Aphrodite

Grc: Αφροδιτη (Aphrodite), Lat: Venus, En: Aphrodite

Also known as Kypris/Cypris, Kytherea/Cytherea. Analagous to the Sumerian goddess Inanna, the Mesopotamian Ishtar, and the Phoenician Astarte.

I will sing of stately Aphrodite, gold-crowned and beautiful, whose dominion is the walled cities of all sea-set Kypros. There the moist breath of Zephyros, the western wind, wafted her over the waves of the loud-moaning sea in soft foam, and there the gold-filleted Horai welcomed her joyously.

— Homeric Hymn 6 to Aphrodite

Local Variants

Αφροδιτη Οὐρανία (Aphrodite Ourania): "Aphrodite of the Heavens"

The personification of the spiritual and universal qualities of love, created of seafoam and the severed parts of Ouranos. A cult to Aphrodite Ourania started on the island of Kythera, as part of the purple trade, and spread to Athens and beyond.

Αφροδιτη Πάνδημος (Aphrodite Pandemos): "Aphrodite of the People"

The personification of the more common and lustful qualities of love. Distinguished from the version followed by the cultists of Aphrodite Ourania, who considered this version to be a separate entity and the daughter of Zeus and Dione and may have worshiped both.

Ἀφροδίτη Ἀποτροφία (Aphrodite Apotrophia): "Aphrodite the Expeller"

The version of Aphrodite who expels thoughts of evil and lust from mortal hearts. In Thebai, Apotrophia was worshiped alongside Ourania and Pandemos.

Αφροδιτη Ἀρεία (Aphrodite Ariea): "Aphrodite the Warlike"

Armed and armored "Warrior of Love" worshipped in Sparta and Korinth, throwback to the earliest version of the goddess.

Divine Domains

Love, Beauty, Pleasure, and Procreation

Divine Symbols & Sigils

Symbols

Apple, Scallop Shell, and Mirror

Animals

Dove, Goose

Plants

Myrtle, Rose

Divine Classification

Olympian

Circumstances of Birth

Born of sea foam and the testicles of Ouranos; or
Daughter of Zeus and Dione; or
Daughter of Ouranos and Hemera.