανία), which means "heavenly", a title corresponding to Inanna's role as the Queen of Heaven . Early artistic and literary portrayals of Aphrodite are extremely similar on Inanna-Ishtar. Like Inanna-Ishtar, Aphrodite was also a warrior goddess; the second-century AD Greek geographer Pausanias records that, in Sparta, Aphrodite was worshipped as Aphrodite Areia , which means "warlike". He also mentions that Aphrodite's most ancient cult statues in Sparta and on Cythera showed her bearing arms. Modern scholars note that Aphrodite's warrior-goddess aspects appear in

19720-469: Was married to Hephaestus , the god of fire, blacksmiths and metalworking. Aphrodite was frequently unfaithful to him and had many lovers; in the Odyssey , she is caught in the act of adultery with Ares , the god of war. In the First Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite , she seduces the mortal shepherd Anchises . Aphrodite was also the surrogate mother and lover of the mortal shepherd Adonis , who

19865-595: Was renowned throughout the ancient world for its many hetairai , who had a widespread reputation for being among the most skilled, but also the most expensive, prostitutes in the Greek world. Corinth also had a major temple to Aphrodite located on the Acrocorinth and was one of the main centers of her cult. Records of numerous dedications to Aphrodite made by successful courtesans have survived in poems and in pottery inscriptions. References to Aphrodite in association with prostitution are found in Corinth as well as on

20010-450: Was represented in a variety of ways, most commonly as a misshapen gnome-like figure with an enormous erect phallus. Statues of Priapus were common in ancient Greece and Rome, standing in gardens. The Athenians often conflated Priapus with Hermes , the god of boundaries, and depicted a hybrid deity with a winged helmet, sandals, and huge erection. Another attribute of Priapus was the sickle which he often carries in his right hand. This tool

20155-784: Was so sickened by the immorality of women that he refused to marry. He fell madly and passionately in love with the ivory cult statue he was carving of Aphrodite and longed to marry it. Because Pygmalion was extremely pious and devoted to Aphrodite, the goddess brought the statue to life. Pygmalion married the girl the statue became and they had a son named Paphos, after whom the capital of Cyprus received its name. Pseudo-Apollodorus later mentions "Metharme, daughter of Pygmalion, king of Cyprus". Aphrodite generously rewarded those who honored her, but also punished those who disrespected her, often quite brutally. A myth described in Apollonius of Rhodes's Argonautica and later summarized in

20300-785: Was sometimes called Eleemon ("the merciful"). In Athens, she was known as Aphrodite en kēpois (" Aphrodite of the Gardens "). At Cape Colias, a town along the Attic coast, she was venerated as Genetyllis "Mother". The Spartans worshipped her as Potnia "Mistress", Enoplios "Armed", Morpho "Shapely", Ambologera "She who Postpones Old Age". Across the Greek world, she was known under epithets such as Melainis in Corinth "Black or Dark One", Skotia "Dark One", Androphonos "Killer of Men", Anosia "Unholy", and Tymborychos "Gravedigger", all of which indicate her darker, more violent nature. A male version of Aphrodite known as Aphroditus

20445-537: Was thought of as the incarnation of Protogonos, so he was considered both the father of fertility god Priapus and also the incarnation of the primordial Priapus. As well as the collection known as the Priapeia mentioned above, Priapus was a frequent figure in Latin erotic or mythological verse. In Ovid 's Fasti , the nymph Lotis fell into a drunken slumber at a feast, and Priapus seized this opportunity to advance upon her. With stealth he approached, and just before he could embrace her, Silenus 's donkey alerted

20590-427: Was used to threaten thieves, doubtless with castration: Horace ( Sat. 1.8.1–7) writes: Olim truncus eram ficulnus, inutile lignum, cum faber, incertus scamnum faceretne Priapum, maluit esse deum. deus inde ego, furum aviumque maxima formido; nam fures dextra coercet obscenoque ruber porrectus ab inguine palus; ast importunes volucres in vertice harundo terret fixa vetatque novis considere in hortis. Once I

20735-506: Was usually considered to be Aphrodite's son by Dionysus , but he was sometimes also described as her son by Hermes, Adonis, or even Zeus. A scholion on Apollonius of Rhodes 's Argonautica states that, while Aphrodite was pregnant with Priapus, Hera envied her and applied an evil potion to her belly while she was sleeping to ensure that the child would be hideous. In another version, Hera cursed Aphrodite's unborn son because he had been fathered by Zeus. When Aphrodite gave birth, she

20880-684: Was worshipped as Aphrodite Areia , which means "warlike". This epithet stresses Aphrodite's connections to Ares, with whom she had extramarital relations. Pausanias also records that, in Sparta and on Cythera, a number of extremely ancient cult statues of Aphrodite portrayed her bearing arms. Other cult statues showed her bound in chains. Aphrodite was the patron goddess of prostitutes of all varieties, ranging from pornai (cheap street prostitutes typically owned as slaves by wealthy pimps ) to hetairai (expensive, well-educated hired companions, who were usually self-employed and sometimes provided sex to their customers). The city of Corinth

21025-480: Was worshipped in the city of Amathus on Cyprus. Aphroditus was depicted with the figure and dress of a woman, but had a beard , and was shown lifting his dress to reveal an erect phallus . This gesture was believed to be an apotropaic symbol , and was thought to convey good fortune upon the viewer. Eventually, the popularity of Aphroditus waned as the mainstream, fully feminine version of Aphrodite became more popular, but traces of his cult are preserved in

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