Ambologera

Ambologera (Ancient Greek: Ἀμβολογήρα) was a cultic epithet (term used to characterize) of the Greek goddess Aphrodite, from the Greek ἀναβάλλω and γῆρας, "delaying old age".[1] She had a statue on the acropolis at Sparta under this name,[2][3] although as there is only one surviving mention of this epithet, from Pausanias' Description of Greece, the precise nature of this cult is uncertain.[4] Some scholars have speculated that Aphrodite Ambologera was proof of Aphrodite's identification with the mandrake plant, which was thought in ancient times to have aphrodisiac powers.[5]

  1. ^ Schmitz, Leonhard (1867). "Ambologera". In William Smith (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 1. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. p. 139.
  2. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece iii. 18. § 1
  3. ^ Plutarch, Symposiacs iii. 6
  4. ^ Alroth, Brita (1994). Opus Mixtum: Essays in Ancient Art and Society. P.Åströms Förlag. pp. 47–51. ISBN 91-7042-150-1.
  5. ^ Gildersleeve, Basil Lanneau (1916). "Brief Mention". American Journal of Philology. 37. Johns Hopkins University Press: 505. Retrieved 2010-02-28.