Aphrodite

Ἀφροδίτη

Ringkasan

Aphrodite adalah dewi Yunani kuno cinta dan kecantikan, dipuja terutama di Kythera, Siprus, Korintus, dan Athena; menurut Hesiod ia lahir dari buih laut.

Aphrodite is the ancient Greek goddess of love and beauty, worshipped chiefly at Cythera, Cyprus, Corinth and Athens; according to Hesiod she was born from sea foam.

Kisah dan tradisi

Aphrodite adalah dewi Yunani kuno yang dikaitkan dengan cinta dan kecantikan. Pusat pemujaan utamanya adalah Kythera, Siprus, Korintus, dan Athena, tempat ia dirayakan setiap tahun dalam festival Aphrodisia; di Lakonia ia dipuja sebagai dewi perang. Ia bergelar Cytherea dan Cypris karena Kythera dan Siprus sama-sama mengaku sebagai tempat kelahirannya. Julukan kultusnya yang paling umum adalah Ourania, "surgawi", dan ia juga dikenal sebagai Pandemos. Dalam Iliad karya Homer ia putri Zeus dan Dione, sedangkan dalam Theogony karya Hesiod ia lahir dari buih yang dihasilkan kelamin Uranus yang dipotong dan dilemparkan Kronos ke laut. Menurut Hesiod nama Aphrodite berasal dari aphrós, "buih laut", tetapi sebagian besar ahli modern menganggapnya etimologi rakyat. Asal-usulnya diperdebatkan: pengaruh yang diusulkan mencakup dewi cinta Timur Dekat, dewi asli Siprus, dan dewi fajar Proto-Indo-Eropa. Sumber berbeda tentang suaminya. Dalam Odyssey ia istri Hephaestus dan berzina dengan Ares; dalam Iliad dan Theogony istri Hephaestus adalah dewi lain, dan dalam sumber kemudian Ares umumnya dianggap suami atau pasangan resminya. Eros hampir selalu menemaninya dan sering dipandang sebagai putranya, dan menurut theoi.com ia ibu Phobos, Deimos, dan Harmonia dari Ares serta Aeneas dari Anchises. Bersama Athena dan Hera, Aphrodite salah satu dari tiga dewi yang perselisihannya berujung pada Perang Troya. Menurut World History Encyclopedia, Paris memilih Aphrodite sebagai dewi tercantik sehingga sang dewi memberinya Helena dari Sparta; dalam Perang Troya ia melindungi Aeneas dan Paris, dan menurut theoi.com ia dilukai Diomedes di tangan. Theoi.com juga menyebut ia menghancurkan Hippolytos karena meremehkan pemujaannya. Menurut theoi.com, Aphrodite digambarkan sebagai perempuan cantik dengan atribut merpati, apel, kerang, dan cermin. Menurut World History Encyclopedia, dalam seni ia sering dikenali dari cermin, apel, karangan myrtus, burung suci atau merpati, tongkat kerajaan, dan bunga; dalam seni Arkaik dan Klasik ia biasanya berpakaian dan mengenakan ikat pinggang yang menyimpan kekuatan ajaibnya akan cinta dan hasrat. Hesiod menggambarkannya, antara lain, sebagai "lahir dari buih" dan paling sering sebagai "Aphrodite yang keemasan". Bangsa Romawi menyamakan Aphrodite dengan Venus, yang semula dewi kesuburan pertanian, tumbuh-tumbuhan, dan musim semi; menurut Livius, penyamaan resmi terjadi pada abad ke-3 SM ketika pemujaan Venus Erycina dibawa ke Roma. Karena Aphrodite ibu Aeneas dan tradisi Romawi menyebut Aeneas pendiri Roma, Venus dipuja sebagai Venus Genetrix, ibu seluruh bangsa Romawi.

Aphrodite is an ancient Greek goddess linked with love and beauty. Her chief cult centres were Cythera, Cyprus, Corinth and Athens, where the Aphrodisia festival honoured her every year; in Laconia she was worshipped as a goddess of war. The names Cytherea and Cypris reflect that both Cythera and Cyprus claimed to be her birthplace. Ourania, "heavenly", was her commonest cultic epithet, and she was also called Pandemos. Homer's Iliad makes her a child of Zeus and Dione, while Hesiod's Theogony has her rise from the foam that gathered around Uranus's genitals after Cronus cut them off and cast them into the sea. Hesiod derives her name from aphrós, "sea-foam", though most modern scholars take this for folk etymology. Her origins are disputed: suggested influences include Near Eastern love goddesses, a native Cypriot goddess and a Proto-Indo-European dawn goddess. Sources differ on her husband. In the Odyssey she is Hephaestus's wife and commits adultery with Ares; in the Iliad and Theogony Hephaestus has a different wife, and in later sources Ares is generally regarded as her husband or official consort. Eros almost always accompanies her and is often seen as her son, and according to theoi.com she was the mother of Phobos, Deimos and Harmonia by Ares and of Aeneas by Anchises. With Athena and Hera, Aphrodite was among three goddesses whose rivalry led to the Trojan War. The World History Encyclopedia says Paris chose Aphrodite as the fairest goddess, and she gave him Helen of Sparta; in the Trojan War she shields Aeneas and Paris, and theoi.com says Diomedes wounded her in the hand. Theoi.com also reports that she destroyed Hippolytos for scorning her worship. Theoi.com depicts Aphrodite as a beautiful woman whose attributes were a dove, apple, scallop shell and mirror. The World History Encyclopedia says that artists often identify her through objects such as a mirror, apple, myrtle wreath, sceptre or flower, or a dove as her sacred bird; in Archaic and Classical art she is usually clothed and wears a girdle that held her magic powers of love and desire. Hesiod calls her, among other things, "foam-born" and most often "golden Aphrodite". The Romans equated Aphrodite with Venus, originally a goddess of agricultural fertility, vegetation and springtime; according to Livy the official equation came in the third century BC, when the cult of Venus Erycina reached Rome. Since Aphrodite was the mother of Aeneas and Roman tradition made Aeneas the founder of Rome, Venus came to be honoured as Venus Genetrix, mother of the whole Roman nation.

Konteks budaya

Menurut World History Encyclopedia, Aphrodite dipuja oleh pria, wanita, dan pejabat negara-kota, serta turut berperan dalam perdagangan, peperangan, dan politik kota-kota Yunani kuno dan sebagai pelindung para pelaut. Festival Aphrodisia dirayakan di seluruh Yunani, terutama di Athena dan Korintus. Menurut pandangan kosmogonik yang dicatat theoi.com, ia personifikasi daya penghasil alam dan ibu semua makhluk hidup.

The World History Encyclopedia says Aphrodite was worshipped by men, women and city-state officials, had a part in the commerce, warfare and politics of ancient Greek cities, and watched over seafarers. Her festival, the Aphrodisia, was held across Greece, above all in Athens and Corinth. Cosmogonic views recorded on theoi.com make her the personification of nature's generative powers and the mother of all living beings.

Fakta utama

Budaya / Culture: Mitologi Yunani
Kawasan / Region: Eropa
Negara / Country: Greece, Cyprus
Era: Known in ancient Greek religion; the First Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite was probably composed in the mid-seventh century BC.
Klasifikasi / Classification: Deity
Kemampuan / Abilities: Membangkitkan cinta, Menganugerahkan kecantikan, Ikat pinggang ajaib, Mengubah diri menjadi ikan, Menghukum yang meremehkannya, Menghidupkan arca

Nama lain / Alternate names

Cytherea, Cypris, Ourania, Pandemos, Paphia, Areia, Aphrodite Areia

Tahukah kamu? / Did you know?

Ourania adalah julukan kultus yang paling umum bagi Aphrodite, tetapi hampir tidak pernah muncul dalam teks sastra.

Ourania was Aphrodite's most common cultic epithet, yet it almost never appears in literary texts.