Jump to content

Classical Mythology/Reading/Hesiod Theogony 190-206

From Wikiversity

And so soon as Kronos had cut off Ouranos's testicles with flint and cast them from the land into the surging sea, they were swept away over the ocean a long time: and a white foam spread around them from the immortal flesh, and in it there grew a maiden.

First she drew near holy Cythera, and from there, afterwards, she came to sea-girt Cyprus, and came forth an awful and lovely goddess, and grass grew up about her beneath her shapely feet. Her gods and men call Aphrodite, and the foam-born goddess and rich-crowned Cytherea, because she grew amid the foam, and Cytherea because she reached Cythera, and Cyprogenes because she was born in billowy Cyprus, and Philommedes[1] because she sprang from testicles.

And with her went Eros, and comely Desire followed her at her birth at the first and as she went into the assembly of the gods. This honor she has from the beginning, and this is the portion allotted to her amongst men and undying gods, -- the whisperings of maidens and smiles and deceits with sweet delight and love and graciousness.

Hesiod, Theogony 155-190

  1. Philommedes in Greek means "fond of genitals"