Aphrodite in the Titanomachy

December 21, 2022 11:12 PM

While reading Stephen Fry's Mythos, I found an odd claim about the Titan War. Looking for confirmation. More details inside.

Some versions of Aphrodite's legend have her being born before the other Olympians (i.e. the Ouranos story, rather than the Dione story). Despite this, no rendition of the Titanomachy (that I know of) has mentioned what Aphrodite was doing during that time, even though she was ostensibly there to see it--they all focus solely on the six children of Cronus and Rhea.

The Stephen Fry book that I read was, um, known for taking creative liberties, to say the least. But it seemed to imply that Aphrodite had been taken prisoner by the six "primary" Olympians during the war years, and then somehow... ingratiated herself into being a full-fledged member? Plausible, I guess, but not a claim I've ever seen anywhere else. Do you know of any primary sources that talk about what she was doing during that era, and/or how she came to join the pantheon? Have you ever encountered this version before?

posted by queen anne's remorse to Religion & Philosophy (3 answers total)

Best answer: Greek mythology is not consistent or coherent, especially where it overlaps with other cultures' myths (Aphrodite is prrrrobably Astarte/Ashteroth, and thus prrrrrobably Ishtar). One cannot expect a fully worked out canon. I've never heard Fry's version. It's certainly not in Hesiod, who is our main source for the blood-and-semen Aphrodite origin story.
posted by praemunire at 2:09 PM on December 22, 2022 [3 favorites]

Best answer: FWIW I checked three sources that catalog classical sources without reconciling them into unified narratives: theoi.com, Gantz, and Boccaccio. They said basically what you said. Theoi.com did mention Strabo placing Aphrodite at the war of the giants, and Wikipedia pointed out that's sometimes conflated with the Titanomachy--maybe something like that happened here too.
posted by Wobbuffet at 2:38 PM on December 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

Best answer: it seemed to imply that Aphrodite had been taken prisoner by the six "primary" Olympians during the war years, and then somehow... ingratiated herself into being a full-fledged member? ... Do you know of any primary sources that talk about ... how she came to join the pantheon?

Oh, I guess there's at least one direct answer to your final question: Homeric Hymn 6: To Aphrodite, in which the Horai welcome Aphrodite in Cyprus and take her to the other gods, who also welcome her. Gantz does mention this in the chapter on the Titanomachy in a paragraph really about the Horai, not Aphrodite, and without drawing any connection between Aphrodite and the Titanomachy. The relevant parts of Mythos that I found searching the Amazon preview don't seem warranted by either source, but it seems likely that's more what Fry had in mind than Strabo.
posted by Wobbuffet at 10:03 PM on December 22, 2022