News: Isis-Aphrodite Statues Found in Rock-Cut Tombs

 

From the article: 

"A series of rock-cut tombs has been discovered in Upper Egypt by a team of researchers from the University of Barcelona and the Institute of the Ancient Near East . . Terracotta statues depicting the goddess Isis-Aphrodite wearing a foliage crown were found in the tombs."

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(© photo by Egypt's Ministry of Tourism & Antiquities)

Grave of Aphrodite Priestess Found in Southern Russia

 From the article: 

"About 1,900 years ago, a woman died and was buried in Phanagoria . . .and she was a priestess of the Aphrodite cult, the archaeologists excavating the ancient city concluded.  Her adornments included a silver medallion showing the goddess and signs of the zodiac, minus Aquarius and Libra. 'The images of the zodiac signs around the goddess also point to the fact that this is indeed Aphrodite Urania, as they emphasize her heavenly hypostasis'."

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(© photo by V. Timkiv)

Hymn to Aphrodite

 

"I will sing of stately Aphrodite, gold-crowned and beautiful, whose dominion is the walled cities of all sea-set Cyprus. There the moist breath of the western wind wafted her over the waves of the loud-moaning sea in soft foam, and there the gold-filleted Hours welcomed her joyously. They clothed her with heavenly garments: on her head they put a fine, well-wrought crown of gold, and in her pierced ears they hung ornaments of orichalc and precious gold, and adorned her with golden necklaces over her soft neck and snow-white breasts, jewels which the gold-filleted Hours wear themselves whenever they go to their father's house to join the lovely dances of the gods. And when they had fully decked her, they brought her to the gods, who welcomed her when they saw her, giving her their hands. Each one of them prayed that he might lead her home to be his wedded wife, so greatly were they amazed at the beauty of violet-crowned Cytherea."
  
 
(text: Homeric Hymn, trans. Evelyn-White; artwork: 'Mirror of Venus'  by Walter Crane)

 
In Her Name ~ Temple of Learning
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News: Aphrodite Rises from Thessaloniki Excavation

From the article:
"Idols, clay lamps and amphorae, drinking cups, perfume vases, jewelry and other utilitarian and decorative objects make up the 300,000 or so finds unearthed during excavation work for the Thessaloniki metro.  Most striking among them, however, are the pieces related to Aphrodite, testifying to the northern port city’s enduring bond with the goddess of love.

The most interesting of these are a marble sculpture and a mosaic depicting the goddess that were found during digging for the Aghia Sofia station. Dating to different periods, they are indicative of the fact that the goddess was worshipped in the what is now downtown Thessaloniki as recently as early Christian times.

Aphrodite is represented by a plethora of statues and idols in a variety of different ways, and this was particularly the case in Roman times, explained Polyxeni Adam-Veleni, an archaeologist and head of the Culture Ministry’s General Directorate of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage.

'A large number of statues depicting Aphrodite have been found in the city center, while several more came to light in the area around the Church of the Acheiropoietos. They are mostly related to the worship of Thermaia Aphrodite, who was associated with the element of water,' Adam-Veleni said at a recent conference on the finds discovered during metro excavations in Athens, Thessaloniki and Piraeus."

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(photo © ekathimerini.com)

For Aphrodite

"She clothed herself with garments which the Kharites and Horai had made for her and dyed in flowers of spring - such flowers as the Horai wear - in crocus and hyacinth and flourishing violet and the rose's lovely bloom, so sweet and delicious, and heavenly buds, the flowers of the narcissus and lily. In such perfumed garments is Aphrodite clothed at all seasons."



(Homerica: Cypria Fragment 6 from Athenaeus 15.682, trans. E. White; Painting of Aphrodite and Anchises by William Blake Richmond, circa 1889)

In Her Name ~ Temple of Learning

Hymn to Aphrodite

 

"I will sing of stately Aphrodite, gold-crowned and beautiful, whose dominion is the walled cities of all sea-set Cyprus. There the moist breath of the western wind wafted her over the waves of the loud-moaning sea in soft foam, and there the gold-filleted Hours welcomed her joyously. They clothed her with heavenly garments: on her head they put a fine, well-wrought crown of gold, and in her pierced ears they hung ornaments of orichalc and precious gold, and adorned her with golden necklaces over her soft neck and snow-white breasts, jewels which the gold-filleted Hours wear themselves whenever they go to their father's house to join the lovely dances of the gods. And when they had fully decked her, they brought her to the gods, who welcomed her when they saw her, giving her their hands. Each one of them prayed that he might lead her home to be his wedded wife, so greatly were they amazed at the beauty of violet-crowned Cytherea."

 

Homeric Hymn, trans. Evelyn-White.

 

 

(Artwork: Botticelli's "Birth of Venus")

 

In Her Name ~ Temple of Learning

Hymn to Aphrodite

 

"I will sing of stately Aphrodite, gold-crowned and beautiful, whose dominion is the walled cities of all sea-set Cyprus. There the moist breath of the western wind wafted her over the waves of the loud-moaning sea in soft foam, and there the gold-filleted Hours welcomed her joyously. They clothed her with heavenly garments: on her head they put a fine, well-wrought crown of gold, and in her pierced ears they hung ornaments of orichalc and precious gold, and adorned her with golden necklaces over her soft neck and snow-white breasts, jewels which the gold-filleted Hours wear themselves whenever they go to their father's house to join the lovely dances of the gods. And when they had fully decked her, they brought her to the gods, who welcomed her when they saw her, giving her their hands. Each one of them prayed that he might lead her home to be his wedded wife, so greatly were they amazed at the beauty of violet-crowned Cytherea." (Homeric Hymn, trans. Evelyn-White)

 

 

(Aphrodite on a swan, art from kylix, Kameiros/Rhodes tomb.)

More Goddess Devotions:  In Her Name

Venus Anadyomene

 

Venus Anadyomene. Fresco from Pompeii, Casa di Venus, 1st century C.E.

Aphrodite Exhibit

The Goddess of Love is highlighted at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts: “This exhibit is the first ever to consider how visual representations of Aphrodite evolved across antiquity.”

Article: Goddess of Love Gracefully Treated 

Photo:  "Aphrodite of Capua"