Aphrodite And Hephaestus Essay Example For Students

Aphrodite And Hephaestus Essay HEPHAESTUS AND APHRODITEAPHRODITEAphrodite is one of the most famous figures of Greek mythology. BecauseAphrodite was the Greek goddess of love, beauty, and sexual rapture,1 she was desired bynearly all of the Greek gods. Aphrodite was one of the twelve main gods on Mt. Olympus,2 and she was the most powerful goddess when it came to members of theopposite sex. THE BIRTH OF APHRODITEThere are many origins to Aphrodites birth. Some of them are:1) She arose full-grown out of the foam of the sea,2) She is the daughter of Zeus and Dionne,3) She is the daughter of Uranus and Gaia, which would make her a Titaness, or4) She is the daughter of Titans Oceanus and Tethys, making her an Oceanid.3The most common origin of her birth is her being foam-born, which is what hername means. This origin says that Aphrodite arose nude and full-grown out of the foamof the sea and riding into the shore of Cythera on a scallop shell. She found Cythera to betoo small of an island, so she went to live in Paphos, in Cyprus, which is still the principalseat of her worship.4THE MYTH OF APHRODITE AND HEPHAESTUS AND ARESAlthough Aphrodite was the goddess of love and beauty, she had a magic girdlethat she wore that made everyone fall in love with her. She could hardly ever bepersuaded to lend it to anyone. Since Aphrodite had the magic girdle and was sobeautiful, all of t he gods fell in love with her. All of the goddesses were jealous of Aphrodite because all of the gods loved herinstead of the other goddesses. Because of this, Zeus arranged a marriage for her withHephaestus, the lame smith-god.5 Aphrodite didnt really mind this marriage arrangement,though, because she thought Hephaestus would never notice her having marital affairs.6 Hephaestus knew nothing of deception until, one night, he caught his wife andAres, the god of war, making love at Ares home. Hephaestus went back to his home veryangry.7Hephaestus was so angry that he decided to get revenge on Aphrodite by literally catchingthe while they were making love. He got out a bronze hunting-net and attached to theposts and sides of the bed. He told Aphrodite that he was to a short holiday trip toLemnos. Aphrodite did not offer to go with him. When Hephaestus left, she senthurriedly for Ares and the two immediately went to sleep together. When they went tobed, they got tangled in the net.8At d awn, Hephaestus returned from his trip. He summoned all of the godstogether so they could see what Aphrodite and Ares did. Hephaestus thought that, byZeus seeing how Aphrodite deceived him, Zeus would return all of the marriage gifts. Instead, Zeus told Hephaestus that this should handled by him and Aphrodite instead ofbeing made a public affair, therefore Zeus did not return the marriage gifts.9MYTHS OF OTHER LOVERS OF APHRODITEHermesAfter Aphrodite had been publicly humiliated, she returned to Paphos and renewedher virginity to the sea. Soon afterwards, Hermes confessed his love for her, and she sleptwith him. She eventually bore a double-sexed child name Hermaphroditus. Poseidon Poseidon, like Hermes, also confessed his love for her, and she bore him two sonsnamed Rhodus and Herophilus. Later Aphrodite also slept with Dionysus in which shebore a deformed son by him. The deformity was caused by Hera; she did this indisapproval of Aphrodites permiscuity.10AnchisesLater, Zeus wanted to humiliate Aphrodite by making her fall in love with a mortalnamed Anchises. He was a handsome man, and he was the King of the Dardanians. Onenight Aphrodite visited him without him knowing who she was. When they Parted at dawn, she revealed her identity and told him not to tell anyone that they had slepttogether. Anchises was terrified when he learned that he had uncovered the nakedness of agoddess, and he begged her to kill him. She told him that he had nothing to worry aboutand that their son would become famous.11A few days later, Anchises was drinking with one of his friends. His friend asked,Would you rather sleep with the daughter of so-and-so than with Aphrodite herself?12 Anchises reply was, No, having slept with both of them, I find the question inept.13Zeus overheard Anchises boasting, so he threw a thunderbolt at him that wouldhave killed him immediately, but Aphrodite put her magic girdle in front of him, so the boltdropped down at his feet. The shock of the bolt was so strong though, he could neverwalk upright again. Aphrodite, soon after bearing his son, lost all interest in Anchises. Vie-Nam EssayAfter about nine years, Hera met Thetis who was wearing a jewel that Hephaestusmade. Hera asked her where she found the jewel. Thetis hesitated, but Hera forced thetruth out of her. When Hera found out that she got the jewel from Hephaestus, she immediatelybrought him back to Olympus where he could put his talent to a better use. Hera madehim work day and night and she made something of him.22 When Hephaestus moved back to Olympus, he was reconciled with Hera. WhenHera rebelled against Zeus, Hephaestus reproached Zeus for hanging her from the wristsfrom heaven. He should have kept silent though, because Zeus just became angry andthrew him from Mt. Olympus for a second time. It took a whole day to fall. He landed onthe island of Lemnos and broke both of his legs. When he went back to Olympus, hecould only walk with help of golden-leg supports.23Hephaestus was an ill-tempered, ugly god, but he had immense power in his armsand shoulders. One time, he made a set of golden mechanical women to help him in hiswork. The women could talk and complete very difficult tasks. He also made a set ofthree-legged tables with golden wheels that could run by themselves.24Hephaestus twenty-three three legged tables have much of the same origin as Gasterocheires who built the Tiryns. The origin of the three-legged tables is that theyrepresent the three-season years, and they denote the length of his reign was twenty yearslong. LOVE AND MARRIAGEAccording to most myths, the reason Hephaestus and Aphrodite were married isbecause Hephaestus asked Zeus for her as a reward for reconciling his parents. Aphroditedidnt refuse. Some people think this marraige is appropriate because it is a union of inner andouter beauty. But many people do not agree because they have nothing in commonhersensual beauty differs from his ugliness; her playful spirit contrasted with his steady,serious temperament; her unfaithfulness and irresponsibility, and his workmanship ethics. Although these two were so different, Hephaestus loved Aphrodite. She didntexactly feel the same way about him though. Instead, she had frequent affairs with manydifferent Gods. In one particular affair that Aphrodite had with Ares, Hephaestus set up a trap thatcaught them while they were making love. Hephaestus summoned all the gods together,in hope that he make Aphrodite the laughing stock of Olympus. His plan backfired on himthough, actually revealing himself as someone who was attempting to retain the love anddevotion from his wife.25Now that Hephaestus had embarrassed himself in front of all of the gods,Hephaestus became unhappy in his marriage to Aphrodite. He lost all interest in her andturned his attention to Athena who, like Aphrodite, was not in love with him. Hephaestusfell in love with Athena when she came to him for a spear. When he tried to initiateintercourse, she rejected him.26HEPHAESTUS AND APHRODITEBoth Hephaestus and Aphrodite are powerful and popular figures of G reekmythology. They did many great, and maybe not so great, things during their lifetimesthat are still remembered today. They were both main gods on Mt. Olympus. They mayhave not had many great times with each other according to myth, but they were stillsignificant gods who had great lives. Many people use both of these gods to relate tothings today, and they will be remembered for years and years to come. Their charactersin Greek mythology are very significant and they will not be forgotten anytime soon. Mythology Essays