Adonis & Aphrodite - The God & The Goddess of Love and Beauty - The Legends of Mythology

Adonis & Aphrodite - The God &The Goddess of Love and Beauty - The Legends of Mythology 

    

      

               

                        

   

             

We often listen to the comparison of Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan to a Greek God synonymous to male beauty referring to Adonis.

I have inserted some of the interesting  classic and box-office  images of reigning Indian Bollywood  God and Goddesses.

Hope the above photos do justice to the God and Goddesses of contemporary world to the mythical genre men and women of yore who arouse passion, love and beauty.   The images of Adonis and Aphrodite available are the handiwork of some of the painters and sculptors.

The Greek or Roman Mythology is full of interesting  and popular fables of the ancient world.  The Clash of Titans and the Star Wars.

“Myth” is derived from the Greek word mythos, which can mean tale, or story, and that is essentially what a myth is:  a story.

Myth in a sense is the highest reality, and the thoughtless dismissal of myth as fiction or a lie is the most barren and misleading definition of all.

The most common association of the words “myth” and “mythical” is with what is incredible and fantastic.

Let us take a glimpse of the most beautiful, magical and exciting world of Gods and Goddesses of the ancient mythologies of Greek and Roman.

The ride I suggest is an aerial route of the mythical world on the Aphrodite’s chariot the wings of her white  swans through the clouds and sky often embarking on the forest, mountain, valleys and gardens.

The roller coaster ride of joy and sadness depicted in the Mythology, I am sure definitely will be of your interest and amusing which gives me inspiration to write this epic Blog.

 Both Adonis and  Aphrodite are  Greek and Venus is the Roman counterpart of Aphrodite.

We shall also separately discuss some of the commonly used words from the Greek mythologies like Midas Touch, Pandora’s Box, Fable of Aesop and an ode to Music, the story of melodious love and symphony of great musician Orpheus who moved even rocks and trees towards him with his lyre and music other than the amused Gods themselves.  

One will bound to go crazy remembering and identifying the various gods and goddesses of the mythologies and their relevant portfolios.  I make an attempt to show below the family tree of Mythlogical gods and goddesses, both Greek and Roman.

The Twelve Olympians: Zeus, Hera, and their Children

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THE OLYMPIAN DEITIES
GREEK NAME (ROMAN EQUIVALENT)
APHRODITE  (VENUS)
APOLLO
ARES (MARS)
ARTEMIS (DIANA)
ATHENA or ATHENE (MINERVA)
DEMETER (CERES)
DIONYSUS  or DIONYSOS (BACCHUS)
HADES (PLUTO)
HEPHAESTUS  or HEPHAISTOS (VULCAN)
HERA (JUNO)
HERMES (MERCURY)
HESTIA (VESTA)
POSEIDON (NEPTUNE)
ZEUS (JUPITER)

• The fourteen major deities are listed above, alphabetically.
• Zeus is the supreme god and his wife is Hera; they are king and queen, father and mother of gods and mortals.
• Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades are the trinity who control the important spheres of power: Zeus, god of the sky, Poseidon, god of the sea, and Hades, god of the Underworld.
• Apollo has the same name for both the Greeks and the Romans.
• The fourteen deities are reduced to a canon of twelve Olympians: Hestia is removed from the list and so is Hades, whose home is not Mt. Olympus but the Underworld.

The underworld means the world of dead souls and the upper world means the real world of living.

Both the mythologies are rich with volumes have been written about each and every god and goddess, their subjects and their lives and morals.

The fight for power and possession of beauty triggers war amongst the gods. 
                        

The clash of the titans resulted in star wars.

Let us explore the inception, the birth and life and love of the title owners Adonis and Aphrodite.

Greek mythology – ancient Greece – the most interesting and popular mythology of the ancient world.

APHRODITE was the great Olympian goddess of pleasure, joy, beauty, love and procreation.  She did not have any other job than love making which she did in abundance.  Many gods and mortals were attracted to her and she was the object of desire.   At times she had her own pick and Hares and Adonis was amongst them.

Eros or Cupid the archer god who was the favorite son of his mother Aphrodite makes Aphrodite to fall in love with Adonis with his arrow of desire which was physical and not intellectual.  The Cupid’s arrow of love and lust originated from this.

The birth of Adonis and Aphrodite –

The birth of Adonis and Aphrodite is interesting and novel. 

Adonis is born from the unison of father and daughter after daughter Myrrah’s maid makes her father drunk and in the drunken frenzy in the cover of darkness he makes love to his daughter  and she gets pregnant.  Myrrah was attracted to her father and lusted after him.  Myrrah’s maid witnessing her desire and to save her from committing suicide helped her to get her father drunk and lose his senses and gets him involved in the sexual act.  When this fact was known to the father King Cinyras, he becomes angry and chases to kill Myrrah.  Aprodite comes  to the rescue of Myrrah  and turns her into a tree – the popular Myrrah tree.  In fact the incest was masterminded by Aphrodite due to the jelousy caused by the remarks of Myrrah’s mother that Myrrah is more beautiful than Aphrodite.  When the king shoots an arrow into the tree the tree trunk opens up and give birth to Adonis.  Adonis  grew up as a most handsome boy and  was synonymous with male beauty.  He was a hunter and Aphrodite loved him.  Aphrodite neglecting heaven, prefers Adonis to heaven, and so she holds close to his ways as his companion, and forgets to rest at noon-day in the shade, neglecting care of her sweet beauty. She goes through the woods,and over mountain ridges and wild fields,rocky and thorn-set, bare to her white knees.  Love make people do crazy things. The loving and caring Aphrodite cautioned Adonis to keep away from the animal who does not get scared of him.  One day while hunting   Adonis pierce a wild boar with a spear and panicks when the wild boar did not get afraid of him and chased him and it injures him with his deep tusk. After hearing the dying  groans of Adonis, Aprodite reaches the forest riding on her swans and medicate the nearly dead Adonis.    The goddess ordained that from his blood a flower, the anemone, should arise. Here is allegorized the important recurrent theme of the Great Mother and her lover, who dies as vegetation dies and comes back to life again.  Celebrations honoring the dead and risen Adonis share similarities with Easter celebrations for the dead and risen Christ.  Adonis' death and resurrection, symbolic of the yearly cycle of vegetation, were widely celebrated in ancient Greece in the midsummer festival of "Adonia".

When Adonis was a child Aphrodite put him in a chest and given custody to the queen of dead Persephone.  When the boy grew up Persephone got attracted to his beauty and refused to Aphrodite to part with him.  The other gods intervened the issue and asked to keep custody of Adonis four months with Peresphone and four months with Aphrodite and balance four months to be spend as per wish of the boy which Adonis opted to spend with Aphrodite.

Aphrodite’s birth was from the severed genital of Uranus by Heidos and thrown into the sea.  She emerged as  the godess of beauty from the sea  -  a la Bo Derek in the Hollywood Movie “10”. 

Aphrodite the celestial nymphet the goddess of love emerging from the sea foam (aphros) as the Venus of beauty (Venus is the  Roman goddess - a la Aphrodite).  She was   the most beautiful Goddess of love and beauty.  She was considered to be goddess of love, passion, fertility and lust.  She makes love in abundance to mortal men and many gods were fallen for her beauty.  Married to Hephaestus, she had a clandestine  adulterous affair with Hares and loved Adonis as well.  There are interesting stories like her husband caught her red handed with Hares and he invited other gods to witness the adultery committed by them and both Hares and Aphrodite were chained and then Hares  was fined for the act of adultery and was later released.  The story goes like even the gods got aroused after seeing Aphrodite in the act and was not really interested to punish her and was lenient in the punishment meted out to Aphrodite and Hares.

We know that Aphrodite arose amidst the foam (aphros) in the ocean and thus named Aphrodite.  Aphrodite was the epitome of beauty.

Midas  Touch –

 The midas touch is the "golden touch".

In modern days if we say someone has the “Midas touch”  we mean that everything they do is successful or profitable.

In Greek legend, King Midas was found and brought back to health a satyr who had passed out in his gardens. After returning the satyr to the god Dionysus, he was granted one wish. The greedy king asked for the ability to turn anything he touched into gold. At first he loved the gift and rejoiced. When he had a feast prepared, though, he tried to eat and his food turned into solid gold!  Even with his touch his only daughter turned into a golden statue.  Only then did Midas realise he would starve to death and lose his lovely daughter asked to be relieved of the power.

Pandora’s Box  -

                                       

In classical Greek mythology, Pandora was the first woman on Earth. Zeus ordered Hephaestus to create her. So he did, using water and earth. The gods endowed her with many gifts: Athena clothed her, Aphrodite gave her beauty, Apollo gave her musical ability, and Hermes gave her speech.

According to Hesiod, when Prometheus stole fire from heaven, Zeus took vengeance by presenting Pandora to Prometheus' brother Epimetheus. Pandora's box is an artifact in Greek mythology, taken from the myth of Pandora's creation in Hesiod's Works and Days.  The "box" was actually a large jar given to Pandora ("all-gifted", "all-giving"). Pandora opens a jar containing death and destruction like war, famine, misery, sadness, jealousy, greed, many other evils which were released into the world. She hastened to close the container, but the whole contents had escaped except for one thing that lay at the bottom – Elpis (usually translated "hope", though it could also mean "expectation") before she could close the jar the bug “Hope” too was  released into the world.

In the modern usage Pandora’s Box associates with all the trouble that may brew from the starting of an endeavor or expectation of ensuing problems by opening a case or issue.

 Aesop’s  Fable   -

Aesop was an Ancient Greek writer who lived in the 6th century BC in Athens, Greece.

Aesop  is known about the myths he wrote, referred to as Aesop’s Fables. 

One of the most famous legends tells that during a feast, the lord (master) of Aesop too boldly stated that he would drink the sea. If he couldn’t he would lose all his wealth. The next morning, realizing his claim was impossible to complete, he called Aesop.

The slave quickly realized the trouble his master was in and promised that he would help save his dignity and honor.

Both men went to the seashore to face a noisy crowd, gathered to see how the stupid man would “drink the sea”.

Aesop explained to the people that his master could “drink” the sea, but for the rules to be met all the water from the rivers and lakes, flowing into the sea, should be removed.

Needless to say, nobody was able to separate the sea, and the master saved his wealth and honor. As a reward Aesop received his freedom.

Orpheus  - an ode to Music

One of the most soul stirring story of ancient Greek mythology is the story of great musician Orpheus who went underworld to rescue his love, his wife.  The story of Orpheus and Eurydice is the ultimate tragic love story whose love could not be consummated.

Orpheus is known as the most talented music player of the ancient times. It is said that god Apollo was his father, from whom took his extreme talent in music, and the Muse Calliope was his mother. He was living in Thrace, on the northeastern part of Greece. Orpheus had a divinely gifted voice that could charm everyone who heard it. When he was presented first the lyre as a boy, he had it mastered in no time at all. The myth says that no god or mortal could resist his music and even the rocks and trees would move themselves to be near him.

Orpheus used to spend much of his early years in the idyllic pursuits of music and poetry. His skill had far surpassed the fame and respect of his music.  Humans and beasts alike would be enchanted by it and often even the most inanimate of objects would yearn to be near him. Well into his youth he had mastered the lyre and his melodious voice garnered him audiences from near and afar. It was at one such gathering of humans and beasts that his eyes fell on a wood nymph. The girl was called Eurydice, she was beautiful and shy. She had been drawn to Orpheus enamored by his voice and such was the spell of beauty in music and appearance that neither could cast their eyes off each other. Something inexplicable tugged the hearts of the two young people and soon they fell dearly in love, unable to spend a single moment apart. After a while, they decided to get married. Their wedding day dawned bright and clear. Hymenaios, the god of marriage, blessed their marriage and then a great feast followed. The surroundings were filled with laughter and gaiety. Soon the shadows grew large, signaling an end to the revelry that had lasted much of the day and the wedding guests all took leave of the newly-weds, who were still sitting hand-in-hand and starry eyed. They soon both realized that it was time they were on their way and departed for home.  However, things would soon change and grief would ensue happiness. There was one man who was despising Orpheus and desired Eurydice for his own. Aristaeus, a shepherd, had plotted a plan to conquer the beautiful nymph. And there he was, waiting in the bushes for the young couple to pass by. Seeing that the lovers were approaching, he intended to jump on them and kill Orpheus. As the shepherd made his move, Orpheus grabbed Eurydice by the hand and started running pell-mell through the forest. The chase was long and Aristaeus showed no signs of giving up or slowing down. On and on they ran and suddenly, Orpheus felt Eurydice stumble and fall, her hand slipping from his grasp. Unable to comprehend what had just happened, he rushed to her side but stopped short in dismay, for his eyes perceived the deathly pallor that suffused her cheeks. Looking around, he saw no trace of the shepherd for Aristaeus had witnessed the event and had left. Few steps away, Eurydice had stepped on a nest of snakes and had been bitten by a deadly viper. Knowing that there was no chance of survival, Aristaeus had abandoned his try, cursing his luck and Orpheus.

 After the death of his beloved wife, Orpheus was no more the same carefree person he used to be. His life without Eurydice seemed endless and could do nothing more than grief for her. This is when he had a great but yet crazy idea: he decided to go to Underworld and try to get his wife back. Apollo, his father, would talk to Hades, the god of the Underworld, to accept him and hear his plea. Armed with his weapons, the lyre and voice, Orpheus approached Hades and demanded entry into the underworld. None challenged him. Standing in front of the rulers of the dead, Orpheus said why he was there, in a voice both mellifluous and disquieting. He played his lyre and sang out to King Hades and Queen Persephone that Eurydice was returned to him. Not even the most stone-hearted of people or Gods could have neglected the hurt in his voice. Hades openly wept, Persephone's heart melted and even Cerberus, the gigantic three-headed hound guarding the entry to the underworld, covered his many ears with his paws and howled in despair. The voice of Orpheus was so moving that Hades promised to this desperate man that Eurydice would follow him to the Upper World, the world of the living. However, he warned Orpheus that for no reason must he look back while his wife was still in the dark, for that would undo everything he hoped for. He should wait for Eurydice to get into the light before he looked at her. With great faith in his heart and joy in his song, Orpheus began his journey out of the underworld, joyful that he would once again be reunited with his love. As Orpheus was reaching the exit of the Underworld, he could hear the footfalls of his wife approaching him. He wanted to turn around and hug her immediately but managed to control his feelings. As he was approaching the exit, his heart was beating faster and faster. The moment he stepped on the world of the living, he turned his head to hug his wife.

 Unfortunately, he got only a glimpse of Eurydice before she was once again drawn back into the underworld. When Orpheus turned his head, Eurydice was still in the dark, she hadn't seen the sun and, as Hades had warned Orpheus, his sweet wife was drowned back to the dark world of the dead. Waves of anguish and despair swept over him and shuddering with grief he approached the Underworld again but this time, he was denied entry, the gates were standing shut and god Hermes, sent by Zeus, wouldn't let him in.

 The heart-broken musician was wandering disoriented, day after day, night after night, in total despair. He could find no consolation in anything. His misfortune tormented him, forcing him to abstain from contact with any other woman and slowly but surely he found himself shunning their company completely. His songs were no more joyful but extremely sad. His only comfort was to lay on a huge rock and feel the caress of the breeze, his only vision were the open skies. And so it was that a group of irate women, furious for his scorn towards them, chanced upon him. Orpheus was so desperate that he did not even try to repulse their advances. The women killed him, cut his body into pieces and threw them and his lyre into a river. It is said that his head and his lyre floated downriver to the island of Lesvos. There the Muses found them and gave Orpheus a proper burial ceremony. People believed that his grave emanated music, plaintive yet beautiful. His soul descended down to Hades where he was finally reunited with his beloved Eurydice.

The biblical semblance in the Book of Genesis – The analogy of “Not looking back” -

If you observe the above myth closely, you will find a comparison between this ancient Greek myth and a scene from the Bible. The myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is similar to the story of Lot. The analogy of "not looking back" is of great importance to both stories. In the Book of Genesis, when God decided to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, two cities drowned in sins, he ordered a good man, Lot, to take his family and leave the area. God told them to head for the mountains without looking back the city being destroyed. While they were leaving the city, Lot's wife couldn't resist and turned around to see the burning cities. She was immediately transformed into a pillar of salt! This may be inferred as a direct and terrifying consequence of disobedience towards God.

The Greek and Roman Mythologies make amusing read and an engaging view to the mesmeric world of epitome of beauty, creativity, the love sagas and one would make an adventurous  trip in pursuit of joy, happiness and realization of world order with the legends of mythology.