The Meaning of “Aphrodite.”
The etymology of the name Aphrodite is doubtful. The Greeks derived it from the word ἀφρός = foam, because the goddess was said to have risen from the foam of the sea. This wild guess of ancient Greek philology may have been responsible for the fable that Uranus (Heaven) nightly embraced Gaia (Earth) until he was attacked and mutilated by his rebellious son Kronos. Uranus, deprived of his creative ability, retired to the outskirts of the world. Mythologists assume that herewith the creation of the raw material of the universe ceased, but that the generative principle being now mingled with the sea changed into foam, whence rose the goddess that represents all fertility and creativeness in both vegetable and animal domains.
If this legend of the origin of Aphrodite is not simply the product of the wrong etymology of her name7 it is assumed to have been imported from Phenicia. The only other similar myth known is found among the South Sea islanders where Rangi (Heaven) and Papa (Earth) embraced one another so closely that no life could originate, Rangi being regarded as a great blue canopy of stone. Then Tane Mahuta, their youngest son, corresponding to Kronos, the youngest child of Uranus and Gaia, cruelly separated the couple and forced his father upward and pressed his mother down, thus becoming the creator of life on earth.8
The ancient Greeks were poor philologists and similar failures of etymological speculation are quite common among them. Thus they explained the origin of names like Heracles as “the fame of Hera,” or Amazon as “the woman without breasts,” or Prometheus as “the forethinker,” etc. All these derivations are wild and obviously wrong guesses, nor may our modern philologists, though more scientific, be always exactly correct. We are taught now by comparative philology that Prometheus, the firebringer, is the Sanskrit word pramathyus, “the driller,” denoting the hard stick9 which by a swift rotation in a soft piece of wood produces the spark that calls forth the beneficent flame.
This explanation seems probable but we cannot say that our etymologies of other names have been equally successful.
One recent interpretation of “Aphrodite” would make us regard the name as an Egyptian importation, explaining the word to mean Apharadat, “the gift of Ra,” the sun-god, derived from Pha Raa Da-t with the prosthetic A; but this, like the suggested derivation of Psyche from Pha Sakhu, “the mummy,” seems to be a mere accident of homophony. Other Greek names such as Elysion from Aalu, the Elysian Fields of the Egyptians, Charon from Kere, driver or skipper (ferryman), are better attested, but if the name Aphrodite came from Egypt the cult of a goddess by that name and character has been lost or obliterated.
Originally Aphrodite was the same figure as Hera or Juno, Artemis or Diana and Pallas Athene or Minerva. These female deities are differentiations of the idealized and personified activities of womanhood: Hera as the queen of heaven, the protectress of wifehood; Diana of girlhood and virginity; Athene as the goddess of battles, as protectress of arts and sciences, as wisdom personified; Aphrodite, the personification of beauty and love.
The ancient pagans were not so very unlike the Christians; e. g., Istar, like the Virgin Mary, represented at the same time eternal virginity and motherhood, and the name of the temple on the Acropolis might truly be translated “Church of the Holy Virgin,” for Parthenon is derived from παρθένος, “virgin.”
In prehistoric times there was more reverence for the female deity than for the male god. So Ares (or Mars) is the god of fight, of combativeness, while Athene is the teacher of the art of warfare, of generalship, of strategy in battle.
The character of Aphrodite as a universal principle was never lost sight of. She was and remained the giver of life, joy, love, loveliness, grace, fertility, increase, exuberance, rejuvenescence, springtime, restoration of life, immortality, prosperity and the charm of existence,—and all this she was in one, all as a universal principle and in its cosmic significance.
The same idea is also expressed in Eros, called in Latin Amor or Cupido, who is regarded as the oldest and at the same time the youngest of the gods, represented as a beautiful youth. This same Eros is said to have existed prior to Aphrodite, for when she rose out of the sea, Eros met her at the shore, while according to another version he was regarded as her son.
The notion that Aphrodite is the cosmic principle of love has found expression in poetry and philosophy, but her mythical nature has never been definitely settled. Homer, who calls Aphrodite Cypris (Κύπις) speaks of her in the Iliad (V, 312) as the daughter of Zeus10 and Dione, the goddess who in olden times was worshiped on the Acropolis in Athens, in Dodona, and in other localities, as the wife of the Olympian ruler and as his female counterpart. Dione is probably the same word as Hera’s Latin name Juno. As her daughter, Aphrodite is called Dionæa (Διωναία) and also by her mother’s name Dionē.
Being the goddess of sexual love, Aphrodite was also held responsible for all relations between men and women, and philosophers felt the need of distinguishing between heavenly love and vulgar passion, calling the former “Aphrodite Urania,” the latter “Aphrodite Pandemos.” In Plato’s Symposium (180 D) the heavenly love is described as “the older one, born without mother, the daughter of heaven,” while the younger and less divine Aphrodite is the daughter of Zeus and Dione. The same contrast is brought out in the age of the Renaissance by Titian in his famous picture of heavenly and worldly love.
The distinction between celestial and earthly love however is artificial and has certainly not influenced the cult of the goddess. It is a later thought, invented by philosophers for the purpose of teaching a lesson.