GODDESS OF LOVE

by Geoffrey Grigson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 1977

Make no mistake: this book is about Aphrodite, not Venus. Geoffrey Grigson believes the true goddess of love was the Greek original, not her Roman counterpart (a mere shadow), and he here presents a lively record in words and pictures of her reputation and representations in antiquity--with a few remarks on how she has come down to us. Her prototype was the bulbous fertility figure of prehistoric times, but her cultural ascendancy began only with her fabled rise from the sea on Cyprus and entrance into Greek mythology. There she brought love, and this was not austere devotion or divine illumination; it was passion. Grigson insists on it: to the Greeks, Aphrodite was not ""that rather chill giantess"" produced for the Romans and later discovered and prized by the Victorians--the ""more matronly than erotic"" Venus de Milo. No, the Greeks saw in Aphrodite a symbol of lust, energy, and creation, and Grigson surveys her influence throughout Greek myth and art, identifying the sacred beings she affected (Adonis, Hermes, Hephaisros, Eros, Priapus) and her many attributes in art (the sea, the shell, the dolphin, birds). Altogether, Grigson has, with passion, compiled a catalogue of the imagery of love in antiquity. And he concludes with the hope that, after centuries of disguise and abuse, Aphrodite has finally, in the 20th century, shaken off her solemn masks and sentimental detractors to be embraced for all her ""dangers, rewards, and beauty.

Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1977

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Stein & Day

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1977

Categories: NONFICTION