In this story the character, as well as the name, of the queen
is that of the ancient goddess; but there are other points too
deserving of notice. Perrot points out that in the neighbourhood of
the modern monastery at Daphni there stood in antiquity a temple
of Aphrodite[256]; and to this fact Schmidt[257], in commenting on
the story, adds that on the summit of Acro-Corinth also there was a
sanctuary of the goddess[258], while he accounts for the mention of
that place in an Attic story by the fact that Corinth was specially
famous for the worship of Aphrodite.
No other vestiges of the actual name, so far as I know, are to be
found, save that among certain Maniote settlers in Corsica the corrupt
derivative, Ἀφροδήτησσα[259] (which would perhaps be better spelt
Ἀφροδίτισσα) was until recent times at any rate applied to an equally
corrupt class of women, votaries of Ἀφροδίτη Πάνδημος. In a few stories
however from Zacynthos[260] the same goddess is prettily described as ἡ
μάνα τοῦ Ἔρωτα[261], ‘the Mother of Love,’ a title competent in itself
to establish her identity.
The first of these stories tells how a poor maiden fell in love with a
youth of high degree, and went to the Mother of Love to ask her help.
The latter promised to ask the assistance of her son Eros (Ἔρωτας) when
he came home. Next morning went Eros with bow and arrows and sat at the
maiden’s door till the swain passed by. Then suddenly he shot his arrow
at him, and the young man loved the maiden and took her to wife.
Another yet more remarkable story introduces us to the garden of Eros,
whither a prince once went to fetch water to cure the blindness of
the king, his father. ‘There at the entrance he beheld a woman that
was the fairest upon earth; she sat at the gate and played with a boy
who had wings and in his hand held a bow and many arrows. The garden
was full of roses, and over them hovered many little winged boys like
butterflies. In the midst of this garden was a spring, whence the
healing water flowed. As the king’s son drew near to this spring, he
espied therein a woman white as snow and shining as the moon; and it
was in very truth the moon that bathed there. Beside the spring sat a
second woman of exceeding beauty who was the Mother of Eros (ἡ μάνα τοῦ
Ἔρωτα).’ She gave him the water and her blessing, and his father was
healed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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