Aphrodite and Ares child

[Eowyn]

What's his/her's name? I got two sources: one says that she is a girl and her name is Harmonia and the other says he's a boy and his name is Eror or something but in the roman mythology he is called Amor.

Im confused so please tell me

[Ben Trismegistus]

Are you thinking of Eros?

[Eowyn]

Yupp. That was the name... So which one is it?

[Athena-Nadine]

His name is Eros. He is the Greek god of Love and Desire. To the Romans, he is named Cupid or Amor. Here is some information on him:


http://www.loggia.com/myth/eros.html

There are two popular but very different versions of the birth of this important god. According to the Greek poet Hesiod, Eros was one of the first deities born into the world. Hesiod, in his Theogony, claims that Eros emerged from Chaos (which can be described as a sort of void) along with Gaia (the Earth) and Tartarus (the Underworld). Furthermore, the Theogony features an intriguing description of Eros:


"...and Eros, the fairest of the deathless gods;
he unstrings the limbs and subdues both mind
and sensible thought in the breasts of all gods and all men."
(Hesiod, Theogony, 120-2)

The power wielded by Eros is made clear in this passage - no one, divine or mortal, could resist his spell of enchantment. In Hesiod's version, therefore, Eros is a potent, irresistible god. However, there is one other significant variation in myth about the birth of Eros. According to some sources, Eros was the son of the goddess Aphrodite (http://www.loggia.com/myth/aphrodite.html) (occasionally, it is claimed that he is the child of both Aphrodite and Ares (http://www.loggia.com/myth/ares.html)). As Aphrodite's son, Eros loses a bit of his power and prestige and becomes more of a companion (or accomplice) to the goddess of love and desire. This could be one possible explanation for why Eros, over the centuries, is transformed in myth and art from a handsome young man to a chubby mischievous child. (For a myth about Eros, see the story of his relationship with Psyche (http://www.loggia.com/myth/psyche.html)).The story of Psyche and Eros:

http://www.loggia.com/myth/psyche.html

Anyway, the answer to your question is a qualified both. Ares and Aphrodite had a number of children. Aphrodite is married to Hephaistos, but had numerous affairs.

Harmonia was the daughter of Aphrodite and Ares, the sister to Deimos and Phobos (who accompany Ares on the battlefield), and the mother of Semele, Ino, Agave, and Autonoë.

http://www.loggia.com/myth/harmonia.html

Eros is an older god that many believe was around long before the Olympians, and others believe is the son of Ares and Aphrodite.

Edited for hitting Submit too soon.

[Eowyn]

Oh! Thank you so much! I just thought that they had one kid... It was what it said in one site..

[Athena-Nadine]

*...smiles...* You're quite welcome. Ares and Aphrodite had three confirmed children which I named above--Harmonia, Deimos, and Phobos, whose names translate into Harmony, Fear and Panic. Eros is considered by some to be Aphrodite's son as well, but sometimes he is just Her son, and sometimes considered the son of Them both. However, like I said before, he is an older god, and most credible sources will tell you that he has been around longer than the Olympians.

Harmonia wasn't considered a goddess. She married Cadmus in a great ceremony, and lived her ilfe as a mortal wife and mother, bearing three children to Cadmus. Semele, one of her daughters, is the mother of Dionysos.

[Mnemosyne]

True, Nallia! Some sources say that Eros is a much older god. For example, I believe that Hesiod says that Eros was born from Chaos. After reading loads of myth books though, I usually associate him as the son of Aphrodite.

I'm a fan of Plato's Symposium. In that work, Plato, through the dialogue of Diotima, describes Eros as a demon between man and god, and he was born from Poros (Expediency) and Penia (Poverty). Thus, he was like his parents and always busy looking for something he needs.

[Eowyn]

Okey... But how does the story about Erors being born in Chaos go?

[Kadynas]

Nallia: As far as Eros goes do you see the two instances in the myths to be referring to two separate gods or just one? Like maybe Eros/Cupid was a later "version" of the original one? I for one have never really seen Eros as the "chubby, baby cupid" type... Just doesn't seem dignified enough for a god! :lol:
(I'm a Wiccan who is dedicated to the Greek and Roman pantheons... I'm always interested to see what more I can learn from a Reconstructionist... :) )

[Athena-Nadine]

Forgive me for responding to you all at once, and if I seem a bit distracted. I’m writing this while working on a huge project at work, so if you need clarification of anything, please say so. :)


True, Nallia! Some sources say that Eros is a much older god. For example, I believe that Hesiod says that Eros was born from Chaos. After reading loads of myth books though, I usually associate him as the son of Aphrodite.I usually consider Him Her son as well. But then, He’s not the first Greek god to have His origins disputed. :) After all, some say Aphrodite is the daughter of Zeus, some say She is the daughter of Poseidon—which I assume to be a misinterpretation of the story of Her spontaneous birth out of sea foam, which had nothing to do with Poseidon directly—and some say She is the daughter of Ouranos.


Okey... But how does the story about Erors being born in Chaos go?There isn’t a whole lot written about Eros’ birth of Chaos. Hesiod touches it briefly, but doesn’t go into a large amount of detail (though it’s been about 15 years since I’ve read Hesiod so I may be a bit off in some of the finer details). He was just included in Hesiod’s story of creation.

Before everything there was Chaos. From Chaos sprung Gaia and Tartarus. Gaia is the Earth, and Tartarus is the Underworld (though later Tartarus was to be considered just one aspect of the Underworld—sort of the equivalent to Christians’ Hell, where people who were to be punished after death were sent; it is also where the majority of the Titans were confined when the Olympians overthrew them). Gaia then mothered Ouranos (the Sky), Who became Her consort. Gaia and Ouranos gave birth to the Titans, Who in turn gave birth to the Olympians. In Hesiod’s version, Eros is said to have sprung from Chaos along with Gaia and Tartarus, so is considered to be one of the oldest gods.

It is important to note that while Chaos is considered the Ultimate Source of Everything, it is not the same thing as the All that Pantheists are talking about. Chaos, to the Greeks, means Void. Gaia, the Titans, Olympians, and everyone and everything else are not a part of Chaos. Chaos gave birth to Gaia (much like the Big Bang) and the Universe, but They are forever separate. :)

In fact, there isn’t a whole lot written about Eros’ birth as Aphrodite’s son, either. For the most part, in the various myths that deal with Him, it was just stated as an assumed fact.


Nallia: As far as Eros goes do you see the two instances in the myths to be referring to two separate gods or just one? Like maybe Eros/Cupid was a later "version" of the original one? I for one have never really seen Eros as the "chubby, baby cupid" type... Just doesn't seem dignified enough for a god! :lol::lol:
(I'm a Wiccan who is dedicated to the Greek and Roman pantheons... I'm always interested to see what more I can learn from a Reconstructionist... :) :))The Greeks and Romans (as far as I know, but then I don’t know all that much about Roman mythology) never considered Eros or Cupid (They are two separate gods to those who practice Hellenismos or Religio Romana Who just serve similar purposes :)) to be that plump, cherubic figure people often associate Them with. You won’t see either of Them portrayed that way in any of Their myths. I’m actually not sure where that foreign (to me) concept came from, but I believe it happened sometime around the Middle Ages. Though dignity wasn’t really all that much of a requirement to the Greeks. Pan is not, and has never been, dignified. ;)

The two instances of the myths refer to the same god. The two different myths were just different interpretations by different people. With the amount of cultural and theological assimilation that went on in the Mediterranean, who can say who actually got it right?

The only separation is the fact that the Romans did not consider Cupid to be Eros with a different name. The Romans assumed a large amount of Greek culture, and some of their gods were based on the Greeks’, but They weren’t considered to be the same.

[Eowyn]

There isn’t a whole lot written about Eros’ birth of Chaos. Hesiod touches it briefly, but doesn’t go into a large amount of detail (though it’s been about 15 years since I’ve read Hesiod so I may be a bit off in some of the finer details). He was just included in Hesiod’s story of creation.

Before everything there was Chaos. From Chaos sprung Gaia and Tartarus. Gaia is the Earth, and Tartarus is the Underworld (though later Tartarus was to be considered just one aspect of the Underworld—sort of the equivalent to Christians’ Hell, where people who were to be punished after death were sent; it is also where the majority of the Titans were confined when the Olympians overthrew them). Gaia then mothered Ouranos (the Sky), Who became Her consort. Gaia and Ouranos gave birth to the Titans, Who in turn gave birth to the Olympians. In Hesiod’s version, Eros is said to have sprung from Chaos along with Gaia and Tartarus, so is considered to be one of the oldest gods.

It is important to note that while Chaos is considered the Ultimate Source of Everything, it is not the same thing as the All that Pantheists are talking about. Chaos, to the Greeks, means Void. Gaia, the Titans, Olympians, and everyone and everything else are not a part of Chaos. Chaos gave birth to Gaia (much like the Big Bang) and the Universe, but They are forever separate.

In fact, there isn’t a whole lot written about Eros’ birth as Aphrodite’s son, either. For the most part, in the various myths that deal with Him, it was just stated as an assumed fact.


Okey... Thank you.. I think I know what version I believe in... The... ehh... I haft to give it some thought

[Kadynas]

"The only separation is the fact that the Romans did not consider Cupid to be Eros with a different name. The Romans assumed a large amount of Greek culture, and some of their gods were based on the Greeks’, but They weren’t considered to be the same."

This is one thing that has always been so confusing to me... in high school when they did mythology they would tell the stories and then gave us a list of Greek and Roman deities as though it was just different names for the same god, like Zeus=Jupiter, Athena=Minerva, Venus=Aphrodite... *sigh* As I may have mentioned elsewhere, my study of astrology is pretty much what led me to my path, and astrology uses the Roman name system for the planets... Is it really a stretch to say Mars and Ares are the same deity, or should I be making a distinction? Without even paying attention to it though, when I'm communing with the deities I automatically use the Greek names and use the Roman name only for astrology, but when Mars was coming close to the earth in August, I thought to myself "Ares is coming closer"... :) Even though I'm a Wiccan and not a Reconstructionist, I am concerned with "getting it right" so to speak... I wouldn't want to inadvertantly offend one of my favorite deities by callingthem the wrong name! :lol:

[SylverStar]

Hmm, I think that they have some of the same characteristics so it's not wrong to associate the two but I believe that it is the actual Mythos/stories that are different.

[Mnemosyne]

Oohh, I just found out more info on Eros. My friend just told me last night that Eros is sometimes referred to in the plural, Erotes. Well, I just did some research on the Erotes. They are a triad of gods and the most famous of course is Eros. Well, the other two are Pothos and Himeros. I've never heard of the Erotes, so I'm excited to learn something new.

http://www.theoi.com/Kronos/Erotes.html

[Kadynas]

Coolness! I'd never heard of that either! Thanks for the link. :)

[tinuviel42]

"The only separation is the fact that the Romans did not consider Cupid to be Eros with a different name. The Romans assumed a large amount of Greek culture, and some of their gods were based on the Greeks’, but They weren’t considered to be the same."

This is one thing that has always been so confusing to me... in high school when they did mythology they would tell the stories and then gave us a list of Greek and Roman deities as though it was just different names for the same god, like Zeus=Jupiter, Athena=Minerva, Venus=Aphrodite... *sigh* As I may have mentioned elsewhere, my study of astrology is pretty much what led me to my path, and astrology uses the Roman name system for the planets... Is it really a stretch to say Mars and Ares are the same deity, or should I be making a distinction? Without even paying attention to it though, when I'm communing with the deities I automatically use the Greek names and use the Roman name only for astrology, but when Mars was coming close to the earth in August, I thought to myself "Ares is coming closer"... :) Even though I'm a Wiccan and not a Reconstructionist, I am concerned with "getting it right" so to speak... I wouldn't want to inadvertantly offend one of my favorite deities by callingthem the wrong name! :lol:

It's my understanding that the Roman's kind of grafted alot of the Greek gods onto their existing pantheon. The two biggest examples I can think of are Venus and Saturn, who came to be identified with Aphrodite and Chronos, but were actually originally much more nature/harvest oriented deities. And then there's Zeus/Jupiter. Jupiter is simply a corruption of "Zeus pater" or father Zeus, adopted more or less wholesale into the Roman pantheon.

As far as Eros/Cupid goes, I'm not sure what category he/they falls into, but I did find an interesting quote regarding the origin of Eros:
"In the infinite bosom of Erebus, Night with black wings first produced an egg without a seed. From it, in the course of the seasons, Eros was born--the desired, whose back sparkled with golden wings, Eros like swift whirlwinds. It is he who joined one night with winged Emptiness in Tartarus, hatched our race and made it appear first in the light."
--Aristophanes "The Birds"