Worshipping Aphrodite

Thanks to the Venus di Milo and Botticelli we are left with a picture of Aphrodite as a nude, alluring, though armless female figure emerging from the sea in a shell. Putting puns and poetics aside, this study reassesses the role of Aphrodite in the social, political and religious life of Classical Athens. Rachel Rosenzweig's examination of Aphrodite's appearance in Athens, at shrines, in gardens, at weddings and births, accords her a much more prominent level of importance than previously noted. This importance takes its most notable form in relation to unification, whether in marriage or in sex and birth, as Rosenzweig paints her as a goddess for the people who oversaw the welfare and well-being of the people.