Hera and Aphrodite

1931 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Zeus' role in the iliad

Hera and Aphrodite. Two goddesses on two sides of the Trojan War. Both of them have their own personalities, and their own agendas. The two of them do have certain similarities. Both Hera and Aphrodite seem to believe in the cause they are fighting for. They do, however have very different ways about getting what they want. In The Illiad, both of these goddesses are on the opposing sides (as I stated before). Hera fights on the side of the Acheans, where Aphrodite has taken sides with the Trojans.

According to Edith Hamilton, it all starts when King Peleus marries Thetis a sea nymph. All the gods are in attendance, except for Eris, who was for some reason not invited. Eris is angry and decides to create an argument during the festivities. So she sends a golden apple to the banquet with the simple inscription “For the Fairest”. Of course all the goddesses believe that the apple is for them and an argument does ensue. Eventually three finalists are selected among the goddesses. One of them is Athena, and the other two are Hera and Aphrodite. An impartial judge is selected in Paris, who is the son of Priam, the king of Troy. In order to make sure that they are chosen as the most beautiful, each of the three goddesses bribe Paris so that he will pick them. Athena offers him success in battle, Hera offers royal power (which to me doesn’t make much sense, since he is already a prince of Troy, unless of course she means over the entire world), and Aphrodite offers him the most beautiful girl in the world. Paris chooses Aphrodite and in turn receives Helen as his prize. From here the Trojan War begins.

I believe that the sides are decided because of this contest. Aphrodite sides with the Trojans, because Paris is on that side. It ma...

... middle of paper ...

...in her, she becomes angry. And when Artemis attempts to make him join the fighting, once again, Hera attacks. This time she takes Artemis’ bow and fires it at her, then she boxes her ears until she submits. Again we see the violent side of Hera when she does not get what she wants.

Hera and Aphrodite, two goddesses that represent similar aspects of life, love and marriage, though two very different people. Hera has a hair trigger temper and will do anything for her cause and destroy anyone, be they god or mortal, who stands in her way. Aphrodite is a very caring a peaceful goddess who would rather protect and run than get into a conflict. They fight on opposite sides, they seem to be the ying and yang. I believe that if their personalities were merged that they would create a very balanced individual. Yet apart, I am surprised they survived as long as they did.

Show More
Related

  • From Aphrodite Of Knidos To The Old Market Woman

    704 Words  | 2 Pages

    “The beginning of female art found in this Aphrodite depict her as a slightly overweight, broad-shouldered, wide-hipped figure with rougher textures and harsher lines” (Berz). The Greeks found this so appealing because it looked very similar to themselves in form but because Aphrodite is na...

    Read More

  • Black Ships Before Troy Argumentative Essay

    944 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Trojan War is one of the most known battle or war in history, if not the most known. It was a very, very long war, but there was one main source or reason of conflict that drove it to last so long, it seemed endless. Paris, a Trojan prince, was promised a wife as fair as the goddess of beauty by Aphrodite herself. The particular woman she promised was already married to a Greek King by the name of Menelaus. This started not only tension between the Greeks and Trojans but also anger because they were recently married.Helen should have returned to the Greeks for a few reasons that could have led to a shorter war, or even no war.First off, Greek King Menelaus is her rightfully wedded husband. The war would have been totally prevented if a couple of decisions were better made. Finally, she never really was in love with Paris. It was all manipulated by Aphrodite.

    Read More

  • Aphrodite

    2164 Words  | 5 Pages

    HEPHAESTUS AND APHRODITE APHRODITE Aphrodite is one of the most famous figures of Greek mythology. Because Aphrodite was the Greek goddess of love, beauty, and sexual rapture,1 she was desired by. nearly all of the Greek gods. Aphrodite was one of the twelve main gods on Mt. Olympus,2 and she was the most powerful goddess when it came to members of the opposite sex of the sex.

    Read More

  • Aphrodite and Demeter

    1488 Words  | 3 Pages

    Aphrodite was one of the nine that were known as the Great Goddesses, “an awful and lovely goddess,” according to Hesiod (Theogony), born of the foam that ensued when Kronos cut off Uranos’ genitals and they fell into the sea. She first walked ashore in Cyprus, and was welcomed by the Seasons (Hours):

    Read More

  • A Comparison of Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite

    2587 Words  | 6 Pages

    She places in people the desire to have sexual relations and causes fear in men of the power of seduction by women. Her marriage to her husband was ignored as she had affairs with immortal and mortal men. Her infidelity in her marriage places her on the side with Greek men, rather than Greek women because only Greek men were able to cheat on their wives; not the other way around. In conclusion, the three important rules discussed in this paper that Greek women were required to obey, can be seen in the myths of the goddesses Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. Whether or not the Greek goddesses obeyed or did not obey these rules, their importance to the Greek culture is ever strong.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Athena And Aphrodite

    1450 Words  | 3 Pages

    Aphrodite and Athena were both great powerful women who were revered as goddesses in greek mythology. They both were greatly worshipped, however due to their distinct personality traits they were worshipped and spoken about and very different ways. Both goddesses are immortal and female, and both seem to distinguish the incongruous gender roles between men and women throughout ancient Greece. What makes these two goddesses interesting, however, is their differences, which will determine how they will be reflected in myth. On one hand you have Athena, the androgynous goddess of war and wisdom. On the other you have Aphrodite, the goddess of love and sexuality. During this time, even among the immortals, women were seen as inferior and less

    Read More

  • Troy vs. The Iliad

    1372 Words  | 3 Pages

    The suspected start of the war- over the abduction of Helen, Queen of Sparta- was caused entirely by a godly conflict over who was the most beautiful- Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. Paris, son of King Priam of Troy, was selected to judge. He chose Aphro...

    Read More

  • Comparing Homer And Hesiod

    837 Words  | 2 Pages

    The goddesses such as Hera, Thetis and Athene are strong, powerful, and elegant. Aside from powerful, in Iliad the goddess Hera represents a nurturing and motherly side, and Homer writes, “I have come down to stay your anger but will you obey me? from the sky; and the goddess of the white arms Hera sent me, who loves both of you equally in her heart and cares for you” (7). In the Odyssey we have the two goddesses, Calypso and Circe whom Odysseus has extended affairs with and they are beautiful and embraced sexuality. Calypso had an egocentric and dominative character because she wanted Odysseus as her immortal husband (Bauschatz, 22). Women gods in the Odyssey and Iliad are elegant, strong, and wise while mortal women are property and subordinate as written in Hesiod’s Works and

    Read More

  • Blind Faith Exposed in The Victim of Aulis

    1004 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Greek gods were not only intimately involved in the action of the Trojan War, they were also the impetus for the war. Although the overt cause of the war was Paris' abduction of Helen, this act was the result of quarrelling goddesses. The Trojan prince Paris was forced to choose the fairest amongst the goddesses Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena. Each goddess attempted to sway Paris with offerings, and Aphrodite's temptation was Helen; this leads to the war and the immortal alliances that overshadow its mortal activities. The story that the poem implicitly addresses is of the Achaen king Agamemnon and his daughter Iphigenia. The Achaen forces have gathered at Aulis before mounting their attack on Troy when one of Artemis' stags is killed; this, coupled with Agamemnon's boasting of the act, is why "Artemis is offended" (51). In retaliation, the goddess imprisons the troops at Aulis by preventing the wind from powering their fleet. In order to appease the goddess and begin the war, Agamemnon sacrifices his own daughter Iphigenia as "the child" who will become "the victim of Aulis." Although Artemis intervenes and makes Iphigenia one of her priestesses, only the goddess knows that Iphigenia escaped death.

    Read More

  • Aphrodite. Then and Now

    580 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is said that the Grecians were the first people responsible for giving life to god and goddesses that looked like actual human beings. They made beautiful men and women. They made people with humor and dignity, as well as animals, including monsters (Daly). All of their gods and goddesses had rare capabilities, but there was one who was very distinctive and was loved by many gods and mortals. We all know her as the goddess of love, beauty, femininity and sexuality. Her name, Aphrodite.

    Read More

  • The True Nature Of Man And Gods In Homer's The Iliad

    1083 Words  | 3 Pages

    The gods in power, like Zeus, exhibit bias, dishonor, betrayal, deception, and many other humanly characteristics. One memorable scene is when Zeus and Poseidon are in conflict with each other over the Achaens versus the Trojans. Zeus controls the battle by “lifting the famous runner Achilles’ glory higher,” (Homer 13: 404). Zeus plays both sides in this scene, acting like a double agent which is dishonorable. Zeus’s bias is prevalent throughout the poem; specifically, he is “bent on wiping out the Argives, down to the last man,” (Homer 12: 81-82). Just like mortals such as Agamemnon and Achilles view each other with suspicion and intolerance, the gods experience identical emotions of wariness, anger, and irritation. This human-like behavior is not restricted to Zeus. Later in the text, Hera lies to Aphrodite to use her powers to manipulate her own husband Zeus. If one looks at Hera as a heavenly entity, her reaction may not make sense, but when it is viewed as a manifestation of human emotion, it become almost reasonable. Her scheming response to Zeus’s meddling with the war is spurred by her support for the Trojans. Hera’s manipulation and Aphrodite’s ego don’t stand alone as examples of this divine humanity. These instances suggest that the deities are being presented in this unique way to help explain behavior of the humans in The

    Read More

  • Women In The Iliad

    703 Words  | 2 Pages

    Along side with Hera and Poseiden, Athena tended to help the Greek side during the war. With the help from others Athena comes up with the idea of a Trojan horse and that the warriors hide inside the horse and that the horse would be brought into the city and given as a gift. A Classics website states that “The Trojan Horse The latter, a worthy son of his father, slays the a last ally of the Trojans, the Eurypylus, the brave son of Telephus; and Philoctetes, with one of the arrows of Heracles, kills Paris. Even when the last condition of the capture of Troy, the removal of a small statue of Athena, called the Palladium, from the temple of Athena on the citadel, has been successfully fulfilled by Diomedes and Odysseus, the town can only be taken by treachery. On the advice of Athena, Epeius, son of Panopeus, builds a gigantic wooden horse, in the belly of which the bravest Greek warriors conceal themselves under the direction of Odysseus.” In all Athena in the Illiad shows the many roles that she seems to display thoughout the books.Athena goes from the typical goddess to the women that is on the battle field provocking someone kill someone with an

    Read More

  • The Nature of Love Explored in Plato’s Symposium

    1231 Words  | 3 Pages

    The speech by Pausanius in Plato’s Symposium divides the goddess Aphrodite into two beings, each responsible for a different aspect of love. To prove the existence of her double life he cites her creation. There are two versions of the birth of Aphrodite, one coming from Hesiod’s work, Theogony, where she is borne out of Uranus’ castrated genitals as they splash into the sea; the other is from Homer’s work, the Illiad, where she is said to be the daughter of Zeus and Dione. (Notes on Plato’s Symposium 180e) From these two vastly different creations she takes on two vastly different forms. Pausanius describes one of her forms as “Celestial” love. This type of love springs out of the Aphrodite created from Uranus’ genitals. This form is “wholly male” (Symposium 180c) which inspires men to be a...

    Read More

  • Prometheus And Humanity

    1520 Words  | 4 Pages

    It is the underlying theme in works of Greek literature. Mortals became tools of the gods when convenient. The affairs of men were not always at the will of the gods however, in certain instances, the agenda of the gods permitted involvement in the human domain. By mating with mortals, the Olympian gods could produce children who be loyal to themselves and would be stronger and better than ordinary mortals. Hemitheoi, or demi-gods, were the fourth generation of humankind; the heroes of myth, the ones who fought at Troy or killed immortal beasts in order to save another (Zaidman 25). Homer’s epic the Iliad describes the last two weeks of the ten-year battle between the Trojans and the Greeks that has become known historically as the Trojan War. While the poem primarily focuses on the conflict between Achilles and Agamemnon, the use of several Greek gods displaced the purity of the war involvements change the pace of the battle. The story of the Trojan War begins with the story of the apple of discord, the Golden Apple. Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite each believed that they deserved this apple, by virtue of being the most beautiful. Since the goddess could not decide among themselves and Zeus was not willing to suffer the wrath of the females in his family, the goddess appealed to Paris, Prince of Troy. When asked to judge

    Read More

  • Divine Intervention In The Iliad Essay

    798 Words  | 2 Pages

    The role of Artemis, however, seems minimal when compared to that of her twin brother, Apollo. Apollo was constantly intervening in the mortal war in favor of Troy. Responsible for sending the plague to the Greek camps, Apollo was the first divine entity to appear in The Iliad. Aphrodite, who was chosen by Paris as the fairest, obviously sided with the Trojans, as well. Although she played a fairly minor role during the course of battle, she did successfully convince Ares, the god of war, to help the Trojans.

    Read More

More about Hera and Aphrodite

Open Document