Datasets:

Paulgrim

/

miniviquae_passages

like 0

ITN [SEP] ITN Consulting was the management consultancy arm of ITN, combining the resources of ITN with the consulting team's experience to advise global media companies on issues spanning all areas of strategy and operations, including financial planning, marketing, scheduling and content, recruitment, and interim management. With partner, Venture Consulting, it had offices in London, Milan, Dubai, Singapore and Sydney.

ITN [SEP] It operated as a network with its consultants working on engagements globally and focused "on how strategy can be implemented to deliver to real change". ITN Consulting stated that "an understanding of how global, regional and local media markets conflict and come together enables them to identify the opportunities this creates". They took an external, outsider perspective as well as having the viewpoint of senior "insider" media executives. ITN Consulting was extensively involved in the development of business plans for local TV in the UK.

ITN [SEP] It also consulted a range of national broadcasters on improving performance. The unit closed in 2012. ITN Source (formerly ITN Archive) licenses video footage from ITN's one million hours of archive content including news, drama, celebrity, comedy, music, wildlife, natural history and film. It also syndicates on-the-day news footage generated by ITN to other broadcasters and producers worldwide.

ITN [SEP] The company represents the moving image libraries of Reuters, ITV (including ITV Studios), ANI, UTV, Fox News, Fox Movietone, Gaumont British, Nine Network and other specialist collections. Its headquarters are in London and it has sales offices in New York, Toronto, Paris, Johannesburg, Sydney and Tokyo. In 2005, ITN became a shareholder in Espresso Group, a provider of digital content to more than 60% of primary schools in the UK and also internationally.

ITN [SEP] Espresso services feature an extensive library of broadband teaching resources and student activities to motivate pupils and support teachers, including content from ITN Source. In May 2008, the Education Clip Library, a unique, video licensing service for educational publishers and broadcasters around the world, was launched. It is aimed at educational publishers and broadcasters seeking to add video to their instructional products and services. Espresso was acquired by Discovery Education (part of Discovery Communications) on 7 November 2013.

ITN [SEP] In October 2008, ITN Source announced the creation of Diagonal View, a joint venture with Matt Heiman, a digital entrepreneur. The company packages content from ITN Source's archive and syndicates it to a range of commercial partners including MySpace, YouTube and MSN. ITN Productions was formed in February 2010 and incorporates the non-news operations of ITN, including the former ITN On, ITN Factual and ITN Corporate divisions.

ITN [SEP] ITN was one of the first companies to provide news content for 3G mobile phones, when it struck a deal to provide daily news bulletins for the 3 network in 2003. It has since expanded its video news service providing news, sport and showbiz content to a wide range of broadcasters, newspapers and websites.

ITN [SEP] Clients include: Newspaper websites: "Daily Mail", "Daily Express", "Daily Star", "The Daily Telegraph", "The Guardian" and "The Independent". Other websites: MSN, Yahoo!, AOL, YouTube and Dailymotion. Showbiz bulletins from ITN are broadcast daily on a number of television channels, including FYI Daily on ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4, The Fix on 4Music and Access on 5Star.

ITN [SEP] A daily showbiz breakfast show, "The Breakfast Fix", is broadcast on 4Music. From August 2013, ITN Productions was awarded the contract to produce the Premier League online and mobile highlights service for News UK. Content appears on "The Sun" and "The Times" subscription websites and mobile apps. Digital content is supplied to sports news video agency SNTV.

ITN [SEP] ITN Productions also creates factual programming for ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 as well as international broadcasters, including Discovery Channel, History Channel, PBS and National Geographic Channel. ITN has produced shows for Sky, with one of its later programmes being "". ITN also supplied programming to the now-closed Teachers TV service. From its inception in 1955, ITN was originally jointly owned by all the ITV operating companies, the shares split roughly in proportion to each company's advertising income.

ITN [SEP] However the Broadcasting Act 1990 allowed the ITC to set ownership rules. It was decided to limit the ITV companies to a maximum joint 49% stake, with no single company allowed more than a 20% holding. The powers were abolished by the Communications Act 2003. ITV plc's shareholding forms part of the wider ITV News Group which incorporates the regional operations in England, Southern Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands.

ITN [SEP] The Director of the ITV News Group is Michael Jermey, a former editor and executive at ITN. ITV's ownership of 40% of ITN (at that time equally split between Carlton and Granada) made the 2001 bid from Sky for ITV bulletins unlikely to succeed, the network having a vested interest to see ITN continue. The ITN contract for ITV News expires at the end of 2012.

ITN [SEP] On 2 April 2007 ITN signed a deal which superseded the existing contract, worth at least £42m per year, and invested more than £15m to upgrade ITN's newsroom as part of the deal. ITN has been spoofed several times on ITV's "The Benny Hill Show", namely in one 1971 show with the logo reading "NIT" instead of "ITN" and with Hill as Reginald "Boozenquet" and Andrew Gardner.

ITN [SEP] ITN was also spoofed in 1978 in the Leprechaun Independent Television sketch with Hill as Angela O'Rippon, a parody of Angela Rippon, and as Ann Afford, a parody of Anna Ford. It was also spoofed in a black and white 1971 show and a 1973 episode.

Aphrodite [SEP] Aphrodite is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, beauty, pleasure, passion and procreation. She is identified with the planet Venus, which is named after the Roman goddess , with whom Aphrodite was extensively syncretized. Aphrodite's major symbols include myrtles, roses, doves, sparrows, and swans. The cult of Aphrodite was largely derived from that of the Phoenician goddess Astarte, a cognate of the East Semitic goddess Ishtar, whose cult was based on the Sumerian cult of Inanna.

Aphrodite [SEP] Aphrodite's main cult centers were Cythera, Cyprus, Corinth, and Athens. Her main festival was the Aphrodisia, which was celebrated annually in midsummer. In Laconia, Aphrodite was worshipped as a warrior goddess. She was also the patron goddess of prostitutes, an association which led early scholars to propose the concept of "sacred prostitution", an idea which is now generally seen as erroneous.

Aphrodite [SEP] In Hesiod's "Theogony", Aphrodite is born off the coast of Cythera from the foam (') produced by Uranus's genitals, which his son Cronus has severed and thrown into the sea. In Homer's "Iliad", however, she is the daughter of Zeus and Dione.

Aphrodite [SEP] Plato, in his "Symposium" 180e, asserts that these two origins actually belong to separate entities: Aphrodite Ourania (a transcendent, "Heavenly" Aphrodite) and Aphrodite Pandemos (Aphrodite common to "all the people"). Aphrodite had many other epithets, each emphasizing a different aspect of the same goddess, or used by a different local cult.

Aphrodite [SEP] Thus she was also known as Cytherea ("Lady of Cythera") and Cypris"' ("Lady of Cyprus"), because both locations claimed to be the place of her birth. In Greek mythology, Aphrodite was married to Hephaestus, the god of blacksmiths and metalworking. Despite this, Aphrodite was frequently unfaithful to him and had many lovers; in the "Odyssey", she is caught in the act of adultery with Ares, the god of war.

Aphrodite [SEP] In the "First Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite", she seduces the mortal shepherd Anchises. Aphrodite was also the surrogate mother and lover of the mortal shepherd Adonis, who was killed by a wild boar. Along with Athena and Hera, Aphrodite was one of the three goddesses whose feud resulted in the beginning of the Trojan War and she plays a major role throughout the "Iliad". Aphrodite has been featured in western art as a symbol of female beauty and has appeared in numerous works of western literature.

Aphrodite [SEP] She is a major deity in modern Neopagan religions, including the Church of Aphrodite, Wicca, and Hellenismos. Hesiod derives "Aphrodite" from () "sea-foam", interpreting the name as "risen from the foam", but most modern scholars regard this as a spurious folk etymology. Early modern scholars of classical mythology attempted to argue that Aphrodite's name was of Greek or Indo-European origin, but these efforts have now been mostly abandoned.

Aphrodite [SEP] Aphrodite's name is generally accepted to be of non-Greek, probably Semitic, origin, but its exact derivation cannot be determined. Scholars in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, accepting Hesiod's "foam" etymology as genuine, analyzed the second part of Aphrodite's name as *"-odítē" "wanderer" or *"-dítē" "bright".

Aphrodite [SEP] Michael Janda, also accepting Hesiod's etymology, has argued in favor of the latter of these interpretations and claims the story of a birth from the foam as an Indo-European mytheme. Similarly, Witczak proposes an Indo-European compound ' "very" and ' "to shine", also referring to Eos. Other scholars have argued that these hypotheses are unlikely since Aphrodite's attributes are entirely different from those of both Eos and the Vedic deity Ushas.

Aphrodite [SEP] A number of improbable non-Greek etymologies have also been suggested. One Semitic etymology compares Aphrodite to the Assyrian "barīrītu", the name of a female demon that appears in Middle Babylonian and Late Babylonian texts. Hammarström looks to Etruscan, comparing "(e)prϑni" "lord", an Etruscan honorific loaned into Greek as πρύτανις. This would make the theonym in origin an honorific, "the lady".

Aphrodite [SEP] Most scholars reject this etymology as implausible, especially since Aphrodite actually appears in Etruscan in the borrowed form "Apru" (from Greek , clipped form of "Aphrodite"). The medieval "Etymologicum Magnum" (c. 1150) offers a highly contrived etymology, deriving "Aphrodite" from the compound "habrodíaitos" (), "she who lives delicately", from "habrós" and "díaita".

Aphrodite [SEP] The alteration from "b" to "ph" is explained as a "familiar" characteristic of Greek "obvious from the Macedonians". The cult of Aphrodite in Greece was imported from, or at least influenced by, the cult of Astarte in Phoenicia, which, in turn, was influenced by the cult of the Mesopotamian goddess known as "Ishtar" to the East Semitic peoples and as "Inanna" to the Sumerians.

Aphrodite [SEP] Pausanias states that the first to establish a cult of Aphrodite were the Assyrians, followed by the Paphians of Cyprus and then the Phoenicians at Ascalon. The Phoenicians, in turn, taught her worship to the people of Cythera. Aphrodite took on Inanna-Ishtar's associations with sexuality and procreation. Furthermore, she was known as Ourania (Οὐρανία), which means "heavenly", a title corresponding to Inanna's role as the Queen of Heaven.

Aphrodite [SEP] Early artistic and literary portrayals of Aphrodite are extremely similar on Inanna-Ishtar. Like Inanna-Ishtar, Aphrodite was also a warrior goddess; the second-century AD Greek geographer Pausanias records that, in Sparta, Aphrodite was worshipped as "Aphrodite Areia", which means "warlike". He also mentions that Aphrodite's most ancient cult statues in Sparta and on Cythera showed her bearing arms.

Aphrodite [SEP] Modern scholars note that Aphrodite's warrior-goddess aspects appear in the oldest strata of her worship and see it as an indication of her Near Eastern origins. Nineteenth century classical scholars had a general aversion to the idea that ancient Greek religion was at all influenced by the cultures of the Near East, but, even Friedrich Gottlieb Welcker, who argued that Near Eastern influence on Greek culture was largely confined to material culture, admitted that Aphrodite was clearly of Phoenician origin.

Aphrodite [SEP] The significant influence of Near Eastern culture on early Greek religion in general, and on the cult of Aphrodite in particular, is now widely recognized as dating to a period of orientalization during the eighth century BC, when archaic Greece was on the fringes of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.

Aphrodite [SEP] Some early comparative mythologists opposed to the idea of a Near Eastern origin argued that Aphrodite originated as an aspect of the Greek dawn goddess Eos and that she was therefore ultimately derived from the Proto-Indo-European dawn goddess *"Héusōs" (properly Greek Eos, Latin Aurora, Sanskrit Ushas). Most modern scholars have now rejected the notion of a purely Indo-European Aphrodite, but it is possible that Aphrodite, originally a Semitic deity, may have been influenced by the Indo-European dawn goddess.

Aphrodite [SEP] Both Aphrodite and Eos were known for their erotic beauty and aggressive sexuality and both had relationships with mortal lovers. Both goddesses were associated with the colors red, white, and gold. Michael Janda etymologizes Aphrodite's name as an epithet of Eos meaning "she who rises from the foam [of the ocean]" and points to Hesiod's "Theogony" account of Aphrodite's birth as an archaic reflex of Indo-European myth.

Aphrodite [SEP] Aphrodite rising out of the waters after Cronus defeats Uranus as a mytheme would then be directly cognate to the Rigvedic myth of Indra defeating Vrtra, liberating Ushas. Another key similarity between Aphrodite and the Indo-European dawn goddess is her close kinship to the Greek sky deity, since both of the main claimants to her paternity (Zeus and Uranus) are sky deities.

Aphrodite [SEP] Aphrodite's most common cultic epithet was "Ourania", meaning "heavenly", but this epithet almost never occurs in literary texts, indicating a purely cultic significance. Another common name for Aphrodite was "Pandemos" ("For All the Folk"). In her role as Aphrodite Pandemos, Aphrodite was associated with "Peithō" (), meaning "persuasion", and could be prayed to for aid in seduction.

Aphrodite [SEP] The character of Pausanias in Plato's "Symposium", takes differing cult-practices associated with different epithets of the Goddess to claim that Ourania and Pandemos are, in fact, separate goddesses. He asserts that "Aphrodite Ourania" is the celestial Aphrodite, born from the sea foam after Cronus castrated Uranus, and the older of the two goddesses. According to the "Symposium", "Aphrodite Ourania" is the inspiration of male homosexual desire, specifically the ephebic eros, and pederasty. "

Aphrodite [SEP] Aphrodite Pandemos", by contrast, is the younger of the two goddesses: the common Aphrodite, born from the union of Zeus and Dione, and the inspiration of heterosexual desire and sexual promiscuity, the "lesser" of the two loves. Among the Neoplatonists and, later, their Christian interpreters, Ourania is associated with spiritual love, and Pandemos with physical love (desire).

Aphrodite [SEP] A representation of Ourania with her foot resting on a tortoise came to be seen as emblematic of discretion in conjugal love; it was the subject of a chryselephantine sculpture by Phidias for Elis, known only from a parenthetical comment by the geographer Pausanias. One of Aphrodite's most common literary epithets is "Philommeidḗs" (), which means "smile-loving", but is sometimes mistranslated as "laughter-loving".

Aphrodite [SEP] This epithet occurs throughout both of the Homeric epics and the "First Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite". Hesiod references it once in his "Theogony" in the context of Aphrodite's birth, but interprets it as "genital-loving" rather than "smile-loving". Monica Cyrino notes that the epithet may relate to the fact that, in many artistic depictions of Aphrodite, she is shown smiling.

Aphrodite [SEP] Other common literary epithets are "Cypris" and "Cythereia", which derive from her associations with the islands of Cyprus and Cythera respectively. On Cyprus, Aphrodite was sometimes called "Eleemon" ("the merciful"). In Athens, she was known as "Aphrodite en kopois" ("Aphrodite of the Gardens"). At Cape Colias, a town along the Attic coast, she was venerated as "Genetyllis" "Mother".

Aphrodite [SEP] The Spartans worshipped her as "Potnia" "Mistress", "Enoplios" "Armed", "Morpho" "Shapely", "Ambologera" "She who Postpones Old Age". Across the Greek world, she was known under epithets such as "Melainis" "Black One", "Skotia" "Dark One", "Androphonos" "Killer of Men", "Anosia" "Unholy", and "Tymborychos" "Gravedigger", all of which indicate her darker, more violent nature.

Aphrodite [SEP] A male version of Aphrodite known as Aphroditus was worshipped in the city of Amathus on Cyprus. Aphroditus was depicted with the figure and dress of a woman, but had a beard, and was shown lifting his dress to reveal an erect phallus. This gesture was believed to be an apotropaic symbol, and was thought to convey good fortune upon the viewer.

Aphrodite [SEP] Eventually, the popularity of Aphroditus waned as the mainstream, fully feminine version of Aphrodite became more popular, but traces of his cult are preserved in the later legends of Hermaphroditus. Aphrodite's main festival, the Aphrodisia, was celebrated across Greece, but particularly in Athens and Corinth. In Athens, the Aphrodisia was celebrated on the fourth day of the month of Hekatombaion in honor of Aphrodite's role in the unification of Attica.

Aphrodite [SEP] During this festival, the priests of Aphrodite would purify the temple of Aphrodite Pandemos on the southwestern slope of the Acropolis with the blood of a sacrificed dove. Next, the altars would be anointed and the cult statues of Aphrodite Pandemos and Peitho would be escorted in a majestic procession to a place where they would be ritually bathed. Aphrodite was also honored in Athens as part of the Arrhephoria festival. The fourth day of every month was sacred to Aphrodite.

Aphrodite [SEP] Pausanias records that, in Sparta, Aphrodite was worshipped as "Aphrodite Areia", which means "warlike". This epithet stresses Aphrodite's connections to Ares, with whom she had extramarital relations. Pausanias also records that, in Sparta and on Cythera, a number of extremely ancient cult statues of Aphrodite portrayed her bearing arms. Other cult statues showed her bound in chains.

Aphrodite [SEP] Aphrodite was the patron goddess of prostitutes of all varieties, ranging from "pornai" (cheap street prostitutes typically owned as slaves by wealthy pimps) to "hetairai" (expensive, well-educated hired companions, who were usually self-employed and sometimes provided sex to their customers). The city of Corinth was renowned throughout the ancient world for its many "hetairai", who had a widespread reputation for being among the most skilled, but also the most expensive, prostitutes in the Greek world.

Aphrodite [SEP] Corinth also had a major temple to Aphrodite located on the Acrocorinth and was one of the main centers of her cult. Records of numerous dedications to Aphrodite made by successful courtesans have survived in poems and in pottery inscriptions. References to Aphrodite in association with prostitution are found in Corinth as well as on the islands of Cyprus, Cythera, and Sicily. Aphrodite's Mesopotamian precursor Inanna-Ishtar was also closely associated with prostitution.

Aphrodite [SEP] Scholars in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries believed that the cult of Aphrodite may have involved ritual prostitution, an assumption based on ambiguous passages in certain ancient texts, particularly a fragment of a "skolion" by the Boeotian poet Pindar, which mentions prostitutes in Corinth in association with Aphrodite. Modern scholars now dismiss the notion of ritual prostitution in Greece as a "historiographic myth" with no factual basis. During the Hellenistic period, the Greeks identified Aphrodite with the ancient Egyptian goddesses Hathor and Isis.

Aphrodite [SEP] Aphrodite was the patron goddess of the Lagid queens and Queen Arsinoe II was identified as her mortal incarnation. Aphrodite was worshipped in Alexandria and had numerous temples in and around the city. Arsinoe II introduced the cult of Adonis to Alexandria and many of the women there partook in it. The Tessarakonteres, a gigantic catamaran galley designed by Archimedes for Ptolemy IV Philopator, had a circular temple to Aphrodite on it with a marble statue of the goddess herself.

Aphrodite [SEP] In the second century BC, Ptolemy VIII Physcon and his wives Cleopatra II and Cleopatra III dedicated a temple to Aphrodite Hathor at Philae. Statuettes of Aphrodite for personal devotion became common in Egypt starting in the early Ptolemaic times and extending until long after Egypt became a Roman province. The ancient Romans identified Aphrodite with their goddess Venus, who was originally a goddess of agricultural fertility, vegetation, and springtime.

Aphrodite [SEP] According to the Roman historian Livy, Aphrodite and Venus were officially identified in the third century BC when the cult of "Venus Erycina" was introduced to Rome from the Greek sanctuary of Aphrodite on Mount Eryx in Sicily. After this point, Romans adopted Aphrodite's iconography and myths and applied them to Venus. Because Aphrodite was the mother of the Trojan hero Aeneas in Greek mythology and Roman tradition claimed Aeneas as the founder of Rome, Venus became venerated as "Venus Genetrix", the mother of the entire Roman nation.

Aphrodite [SEP] Julius Caesar claimed to be directly descended from Aeneas's son Iulus and became a strong proponent of the cult of Venus. This precedent was later followed by his nephew Augustus and the later emperors claiming succession from him. This syncretism greatly impacted Greek worship of Aphrodite. During the Roman era, the cults of Aphrodite in many Greek cities began to emphasize her relationship with Troy and Aeneas. They also began to adopt distinctively Roman elements, portraying Aphrodite as more maternal, more militaristic, and more concerned with administrative bureaucracy.

Aphrodite [SEP] She was claimed as a divine guardian by many political magistrates. Appearances of Aphrodite in Greek literature also vastly proliferated, usually showing Aphrodite in a characteristically Roman manner. Aphrodite is usually said to have been born near her chief center of worship, Paphos, on the island of Cyprus, which is why she is sometimes called "Cyprian", especially in the poetic works of Sappho. The Sanctuary of Aphrodite Paphia, marking her birthplace, was a place of pilgrimage in the ancient world for centuries.

Aphrodite [SEP] Other versions of her myth have her born near the island of Cythera, hence another of her names, "Cytherea". Cythera was a stopping place for trade and culture between Crete and the Peloponesus, so these stories may preserve traces of the migration of Aphrodite's cult from the Middle East to mainland Greece. According to the version of her birth recounted by Hesiod in his "Theogony", Cronus severed Uranus' genitals and threw them behind him into the sea.

Aphrodite [SEP] The foam from his genitals gave rise to Aphrodite (hence her name, which Hesiod interprets as "foam-arisen"), while the Giants, the Erinyes (furies), and the Meliae emerged from the drops of his blood. Hesiod states that the genitals "were carried over the sea a long time, and white foam arose from the immortal flesh; with it a girl grew."

Aphrodite [SEP] Hesiod's account of Aphrodite's birth following Uranus's castration is probably derived from "The Song of Kumarbi", an ancient Hittite epic poem in which the god Kumarbi overthrows his father Anu, the god of the sky, and bites off his genitals, causing him to become pregnant and give birth to Anu's children, which include Ishtar and her brother Teshub, the Hittite storm god. In the "Iliad", Aphrodite is described as the daughter of Zeus and Dione.

Aphrodite [SEP] Dione's name appears to be a feminine cognate to "Dios" and "Dion", which are oblique forms of the name "Zeus". Zeus and Dione shared a cult at Dodona in northwestern Greece. In "Theogony", Hesiod describes Dione as an Oceanid. Aphrodite is consistently portrayed as a nubile, infinitely desirable adult, having had no childhood. She is often depicted nude.

Aphrodite [SEP] In the "Iliad", Aphrodite is the apparently unmarried consort of Ares, the god of war, and the wife of Hephaestus is a different goddess named Charis. Likewise, in Hesiod's "Theogony", Aphrodite is unmarried and the wife of Hephaestus is Aglaea, the youngest of the three Charites. In Book Eight of the "Odyssey", however, the blind singer Demodocus describes Aphrodite as the wife of Hephaestus and tells how she committed adultery with Ares during the Trojan War.

Aphrodite [SEP] The sun-god Helios saw Aphrodite and Ares having sex in Hephaestus's bed and warned Hephaestus, who fashioned a net of gold. The next time Ares and Aphrodite had sex together, the net trapped them both. Hephaestus brought all the gods into the bedchamber to laugh at the captured adulterers, but Apollo, Hermes, and Poseidon had sympathy for Ares and Poseidon agreed to pay Hephaestus for Ares's release. Humiliated, Aphrodite returned to Cyprus, where she was attended by the Charites.

Aphrodite [SEP] This narrative probably originated as a Greek folk tale, originally independent of the "Odyssey". Later stories were invented to explain Aphrodite's marriage to Hephaestus. In the most famous story, Zeus hastily married Aphrodite to Hephaestus in order to prevent the other gods from fighting over her. In another version of the myth, Hephaestus gave his mother Hera a golden throne, but when she sat on it, she became trapped and he refused to let her go until she agreed to give him Aphrodite's hand in marriage.

Aphrodite [SEP] Hephaestus was overjoyed to be married to the goddess of beauty, and forged her beautiful jewelry, including a "strophion" () known as the (), a saltire-shaped undergarment (usually translated as "girdle"), which accentuated her breasts and made her even more irresistible to men. Such "strophia" were commonly used in depictions of the Near Eastern goddesses Ishtar and Atargatis. Aphrodite is almost always accompanied by Eros, the god of lust and sexual desire.

Aphrodite [SEP] In his "Theogony", Hesiod describes Eros as one of the four original primeval forces born at the beginning of time, but, after the birth of Aphrodite from the sea foam, he is joined by Himeros and, together, they become Aphrodite's constant companions. In early Greek art, Eros and Himeros are both shown as idealized handsome youths with wings. The Greek lyric poets regarded the power of Eros and Himeros as dangerous, compulsive, and impossible for anyone to resist.

Aphrodite [SEP] In modern times, Eros is often seen as Aphrodite's son, but this is actually a comparatively late innovation. A "scholion" on Theocritus's "Idylls" remarks that the sixth-century BC poet Sappho had described Eros as the son of Aphrodite and Uranus, but the first surviving reference to Eros as Aphrodite's son comes from Apollonius of Rhodes's "Argonautica", written in the third century BC, which makes him the son of Aphrodite and Ares.

Aphrodite [SEP] Later, the Romans, who saw Venus as a mother goddess, seized on this idea of Eros as Aphrodite's son and popularized it, making it the predominant portrayal in works on mythology until the present day. Aphrodite's main attendants were the three Charites, whom Hesiod identifies as the daughters of Zeus and Eurynome and names as Aglaea ("Splendor"), Euphrosyne ("Good Cheer"), and Thalia ("Abundance").

Aphrodite [SEP] The Charites had been worshipped as goddesses in Greece since the beginning of Greek history, long before Aphrodite was introduced to the pantheon. Aphrodite's other set of attendants was the three Horae (the "Hours"), whom Hesiod identifies as the daughters of Zeus and Themis and names as Eunomia (“Good Order”), Dike (“Justice”), and Eirene (“Peace”).

Aphrodite [SEP] Aphrodite was also sometimes accompanied by Harmonia, her daughter by Ares, and Hebe, the daughter of Zeus and Hera. The fertility god Priapus was usually considered to be Aphrodite's son by Dionysus, but he was sometimes also described as her son by Hermes, Adonis, or even Zeus.

Aphrodite [SEP] A "scholion" on Apollonius of Rhodes's "Argonautica" states that, while Aphrodite was pregnant with Priapus, Hera envied her and applied an evil potion to her belly while she was sleeping to ensure that the child would be hideous. When Aphrodite gave birth, she was horrified to see that the child had a massive, permanently erect penis, a potbelly, and a huge tongue.

Aphrodite [SEP] Aphrodite abandoned the infant to die in the wilderness, but a herdsman found him and raised him, later discovering that Priapus could use his massive penis to aid in the growth of plants.

Aphrodite [SEP] The "First Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite" (Hymn 5), which was probably composed sometime in the mid-seventh century BC, describes how Zeus once became annoyed with Aphrodite for causing deities to fall in love with mortals, so he caused her to fall in love with Anchises, a handsome mortal shepherd who lived in the foothills beneath Mount Ida near the city of Troy. Aphrodite appears to Anchises in the form of a tall, beautiful, mortal virgin while he is alone in his home.

Aphrodite [SEP] Anchises sees her dressed in bright clothing and gleaming jewelry, with her breasts shining with divine radiance. He asks her if she is Aphrodite and promises to build her an altar on top of the mountain if she will bless him and his family. Aphrodite lies and tells him that she is not a goddess, but the daughter of one of the noble families of Phrygia.

Aphrodite [SEP] She claims to be able to understand the Trojan language because she had a Trojan nurse as a child and says that she found herself on the mountainside after she was snatched up by Hermes while dancing in a celebration in honor of Artemis, the goddess of virginity. Aphrodite tells Anchises that she is still a virgin and begs him to take her to his parents. Anchises immediately becomes overcome with mad lust for Aphrodite and swears that he will have sex with her.

Aphrodite [SEP] Anchises takes Aphrodite, with her eyes cast downwards, to his bed, which is covered in the furs of lions and bears. He then strips her naked and makes love to her. After the lovemaking is complete, Aphrodite reveals her true divine form. Anchises is terrified, but Aphrodite consoles him and promises that she will bear him a son.

Aphrodite [SEP] She prophesies that their son will be the demigod Aeneas, who will be raised by the nymphs of the wilderness for five years before going to Troy to become a nobleman like his father. The story of Aeneas's conception is also mentioned in Hesiod's "Theogony" and in Book II of Homer's "Iliad". The myth of Aphrodite and Adonis is probably derived from the ancient Sumerian legend of Inanna and Dumuzid.

Aphrodite [SEP] The Greek name ("Adōnis", ) is derived from the Canaanite word "ʼadōn", meaning "lord". The earliest known Greek reference to Adonis comes from a fragment of a poem by the Lesbian poetess Sappho (c. 630 – c. 570 BC), in which a chorus of young girls asks Aphrodite what they can do to mourn Adonis's death. Aphrodite replies that they must beat their breasts and tear their tunics. Later references flesh out the story with more details.

Aphrodite [SEP] According to the retelling of the story found in the poem "Metamorphoses" by the Roman poet Ovid (43 BC – 17/18 AD), Adonis was the son of Myrrha, who was cursed by Aphrodite with insatiable lust for her own father, King Cinyras of Cyprus, after Myrrha's mother bragged that her daughter was more beautiful than the goddess. Driven out after becoming pregnant, Myrrha was changed into a myrrh tree, but still gave birth to Adonis.

Aphrodite [SEP] Aphrodite found the baby, and took him to the underworld to be fostered by Persephone. She returned for him once he was grown and discovered him to be strikingly handsome. Persephone wanted to keep Adonis, resulting in a custody battle between the two goddesses over whom should rightly possess Adonis. Zeus settled the dispute by decreeing that Adonis would spend one third of the year with Aphrodite, one third with Persephone, and one third with whomever he chose. Adonis chose to spend that time with Aphrodite.

Aphrodite [SEP] Then, one day, while Adonis was hunting, he was wounded by a wild boar and bled to death in Aphrodite's arms. In different versions of the story, the boar was either sent by Ares, who was jealous that Aphrodite was spending so much time with Adonis, or by Artemis, who wanted revenge against Aphrodite for having killed her devoted follower Hippolytus. The story also provides an etiology for Aphrodite's associations with certain flowers.

Aphrodite [SEP] Reportedly, as she mourned Adonis's death, she caused anemones to grow wherever his blood fell, and declared a festival on the anniversary of his death. In one version of the story, Aphrodite injured herself on a thorn from a rose bush and the rose, which had previously been white, was stained red by her blood.

Aphrodite [SEP] According to Lucian's "On the Syrian Goddess", each year during the festival of Adonis, the Adonis River in Lebanon (now known as the Abraham River) ran red with blood. The myth of Adonis is associated with the festival of the Adonia, which was celebrated by Greek women every year in midsummer. The festival, which was evidently already celebrated in Lesbos by Sappho's time, seems to have first become popular in Athens in the mid-fifth century BC.

Aphrodite [SEP] At the start of the festival, the women would plant a "garden of Adonis", a small garden planted inside a small basket or a shallow piece of broken pottery containing a variety of quick-growing plants, such as lettuce and fennel, or even quick-sprouting grains such as wheat and barley. The women would then climb ladders to the roofs of their houses, where they would place the gardens out under the heat of the summer sun.

Aphrodite [SEP] The plants would sprout in the sunlight, but wither quickly in the heat. Then the women would mourn and lament loudly over the death of Adonis, tearing their clothes and beating their breasts in a public display of grief. In Hesiod's "Works and Days", Zeus orders Aphrodite to make Pandora, the first woman, physically beautiful and sexually attractive, so that she may become "an evil men will love to embrace".

Aphrodite [SEP] Aphrodite "spills grace" over Pandora's head and equips her with "painful desire and knee-weakening anguish", thus making her the perfect vessel for evil to enter the world. Aphrodite's attendants, Peitho, the Charites, and the Horae, adorn Pandora with gold and jewelry.

Aphrodite [SEP] According to one myth, Aphrodite aided Hippomenes, a noble youth who wished to marry Atalanta, a maiden who was renowned throughout the land for her beauty, but who refused to marry any man unless he could outrun her in a footrace. Atalanta was an exceedingly swift runner and she beheaded all of the men who lost to her. Aphrodite gave Hippomenes three golden apples from the Garden of the Hesperides and instructed him to toss them in front of Atalanta as he raced her.

Aphrodite [SEP] Hippomenes obeyed Aphrodite's order and Atalanta, seeing the beautiful, golden fruits, bent down to pick up each one, allowing Hippomenes to outrun her. In the version of the story from Ovid's "Metamorphoses", Hippomenes forgets to repay Aphrodite for her aid, so she causes the couple to become inflamed with lust while they are staying at the temple of Cybele. The couple desecrate the temple by having sex in it, leading Cybele to turn them into lions as punishment.

Aphrodite [SEP] The myth of Pygmalion is first mentioned by the third-century BC Greek writer Philostephanus of Cyrene, but is first recounted in detail in Ovid's "Metamorphoses". According to Ovid, Pygmalion was an exceedingly handsome sculptor from the island of Cyprus, who was so sickened by the immorality of women that he refused to marry. He fell madly and passionately in love with the ivory cult statue he was carving of Aphrodite and longed to marry it.

Aphrodite [SEP] Because Pygmalion was extremely pious and devoted to Aphrodite, the goddess brought the statue to life. Pygmalion married the girl the statue became and they had a son named Paphos, after whom the capital of Cyprus received its name. Pseudo-Apollodorus later mentions "Metharme, daughter of Pygmalion, king of Cyprus". Aphrodite generously rewarded those who honored her, but also punished those who disrespected her, often quite brutally.

Aphrodite [SEP] A myth described in Apollonius of Rhodes's "Argonautica" and later summarized in the "Bibliotheca" of Pseudo-Apollodorus tells how, when the women of the island of Lemnos refused to sacrifice to Aphrodite, the goddess cursed them to stink horribly so that their husbands would never have sex with them. Instead, their husbands started having sex with their Thracian slave-girls. In anger, the women of Lemnos murdered the entire male population of the island, as well as all the Thracian slaves.

Aphrodite [SEP] When Jason and his crew of Argonauts arrived on Lemnos, they mated with the sex-starved women under Aphrodite's approval and repopulated the island. From then on, the women of Lemnos never disrespected Aphrodite again. In Euripides's tragedy "Hippolytus", which was first performed at the City Dionysia in 428 BC, Theseus's son Hippolytus worships only Artemis, the goddess of virginity, and refuses to engage in any form of sexual contact.

Aphrodite [SEP] Aphrodite is infuriated by his prideful behavior and, in the prologue to the play, she declares that, by honoring only Artemis and refusing to venerate her, Hippolytus has directly challenged her authority. Aphrodite therefore causes Hippolytus's stepmother, Phaedra, to fall in love with him, knowing Hippolytus will reject her. After being rejected, Phaedra commits suicide and leaves a suicide note to Theseus telling him that she killed herself because Hippolytus attempted to rape her. Theseus prays to Poseidon to kill Hippolytus for his transgression.

Aphrodite [SEP] Poseidon sends a wild bull to scare Hippolytus's horses as he is riding by the sea in his chariot, causing the horses to bolt and smash the chariot against the cliffs, dragging Hippolytus to a bloody death across the rocky shoreline. The play concludes with Artemis vowing to kill Aphrodite's own mortal beloved (presumably Adonis) in revenge. Glaucus of Corinth angered Aphrodite by refusing to let his horses for chariot racing mate, since doing so would hinder their speed.

Aphrodite [SEP] During the chariot race at the funeral games of King Pelias, Aphrodite drove his horses mad and they tore him apart. Polyphonte was a young woman who chose a virginal life with Artemis instead of marriage and children, as favoured by Aphrodite. Aphrodite cursed her, causing her to have children by a bear. The resulting offspring, Agrius and Oreius, were wild cannibals who incurred the hatred of Zeus. Ultimately, he transformed all the members of the family into birds of ill omen.

Aphrodite [SEP] The myth of the Judgement of Paris is mentioned briefly in the "Iliad", but is described in depth in an epitome of the "Cypria", a lost poem of the Epic Cycle, which records that all the gods and goddesses as well as various mortals were invited to the marriage of Peleus and Thetis (the eventual parents of Achilles). Only Eris, goddess of discord, was not invited.

Aphrodite [SEP] She was annoyed at this, so she arrived with a golden apple inscribed with the word καλλίστῃ (kallistēi, "for the fairest"), which she threw among the goddesses. Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena all claimed to be the fairest, and thus the rightful owner of the apple. The goddesses chose to place the matter before Zeus, who, not wanting to favor one of the goddesses, put the choice into the hands of Paris, a Trojan prince.

Aphrodite [SEP] After bathing in the spring of Mount Ida where Troy was situated, the goddesses appeared before Paris for his decision. In the extant ancient depictions of the Judgement of Paris, Aphrodite is only occasionally represented nude, and Athena and Hera are always fully clothed. Since the Renaissance, however, western paintings have typically portrayed all three goddesses as completely naked. All three goddesses were ideally beautiful and Paris could not decide between them, so they resorted to bribes.

Aphrodite [SEP] Hera tried to bribe Paris with power over all Asia and Europe, and Athena offered wisdom, fame and glory in battle, but Aphrodite promised Paris that, if he were to choose her as the fairest, she would let him marry the most beautiful woman on earth. This woman was Helen, who was already married to King Menelaus of Sparta. Paris selected Aphrodite and awarded her the apple. The other two goddesses were enraged and, as a direct result, sided with the Greeks in the Trojan War.

Aphrodite [SEP] Aphrodite plays an important and active role throughout the entirety of Homer's "Iliad". In Book III, she rescues Paris from Menelaus after he foolishly challenges him to a one-on-one duel. She then appears to Helen in the form of an old woman and attempts to persuade her to have sex with Paris, reminding her of his physical beauty and athletic prowess. Helen immediately recognizes Aphrodite by her beautiful neck, perfect breasts, and flashing eyes and chides the goddess, addressing her as her equal.

Aphrodite [SEP] Aphrodite sharply rebukes Helen, reminding her that, if she vexes her, she will punish her just as much as she has favored her already. Helen demurely obeys Aphrodite's command. In Book V, Aphrodite charges into battle to rescue her son Aeneas from the Greek hero Diomedes. Diomedes recognizes Aphrodite as a "weakling" goddess and, thrusting his spear, nicks her wrist through her "ambrosial robe". Aphrodite borrows Ares's chariot to ride back to Mount Olympus.

Aphrodite [SEP] Zeus chides her for putting herself in danger, reminding her that "her specialty is love, not war." According to Walter Burkert, this scene directly parallels a scene from Tablet VI of the "Epic of Gilgamesh" in which Ishtar, Aphrodite's Akkadian precursor, cries to her mother Antu after the hero Gilgamesh rejects her sexual advances, but is mildly rebuked by her father Anu.

Aphrodite [SEP] In Book XIV of the "Iliad", during the "Dios Apate" episode, Aphrodite lends her "kestos himas" to Hera for the purpose of seducing Zeus and distracting him from the combat while Poseidon aids the Greek forces on the beach. In the "Theomachia" in Book XXI, Aphrodite again enters the battlefield to carry Ares away after he is wounded. Aphrodite's most prominent avian symbol was the dove, which was originally an important symbol of her Near Eastern precursor Inanna-Ishtar. (

Aphrodite [SEP] In fact, the ancient Greek word for "dove", "peristerá", may be derived from a Semitic phrase "peraḥ Ištar", meaning "bird of Ishtar".) Aphrodite frequently appears with doves in ancient Greek pottery and the temple of Aphrodite Pandemos on the southwest slope of the Athenian Acropolis was decorated with relief sculptures of doves with knotted fillets in their beaks. Votive offerings of small, white, marble doves were also discovered in the temple of Aphrodite at Daphni.

Aphrodite [SEP] In addition to her associations with doves, Aphrodite was also closely linked with sparrows and she is described riding in a chariot pulled by sparrows in Sappho's "Ode to Aphrodite". Because of her connections to the sea, Aphrodite was associated with a number of different types of water fowl, including swans, geese, and ducks. Aphrodite's other symbols included the sea, conch shells, and roses. The rose and myrtle flowers were both sacred to Aphrodite.