Love of the Gods (aphrodite essay)
When it comes to love stories in mythology, most people assume that the god Eros (also known as Cupid) and the goddess Aphrodite (also known as Venus) are behind the stories. However, most of the stories barely involve Eros and Aphrodite in their stories. There are more gods besides Eros and Aphrodite that help symbolize love by their actions in the stories of love. Even though Aphrodite and Eros are the main deities associated with love, several of the other Olympian gods are also agents of love.
In the story of Ceyx and Alcyone, the goddess Hera played an important part in the love story between these two. After the death of Ceyx, Alcyone continued to pray to Hera for the safe return of her beloved husband even after his death. Hera being the goddess of marriage took pity on Alcyone and granted her closure. Alcyone was a good wife and worshipped all the ideals of marriage that Hera stands for. Because of this, Hera shows how she is an agent of love. Marriage is a form of showing the love that the partners have for one another. Since Hera represents marriage, Hera can be seen as an embodiment of love as seen by the two partners who are married to each other. However, when it comes to love, closure can sometimes be a good thing. Closure was the only thing that could ease Alcyone’s mind about what happened to her beloved and Hera was able to grant this to Alcyone for the love that she has for the marriage that Ceyx and Alcyone have. Hera shows that even though she is the goddess of marriage, her role can represent love through marriage between two people as shown with Ceyx and Alcyone and by bringing closure to Alcyone and knowing that their bond as husband and wife will not end on a bad note.
Another god that can be seen as an agent of love is none other that Zeus, the god of hospitality. Hospitality is how someone treats a guest/s when visiting his or her homes. Usually hospitality can be treated as a symbol of love or gratitude shown to the guest by how their host treated them or how the guest treated the host. In the story of Baucis and Philemon, Zeus honored the lovers by granting them as priests of his temple and by letting them die together. Zeus went a step further and when the old couple finally was of old age, instead of dying; the old man was turned into oak and the old woman into linden. They will forever grow together in honor of the great love they had for each other. This honor that was bestowed upon Baucis and Philemon was all because of the way they treated Zeus as a guest and received him into his home when everyone else wouldn’t even bother to look at him. It was because of their hospitality towards Zeus that Zeus treasured them and honored their love. This shows how hospitality can represent love between a host and a guest. If a guest is shown with good hospitality, he could repay the host’s kindness in any way possible. The code of hospitality and Zeus being the god of hospitality allows Zeus to be an agent of love by honoring Baucis and Philemon love for each other as their reward.
Love doesn’t have to be symbolized by marriage or being in a relationship with another. Love can be shown between good friends and followers. In the story of Hyacinthus, there was great love shown between Apollo and Hyacinthus even though they were close friends. When Hyacinthus dies, Apollo mourns greatly over his close friend because of the love he had for Hyacinthus. It was because of this love that Apollo had for Hyacinthus that he honored Hyacinthus by inscribing the petals of the flower that grew after Hyacinthus blood stained the grass. Apollo is an agent of love because of the love he had for his good friend Hyacinthus. Apollo honored this love by naming the flower after Hyacinthus, making every one know the love he had for Hyacinthus. In the story of Alpheus and Arethusa, Arethusa is a good follower of Artemis, the goddess of hunting. Arethusa worshipped Artemis and loved everything that Artemis does. Artemis is shown as an agent of love when she transforms Arethusa into a spring before Alpheus assaults her. It was out of her love that Artemis had for Arethusa for being a good follower that led her to transform Arethusa into a spring on her own sacred island. However, this did lead to the waters of Arethusa and Alpheus to converge together, even though she transformed Arethusa for being a good follower of hers.
In the stories of love, many gods besides Aphrodite and Eros are involved. Hera is involved because of her association with marriage, Zeus with his association with hospitality and Apollo and his sister Artemis because of their love for their followers of friends are just a few examples of how gods besides Eros and Aphrodite are involved. This shows that many other gods can be agents of love besides Eros and Aphrodite.