Here she emerged "a goddess in the charms of awful beauty." The Hours welcomed her eagerly, taking her in their arms and putting a crown of gold upon her head. As she went on her way, flowers grew in her path,—
"Where her delicate feet
Had pressed the sands, green herbage flowering sprang." [30]
[30] An account of the birth of Aphrodite is given in Hesiod's Theogony and in the Homeric Hymn to Venus, and the quotations here are drawn from both sources.
As we have already seen, there were among the Greek divinities two other goddesses besides Aphrodite specially famed for their beauty,—Athena and Hera. Tradition tells how the beauty of the three was tested. An apple was thrown into their midst inscribed "For the fairest," and a contention at once arose as to the rightful owner. Paris, the prince of Troy, being chosen arbiter, decided in favor of Aphrodite, who promised him for a wife the fairest woman in Greece, that is, Helen. [31] This was the real cause of the Trojan War, in which the Greeks sought to recover their stolen princess. Aphrodite being at the bottom of the trouble remained through the war on the Trojan side.
[31] See Tennyson's poem, Oenone.
Oddly enough the beautiful goddess was mated to the ugliest of the gods, the lame blacksmith Hephæstus (or Vulcan). At his forge were made those fateful arrows of the little god Eros (or Cupid), the mother standing by to tip their points with honey.
The power of love in human life made the ideal of Aphrodite very dear to the hearts of the Greeks. All that is most tender and sacred in this human relation was personified in her. As love ennobles the life and makes it unselfish, so, they reasoned, must Aphrodite be a grand and noble being. Again, as love glorifies the life, and brings joy into its commonest details, she must also be beautiful and laughter-loving. In short, one cannot think of any quality of love which was not reflected in the person of the glorious goddess. Temples were built in her honor, and she was worshiped in festivals and sacrificial rites. Statues of her were set up in many places, and one of the most famous which has come down to us is reproduced in our illustration.
