Aphrodite Urania
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
Related e |
Featured: |
As per Plato's Symposium there are two kinds of Aphrodites (Latin: Venuses), the Aphrodite Ourania (Latin: Venus Caelestis), literarly the heavenly love goddess, corresponding to a love of body and soul and the Aphrodite Pandemos (Latin: Venus Naturalis), literally, the "Venus of the people," corresponding to physical love.
Overview
Urania was an epithet of the Greek goddess Aphrodite, signifying "heavenly" or "spiritual", to distinguish her from her more earthly aspect of "Aphrodite Pandemos", "Aphrodite for all the people". The two were used (mostly in literature) to differentiate the more "celestial" love of body and soul from purely physical lust. Plato represented her as a daughter of the Greek god Uranus, conceived and born without a mother. Wine was not used in the libations offered her. According to Herodotus, the Arabs called this aspect of the goddess "Alitta" or "Alilat".
See also