The gate of the year

Figure above:

Medallion representing Aphrodite sitting on a lion and accompanied by Eros, Greek work of the III century B.C., from Amrit in Syria and now in the Louvre Museum, Paris. Aphrodite was for the Greeks the goddess of beauty and of erotic love. According to Hesiod’s narrative, the goddess was born from the sea foam, fertilized by the amputated member of Uranus, god of the Sky, which had been thrown into the sea by his son Cronus (Zeus’s father). According to different traditions, Aphrodite appeared on the shores of the island of Cyprus or on the island of Kythira, and Hesiod fused both into one (Theogony, 188-200). These tales emphasize the relationship of the goddess with the Eastern part of the Mediterranean, leading some scholars to hypothesize her Asiatic origin. The presence of the lion – an animal frequently represented in the Asiatic iconography of female divinities – is another evidence of this connection.

[Image: http://www.aworldofmyths.com/Greek_Gods/Aphrodite.html]

Figure below left:

Painting on a cup (kylix), dating to about 460 B.C., discovered in a tomb at Kameiros (Rhodes), now in the British Museum, London. It shows Aphrodite riding a swan. Before she became in the Archaic and Classical ages the goddess of sexuality and love, Aphrodite was probably a goddess of fertility and fecundity, whose power extended over the animal and vegetal realms, like that of the great Oriental goddesses. From her, emanates that mysterious vital force which perpetuates generation on earth, as expressed in Euripides’s verses: “all things have their birth of her […] Whereof all we that dwell on earth are sprung” (Hippolytus, 448-450).
The swan was an animal sacred both to Apollo and to Aphrodite: both of them were represented on a chariot driven by swans. The bird was probably regarded as a marker of the seasonal changes because of its migratory habits, and was associated with the cycles of death and rebirth of the vegetation world. In the image such a connection is suggested by the twig that the goddess hold in her hand.

[Image: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aphrodite_swan_BM_D2.jpg]

Figure below right:

Attic red-figure vase, dating to about 370 B.C., now in the Altes Museum (Staatliche Museen), Berlin, Germany. It represents Aphrodite riding a goat. The goat is frequently represented in Greek art as a symbol of fertility and reproductive energy. Its connection with Aphrodite reveals the goddess’s function as source of fecundity and of all the generative powers: her presence determined the rising of desire and the drive to reproduce in all the living species. She was furthermore the goddess of fruits, flowers and the seasons, the Horae, formed her retinue. Love under the sign of Aphrodite was, indeed, eros, the cosmic power which produces life.

[Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/24729615@N00/7168571251/]




Female Symbols

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Figure above: Medallion representing Aphrodite sitting on a lion and accompanied by Eros, Greek work of the III century B.C., from Amrit in Syria and now in the Louvre Museum, Paris. Aphrodite was for the Greeks the goddess of beauty and of erotic love. According to Hesiod’s narrative, the goddess was born from the sea foam, fertilized by the amputated member of Uranus, god of the Sky, which had been thrown into the sea by his son Cronus (Zeus’s father). According to different traditions, Aphrodite appeared on the shores of the island of Cyprus or on the island of Kythira, and Hesiod fused both into one (Theogony, 188-200). These tales emphasize the relationship of the goddess with the Eastern part of the Mediterranean, leading some scholars to hypothesize her Asiatic origin. The presence of the lion – an animal frequently represented in the Asiatic iconography of female divinities – is another evidence of this connection. [Image: http://www.aworldofmyths.com/Greek_Gods/Aphrodite.html] Figure below left: Painting on a cup (kylix), dating to about 460 B.C., discovered in a tomb at Kameiros (Rhodes), now in the British Museum, London. It shows Aphrodite riding a swan. Before she became in the Archaic and Classical ages the goddess of sexuality and love, Aphrodite was probably a goddess of fertility and fecundity, whose power extended over the animal and vegetal realms, like that of the great Oriental goddesses. From her, emanates that mysterious vital force which perpetuates generation on earth, as expressed in Euripides’s verses: “all things have their birth of her […] Whereof all we that dwell on earth are sprung” (Hippolytus, 448-450). The swan was an animal sacred both to Apollo and to Aphrodite: both of them were represented on a chariot driven by swans. The bird was probably regarded as a marker of the seasonal changes because of its migratory habits, and was associated with the cycles of death and rebirth of the vegetation world. In the image such a connection is suggested by the twig that the goddess hold in her hand. [Image: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aphrodite_swan_BM_D2.jpg] Figure below right: Attic red-figure vase, dating to about 370 B.C., now in the Altes Museum (Staatliche Museen), Berlin, Germany. It represents Aphrodite riding a goat. The goat is frequently represented in Greek art as a symbol of fertility and reproductive energy. Its connection with Aphrodite reveals the goddess’s function as source of fecundity and of all the generative powers: her presence determined the rising of desire and the drive to reproduce in all the living species. She was furthermore the goddess of fruits, flowers and the seasons, the Horae, formed her retinue. Love under the sign of Aphrodite was, indeed, eros, the cosmic power which produces life. [Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/24729615@N00/7168571251/]