I don’t agree with the social commentary the Greeks attached to Aphrodite, Hephaestus and Ares but I do think it’s interesting and goes against this headcannon.
Aphrodite was forcednto be in married to Hephaestus, but does not show him and love, instead she’s in a long term affair with Ares / is cuckolding Hephaestus.
Looking at Aphrodite, not as ‘a woman’s love’ but love and passion itself, what this relationship is telling us is that we pretend that love is for our crafts, or our creative passions, but really our true love is for conquest and victory. We can’t deny out competitive nature, no matter how much we pretend our nature is to create.
Again I don’t agree with that belief but it’s a great insight into ancient Greek culture and morality.
I mean the gods reflected human failures of morality and were used to explain weather phenomenon.
Zeus was a spiteful raping bastard. Because that’s what all powerful kings were. Ares was violent and arrogant. Because that’s how soldiers were. Poseidon was cruel and unforgiving. Because that’s how the ocean behaved.
So the idea that aphrodite being promiscuous also fits because if you’re a hot, sexy, beautiful woman, what’s to stop you from having affairs? Especially an affair with the highest ranking soldier there is.
I totally agree with what you say about the gods reflectiing us, however I just meant to mention that Aphrodite didn’t just have plenty of affairs, she was in love with Ares. Also despite being beautiful, she did everything in her power to avoid Hephaestus and had no children by him.
It’s that above all, her favourite lover was war (a high ranking general) and she showed distaste to her husband, a master craftsman.
If it was just about Aphrodite being promiscuous because she was beautiful, she’d have also slept with Hephaestus, what we learn from her distaste for him is that the storytellers who popularised these myths believed that being a great general garnered love while being a great craftsman did not. But also Aphrodite and Hephaestus being married shows the pretense of love between passion and craft, that is really false in the eyes of the storyteller as it’s a loveless marriage.
I believe I got this interpretation from Mythos by Steven Fry but honestly I may have picked it up from some random corner of the internet with no credibility.
And see I see her aversion to Hephaestus as being the typical aversion of beautiful people to ugly people.
Regardless of modern ideologies on the topic it’s a pretty known thing that a supermodel isn’t going to be having sex with a troglodyte. You’re not gonna find the most beautiful woman in the known universe in a sexual relationship with a disfigured ugly blacksmith.
Which I mean kinda supports your point of war being more important than crafting. But that would also depend on which Greek city your referring to. Obviously the Spartans would put soldiers above all else, but do you think Athenians would do the same?
I don’t agree with the social commentary the Greeks attached to Aphrodite, Hephaestus and Ares but I do think it’s interesting and goes against this headcannon.
Aphrodite was forcednto be in married to Hephaestus, but does not show him and love, instead she’s in a long term affair with Ares / is cuckolding Hephaestus.
Looking at Aphrodite, not as ‘a woman’s love’ but love and passion itself, what this relationship is telling us is that we pretend that love is for our crafts, or our creative passions, but really our true love is for conquest and victory. We can’t deny out competitive nature, no matter how much we pretend our nature is to create.
Again I don’t agree with that belief but it’s a great insight into ancient Greek culture and morality.
I mean the gods reflected human failures of morality and were used to explain weather phenomenon.
Zeus was a spiteful raping bastard. Because that’s what all powerful kings were. Ares was violent and arrogant. Because that’s how soldiers were. Poseidon was cruel and unforgiving. Because that’s how the ocean behaved.
So the idea that aphrodite being promiscuous also fits because if you’re a hot, sexy, beautiful woman, what’s to stop you from having affairs? Especially an affair with the highest ranking soldier there is.
I totally agree with what you say about the gods reflectiing us, however I just meant to mention that Aphrodite didn’t just have plenty of affairs, she was in love with Ares. Also despite being beautiful, she did everything in her power to avoid Hephaestus and had no children by him.
It’s that above all, her favourite lover was war (a high ranking general) and she showed distaste to her husband, a master craftsman.
If it was just about Aphrodite being promiscuous because she was beautiful, she’d have also slept with Hephaestus, what we learn from her distaste for him is that the storytellers who popularised these myths believed that being a great general garnered love while being a great craftsman did not. But also Aphrodite and Hephaestus being married shows the pretense of love between passion and craft, that is really false in the eyes of the storyteller as it’s a loveless marriage.
I believe I got this interpretation from Mythos by Steven Fry but honestly I may have picked it up from some random corner of the internet with no credibility.
And see I see her aversion to Hephaestus as being the typical aversion of beautiful people to ugly people.
Regardless of modern ideologies on the topic it’s a pretty known thing that a supermodel isn’t going to be having sex with a troglodyte. You’re not gonna find the most beautiful woman in the known universe in a sexual relationship with a disfigured ugly blacksmith.
Which I mean kinda supports your point of war being more important than crafting. But that would also depend on which Greek city your referring to. Obviously the Spartans would put soldiers above all else, but do you think Athenians would do the same?