Aphrodite to some extent can be considered an orphan, she had no father, had no mother. But still, she was not considered a poor orphan. One very good, good morning, she simply appeared from a sea wave near Cyprus. They probably expected Aphrodite, because on the shore she was congratulated by Attractions, Smiles, Entertainment - funny and sweet deities who have since remained in her retinue. Everywhere Aphrodite set foot, beautiful flowers grew. The handmaids wiped Aphrodite’s body, smeared with fragrant oils, squeezed her wet hair and combed her hair. They put a golden crown on their heads, inserted earrings with pearls in their ears, and decorated their neck with a ruby necklace. Aphrodite was dressed in a transparent, like a haze, shirt and in a cloak, colorful as a rainbow. Then they rolled a beautiful chariot lined with shells and harnessed pigeons into it. So the goddess of beauty went to Olympus. When she appeared there, among the bronze walls of the Zeus Palace, such as “ah!” Of all the gods sounded that jealousy stabbed at the very heart of Hera, mistress of heaven, Athena, the majestic queen of wisdom and other goddesses who began to whisper in a whisper, as if to tame this stray.
But nothing was done to her because she captivated everyone with her attractiveness. Aphrodite had a magic belt on her, thanks to which all hearts immediately obeyed her and became obedient. She became the goddess of love. And for the first time, I knew the sweets and sorrows of this beautiful feeling.
Her heart chose Adonis, a handsome hunter, for himself. Aphrodite, accustomed to a luxurious life, got up early in the morning to accompany Adonis on a hunt. She wounded her delicate legs against blackthorn and stones, her light robe bursting in the wilderness. Once on the top of Lebanon, under the cedars of Adonis, a boar tore apart. The goddess did not have time to help him in time. Adonis bowed his head in her white hands and died. Aphrodite poured the blood of her beloved with nectar, and red blood turned into a flower called anemone.
The inconsolable goddess, having come to Zeus, asked him to bring the beloved soul out of the underworld and return it to its former beautiful body. Her wish was granted, and since then Adonis has been near Aphrodite for six months, and the other half of the year he returned to Hades. He was honored as a god. The eight-day feast of Adonijah was both sad and cheerful. A wooden statue was placed in an artificial grave and yearned for Adonis for four days, standing above it. The next four days they carried this sculpture in their hands, thereby proclaiming his resurrection. In each house, they put “Adonis Sadochki” on the windowsills, plants in vases, which, like a woman, quickly ascend and quickly fade, a symbol of the transience of youth or summer, which bends under the silver scythe of winter.
Aphrodite was most willingly in Cyprus, the skeleton that witnessed her birth. In Paphos, there was a famous temple in which priests told people about the miracle that happened in the house of Pygmalion at the behest of the gods ..
This was the king of Cyprus, who, instead of ruling the state, was fond of sculpture. Wanting to realize his dream in stone, Pygmalion carved a woman, so beautiful, who had not yet been on earth. And he fell in love with her and suffered because marble could neither speak to him, nor smile, nor give hands. But once, when the king was completely immersed in his love and in his suffering, he felt someone's hand on his shoulder. Pygmalion looked around: it was his favorite statue, transformed by the will of Aphrodite into a living woman. Since that time, Galatea began to call her. A talented sculptor made her his wife and the queen of his possessions. Galatea bore him a son, Paphos, who in the future founded the city of his name, in which he built a beautiful temple of the good goddess.
The ancient Greeks imagined that the goddess of love Aphrodite flies through the air in a chariot drawn by pigeons. She was also the goddess of flowers, gardens, gays, and spring.
In ancient times, Aphrodite was depicted, however, as all the goddesses, in a long robe to the ground, in her hand, she held some kind of fruit or flower, pigeons sat at the feet of the goddess.
At the beginning of the IV century BC. e., in the art of Ancient Greece, appears Aphrodite, usually naked or half-naked, they usually depict her while swimming. Sometimes there are paintings depicting the moment of her amazing birth. The best statue of Aphrodite was created by the Athenian sculptor Praxiteles (IV century BC). Its original has not been preserved, but there are numerous copies. Aphrodite was also loved by ancient artists. In Pompeii frescoes, we see how she fishes with a fishing rod or swims in a shell on the sea, surrounded by little Eros.