By Greek tradition the fairest of the goddesses was Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. To her every lover paid his vows and every maiden prayed for charms. An old legend relates that she was born from the foam of the sea, hence the name Aphrodite, which means "foam-born." Among the Romans she was called Venus. At her birth the island of Cyprus received her.

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,—

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.

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.

We have now learned by repeated instances that the Greeks had such definite ideas of their deities that their statues were as readily recognized as if they represented actual persons. The sculptors followed types accepted by tradition as the best embodiment of the characters they stood for. So especially with Zeus, Athena, and Hera, and so again with Aphrodite. She must be supremely fair, with a beauty less austere than that of the maiden Athena, less regal than that of Hera, and more fascinating than either.

We see then at once that the beautiful figure of our illustration must be Aphrodite, or Venus. In looking at her we think, not of wisdom, or force, or power, but just of beauty. She stands resting the weight of her body on one foot, and advancing the other with knee bent. The posture causes the figure to sway slightly to one side, describing a fine curved line. The lower limbs are draped, but the upper part of the body is uncovered, and in some mysterious way the sculptor has imparted to the marble a seeming softness as of real flesh. The head is as exquisitely set as a flower on its stalk. The parted hair is drawn back in rippling waves over the low forehead.

The eyes are not very wide open, having something of a dreamy languor. "Melting eyes" are indeed characteristic of Venus, and an analytical critic has explained that this effect is produced in sculpture by a "slight elevation of the inner corner of the lower eyelid." The nose is perfectly cut, the mouth and chin are moulded in adorable curves. Yet to say that every feature is of faultless perfection is but cold praise. No analysis can convey the sense of her peerless beauty.

The statue originally stood on the Greek island of Melos, where it was discovered in 1820 in this broken state. Many wise heads have been puzzled to know the position of the missing arms. Some have thought that the goddess carried a shield, and others have fancied her holding the traditional apple. There have also been many discussions as to the date of the work. Now if the statue had been made in the fifth century B. C., the goddess would have been fully draped; if in the fourth century, entirely without drapery. Our sculptor then belonged to neither of these periods, and combined the characteristics of both. It is a fault on his part to have placed the drapery in an impossible position, whence in actual life it would immediately fall of its own weight. Yet we do not think of such criticisms when we see it. The beautiful body rising above the drapery reminds us of the myth of Aphrodite emerging from the sea foam. Her beauty is a union of strength and sweetness, a perfect embodiment of a nature at harmony with itself and its surroundings.