The Worship of Aphrodite in Miletos

Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of physical love, is one of the few deities that is extraordinarily well known throughout the world. To the general public she was the beautiful Greek goddess who was the cause of the Trojan War and had dozens of mortal lovers. However, in recent decades scholars have determined that Aphrodite was in fact a Mesopotamian goddess brought to Greece by way of Anatolia (Modern day Turkey) who was better known as Astarte, Ishtar or Inanna.

In 1989, excavations in Turkey unearthed the remains of a sanctuary to Aphrodite at Zeytintepe, a low hill immediately adjoining the metropolis of Miletos. Before this discovery of this temple, the earliest reference to her worship in Miletos and her colonies was an inscription dating to the 3rd century BCE where she was called Aphrodite Ourania. Scholars found that evidence for her worship was abundant during the Classical period but earlier evidence was sorely lacking. However, the discovery of the temple confirmed that Aphrodite had been worshipped during the archaic period.

Although known primarily as the goddess of physical love (her son Eros as the god of romantic love), Aphrodite had a strong sea connection which we can see by her epitaphs found at Miletos and her colonies. These included Eupoia (‘good sailing’), Pontike (‘of the open sea’), Nauarchis (‘mistress, or guardian, of ships’), Aphrogenia (‘foam-born’) and Ourania (‘celestial’). It is easy to see Aphrodite as a fertility goddess but even during the centuries of Greek worship she never lost the marine aspect of her character – she was constantly depicted with sea creatures around her.

It was this aspect of her character, the marine element, which was worshipped in this location. In Mesopotamia, where the goddess was more widely recognised as Astarte, Ishtar or Inanna (the Sumerians, Babylonians and Akkadians all had their own names for this goddess), she was known as the protector of seafarers.

The destruction of the temple is believed to have occurred in 494 BCE when Miletos was sacked by the Persian army. The temple was thoroughly destroyed, making it extremely difficult for scholars to make a detailed architectural reconstruction of the building.

The excavation of the temple of Miletos is of great importance to scholars. The information gathered at Miletos and her colonies shows that Aphrodite was worshipped as a sea goddess rather than a fertility goddess. It also shows that her epitaphs and her cults were adopted and adapted to suit local practices.

Bibliography:

Greaves, Alan M. (2004) The Cult of Aphrodite in Miletos and Its Colonies, Anatolian Studies, British Institute at Ankara.

The History and Significance of the goddess Benten

Japanese mythology is full of interesting deities; for the scholar it can be somewhat difficult to unravel the ties between Shinto, the native religion of Japan, and the Indian gods that travelled with Buddhism to the country during the sixth century CE.

One of the most interesting goddesses in the Shinto pantheon is Benten, who is also known as Benzai-ten. She was a sea-goddess, a goddess of music and one of the seven Shinto deities of good fortune known as the Shichi Fukujin.

The Shichi Fukujin was a group of seven deities that were assembled sometime during the 17th century CE by a monk; it was his intention to present them as a symbol of all the virtues that a man of his time should inspire to.

Benten can be compared to that of the ancient Greek goddess Aphrodite and the Hindu Sarasvati, in that she was known as the Queen of Love. She is believed to help humans in acquiring material gains and to bring good fortune in marriage. Benten is also the patron of geishas and worshipped by gamblers and jealous women. As well as this, she is the goddess of oratory, happy wisdom, longevity, freedom from harm, and victory. The island of Enoshima is sacred to her and, according to the noh drama Chikubushima, is where the goddess resides.

According to mythology, Benten was said to have descended to earth where she met and married a dragon in order to stop him eating young children. Because of this, she is sometimes depicted as riding a dragon in art.

Another legend tells of how the goddess helped the young poet Baishu. He had found a poem written by a maiden and had fallen in love with her, despite never having seen what she looked like. Praying to the goddess for help, Benten arranged for the young poet and the girl to meet outside the shrine. Later, it turned out that the young girl Baishu had fallen in love with was actually the soul of the women he later met and married.

In art, Benten is sometimes shown with snakes. Some statues of her reveal eight arms, six of these which are raised and the hands holding different objects. These include a bow and arrow and two hands are folded in prayer.

Bibliography:

Shokyu, Arii and Sato, Hiroaki (2002) Record of an Autumn Wind: The Travel Diary of Arii Shokya, Monumenta Nipponica.