LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Aphrodite
built 635 days ago
The oriental Aphrodite is connected with the lower world, and came to be looked upon as one of its divinities. Thus, Ishtar descends to the kingdom of Ilat the queen of the dead, to find the means of restoring her favourite Tammuz (Adon, Adonis) to life. During her stay all animal and vegetable productivity ceases, to begin again with her return to earth - a clear indication of the conception of her as a goddess of fertility. This legend, which strikingly resembles that of Persephone, probably refers to the decay of vegetation in winter, and the reawakening of nature in spring (cf. Hyacinthus). The lunar theory connects it with the disappearance of the moon at the time of change or during an eclipse.
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The original Aphrodite was not just a sexual being. She was maiden/mother/crone. According to Nor Hall, "Aphrodite, who is called the Emerging One, renewed her virginity every morning by bathing in the sea of Paphos. Before every love she was a maiden. How is it that a woman makes herself a maiden again?... Only when a woman has been split in two can she know what it is to be whole." According to Barbara Walker, Aphrodite's "birth-giving and death-giving aspects have been suppressed, but they were equally important in her cult." Aphrodite was considered Queen of Shades along with Persephone/Proserpine, and in Roman times death was considered the culmination of a sexual union, "a final act of the sacred marriage promised by the religion of Venus." (Walker) During the Elizabethan era, "to die" was a common metaphor for the sexual orgasm.
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According to the cosmogonic views of the nature of Aphrodite, she was the personification of the generative powers of nature, and the mother of all living beings. A trace of this notion seems to be contained in the tradition that in the contest of Typhon with the gods, Aphrodite metamorphosed herself into a fish, which animal was considered to possess the greatest generative powers. (Ov. Met. v. 318, &c.; comp. Hygin. Poet.
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Aphrodite helps Hippomenes to win a footrace against Atalanta to win Atalanta's hand in marriage, giving him three golden apples to distract her with. However, when the couple fails to thank Aphrodite, she turns them into lions.
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Aphrodite (formerly called Opensource User Interface) got its start after Mozilla released the first Modern theme and developers submitted their opinions to the different Mozilla newsgroups. One developer, Jeff Campbell, took the ideas that were being discussed and used them as a basis for creating a mockup of what he thought would be a better skin. At that point, Pete Collins took the mockup and built it into a working skin for Mozilla.
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At the very moment Pygmalion stepped away from the finished sculpture Aphrodite appeared and told him to choose his bride. Pygmalion chose the statue. Aphrodite told him that could not be, and asked him again to pick a bride. Pygmalion put his arms around the statue, and asked Aphrodite to turn him into a statue so he could be with her. Aphrodite took pity on him and brought the statue to life instead.
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Aphrodite