Myths serve to represent a culture's ideologies, and as they are passed down, they evolve to keep up with changing values, because they are only relevant if an audience holds the same values as those that appear in the myth. Therefore, Disney could not make a movie in which the Greek hero Heracles murders his first wife and children-part of the original Greek myth, rather the movie had a 'happily ever after' ending more suitable to an American audience. While the Greeks tended to have a negative outlook on life, Americans tend to be much more optimistic, which is why the Greek concept of love is not nearly the same as the American view, and the of the birth of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, is telling of the Greek outlook on love.
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At the beginning, there was only Chaos and the Abyss, but then Gaia, the earth, willed herself into being, and with her first child, Ouranos, she began to have more children. But Ouranos, the heavens, shoved Gaia's children back inside of her until she could bear it no more, and came up with a plan to prevent Ouranos from impregnating her again. So before Ouranos came to lay with her, she hide Kronos and gave him a sickle, and in lines 179-183 in "The Castration of Ouranos," he jumps out, cuts off Ouranos' genitals, and throws them behind him. In lines 184-187, giants, ash-tree nymphs, and the Furies are born from the blood that lands on the earth. And in lines 188-198 of "The Birth of Aphrodite," Aphrodite is born from the foam that was created when Ouranos' genitals landed in the ocean, her name is derived from the word aphros meaning …show more content…
When she steps on to the shore of Kypros, grass sprouts beneath her feet, and this creation of life translates into procreation that she and her companion Eros, the god of lust, bring about. So just as love can inspire violence, violence can inspire beauty and life, although the Greeks likely did not have this outlook on life, as they tended to believe that life was bad and would only get worse. In line 205 on page 67, Hesiod writes that she is the one who makes, "virginal sweet-talk, lovers' smiles and deceits." Because Aphrodite was born as a result of Gaia's trick with Kronos and the sickle, it is not surprising that she has some deviousness herself. While it is not mentioned in the Theogony, Aphrodite is married to Hephaestus but constantly cheats on him with Ares. So while this could just be a characteristic of the goddess of love, it is likely more of a representation of the Greek ideology that women, especially beautiful women, cannot be trusted as they are inherently unfaithful and full of
At the beginning, there was only Chaos and the Abyss, but then Gaia, the earth, willed herself into being, and with her first child, Ouranos, she began to have more children. But Ouranos, the heavens, shoved Gaia's children back inside of her until she could bear it no more, and came up with a plan to prevent Ouranos from impregnating her again. So before Ouranos came to lay with her, she hide Kronos and gave him a sickle, and in lines 179-183 in "The Castration of Ouranos," he jumps out, cuts off Ouranos' genitals, and throws them behind him. In lines 184-187, giants, ash-tree nymphs, and the Furies are born from the blood that lands on the earth. And in lines 188-198 of "The Birth of Aphrodite," Aphrodite is born from the foam that was created when Ouranos' genitals landed in the ocean, her name is derived from the word aphros meaning …show more content…
When she steps on to the shore of Kypros, grass sprouts beneath her feet, and this creation of life translates into procreation that she and her companion Eros, the god of lust, bring about. So just as love can inspire violence, violence can inspire beauty and life, although the Greeks likely did not have this outlook on life, as they tended to believe that life was bad and would only get worse. In line 205 on page 67, Hesiod writes that she is the one who makes, "virginal sweet-talk, lovers' smiles and deceits." Because Aphrodite was born as a result of Gaia's trick with Kronos and the sickle, it is not surprising that she has some deviousness herself. While it is not mentioned in the Theogony, Aphrodite is married to Hephaestus but constantly cheats on him with Ares. So while this could just be a characteristic of the goddess of love, it is likely more of a representation of the Greek ideology that women, especially beautiful women, cannot be trusted as they are inherently unfaithful and full of