Aphrodite's Role In Greek Mythology

Greek Goddesses

In the popular Katy Perry song “Dark Horse” the pop singer refers to the greek goddess Aphrodite in the lyrics following: “Make me your one and only, make me your Aphrodite”. The lyric may not make sense to a person with little knowledge of greek goddesses, but just by knowing the basic goddesses many modern and ancient references can make more sense.

Greek goddesses played a large role in mythology, and by learning their parts in these myths, modern readers can better understand myths today such as Homer’s The Odyssey. Athena, one of the most well know goddesses appears in many myths, making her an important character to understand. Although the main and most well known area of Athena’s expertise is wisdom, her ruling

The History.com Staff acknowldeges how Aphrodite was worshipped for love and beauty, so you can imagine all the overboldness that this goddess radiated. Aphrodite was not very well liked among the other gods due to her slight overconfidence (History.com Staff paragraph 9). The article “Aphrodite” mentions Aphrodite’s great beauty and how her husband Hephaestus is not the type of guy you'd think that she would marry. This gorgeous goddess was not well respected on Mount Olympus. She often got in fights with the favorite daughter of Zeus, Athena (“Aphrodite” 2). Aphrodite did not appear in many myths, but when she did she made a big deal. In most of the myths Aphrodite appeared in she usually tampered with something in the means of love, and this is explained in “Aphrodite”. “Whoever wears her magic girdle immediately becomes an object of love” (“Aphrodite” Paragraph 4). Here the passage explains how the goddess subjected many to her games of love. Dr. Lavazzo describes the myth of how Aphrodite was born and many more in his article “ Conception, complicated pregnancy, and labour of gods and heroes in Greek mythology”. Aphrodite caused trouble the day she was born when she arose on the island Cyprus (Lavazzo paragraph 2). From making mortals fall in love, to boasting to the other gods, Aphrodite impacted greek mythology

In the article “Hera” the author addresses how Hera was the queen of the gods and goddesses. Hera was married to Zeus and was very irritated when she discovered him being unfaithful with other women multiple times. In addition to being queen of the gods, Hera also ruled marriage and birth (“Hera” paragraphs 1-3). On mount olympus Hera did not get along well with the other gods and goddesses because of all the trouble that she caused. This topic is better explained in the article “Hera, Queen of the Gods” where the trouble hera causes is discussed. The article reads “[S]he caused… problems at every opportunity” (“Hera, Queen of the Gods” paragraph 1). Here it is explaining how Hera loved causing trouble to others, possibly as a result of all the stress she receives from how often Zeus cheats on her. In the same article it discusses how Hera also loved causing trouble to Greek heroes. One of the most common myths the reader could find Hera in is that of Herakles 12 Labors. Primarily Hera causes all the events that lead to his 12 Labors, then even after the Labors are completed, she sends more troubles his way (“Hera, Queen of the Gods” paragraphs 2-3). Hera was the queen of the gods, and important role in the many myths the greeks