Aphrodite

CC 303 Intro to Classical Mythology - Fall 2009
Department of Classics, University of Texas at Austin, Prof. Lawrence Kim

Names to Remember

Aphrodite (Venus), Cyprus, Mt. Ida, Pygmalion,
Adonis, Anchises, Aeneas, Tithonus,
Aurora (Dawn), Eros (Cupid), Ganymede, Myrrha

Lecture Outline

1. The Goddess of Love: Aphrodite/Venus
   1. Story of Venus, Two births:
      1. Born from Uranus/Saturn and the sea: pure, true love
         • Sacred Island: Cyprus, where she was born
         • Hence her epithet: Cypria, or the Cyprian
      2. Child of Zeus and Dione: earthly sexual desire
   2. Beautiful, Often Naked
   • Accompanied by Eros/Cupid
   • The Toilette of Venus
2. Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite: Aphrodite and Anchises
   1. How Aphrodite's power was turned upon herself
   2. Comes disguised to Anchises on Mt. Ida, near Troy
   3. After sex, she reveals herself and warns him to keep silent
      
   4. Gives birth to Aeneas, eventual founder of Rome
3. Other Loves of Gods and Mortals
1. Tithonus and Aurora
1. Mortal loved by Aurora (Dawn)
2. Granted eternal life, but not eternal youth
3. Ages, shrivels, only babbles (or, turns into a cicada)
2. Ganymede and Zeus
1. Zeus comes as an eagle, whisks him away to Olympus
2. Pours nectar for the gods
3. Venus and Adonis
1. Adonis: Shorthand for a beautiful man, Aphrodite's Lover
• Child of Incest: The Story of Cinyras and Myrrha
2. Death of Adonis
1. Killed by a boar
2. Turns into the anemone flower
3. Represents the withering of vegetation and its renewal in spring
   

    4. The Power of Love: Pygmalion and Galatea

• Sculptor disdains all women
• Falls in love with female statue
• Aphrodite makes the statue come to life
• A variant story from Lucian's Amores: the statue of Aphrodite on Cnidos
• Modern Versions: Fashioning the Perfect Woman
• E.T.A. Hoffman: The Sandman (Olimpia)
• George Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion (becomes My Fair Lady)

Images

Aphrodite/Venus

1. *Venus de Milo. c. 130-100 BCE. Musée du Louvre, Paris. Discovered in 1820 on the Greek island of Melos (Milo).
2. Aphrodite. Medici Venus.
3. Toilet of Venus. Simon Vouet, 1628-39. City Art Museum, Cincinnati.
4. *The Toilet of Venus ('The Rokeby Venus'). Diego Velazquez, 1647-51. The National Gallery, London. The only surviving female nude by Velazquez.
5. Venus Disarming Cupid. François Boucher, 1751.
6. The Sleeping Venus and Cupid. Nicolas Poussin, c. 1630. The Dresden Gallery, Dresden.

Adonis

1. Birth of Adonis from Myrrha. 
2. Venus and Adonis.
3. Venus and Adonis. Veronese.
   

Pygmalion

1. The Hand Refrains. The Pygmalion Series. Sir Edward Burne-Jones, 1868-70. Joseph Setton Collection, Paris.
2. The Godhead Fires. The Pygmalion Series. Sir Edward Burne-Jones, 1868-70. Joseph Setton Collection, Paris.
3. Pygmalion and Galatea. Jean-Leon Gerome. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
4. Pygmalion. François Boucher.

Ganymede

1. Ganymede and Eagle. Niccolo Tribolo.
2. Zeus and Ganymede. Penthesilea Painter, no. 12. Museo Nazionale Ferrara.
3. Ganymede pouring wine from an oinochoe for Zeus on Olympus; Hestia to right. Detail of exterior of Attic Red-figure kylix signed both by Oltos and the potter Euxitheos, c. 520. Tarquinia.