Aphrodite Urania (Ancient Greek: Ἀφροδίτη Οὐρανία, romanized: Aphrodítē Ouranía, Latinized as Venus Urania) was an epithet of the Greek goddess Aphrodite, signifying a "heavenly" or "spiritual" aspect descended from the sky-god Ouranos to distinguish her from the more earthly epithet of Aphrodite Pandemos, "Aphrodite for all the people".[1] The two were used (mostly in literature) to differentiate the more "celestial" love of body and soul from purely physical lust. Plato represented her as a daughter of the Greek god Uranus, conceived and born without a mother.[2][3] Hesiod described this aspect as being born from the severed genitals of Uranus and emerging from the sea foam.[4]
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- ^ Schmitz, Leonhard (1870). . In Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 3. Little, Brown and Company. p. 1284.
- ^ Plato. Symposium. 180.
- ^ Xenophon. Symposium. 8 § 9.
- ^ Hesiod. Theogony. 188–206.