There is a story in Greek mythology that the blind prophet Tiresias spent seven years as a woman. One day, when Zeus and Hera get into an argument about whether men or women experience more pleasure during sex, they call on Tiresias. As the only entity mortal or divine who has been both a sexually active man and woman, he is, they figure, best situated to settle the dispute. Tiresias answers unequivocally that women experience ten times more pleasure in sex than men. Zeus wins the argument and, presumably, heads off to find another mortal woman to rape. This story has always seemed ludicrous to me, not least because my own sexual histor y and that of many of my female friends is plagued by the orgasm gap. I have always thought that the most interesting thing that this story shows is that people men in the ancient world were just as interested as we are today in understanding the experience of the opposite sex and comparing it to their own experience. Today, we hear that the clitoris has twice as many nerve endings as the head of the penis , that female orgasms last longer than male orgasms , and that women can be multi-orgasmic , experiencing orgasm after orgasm with no refractory period. In the modern world, just like the ancient world, all these statistics apparently add up to women experiencing more pleasure in sex than me n. Ten times more pleasure?
The Body in Question
An Online Resource for the Study of Women in the Ancient World
Aphrodite is the Goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, passion and procreation. Her major symbols include myrtles, roses, doves, sparrows, and swans. She was born near the island of Cyprus, after Cronus cut off his father, Uranus' genitals and threw them into the sea, and from the aphros sea foam arose Aphrodite. Zeus hastily married Aphrodite to Hephaestus the god of blacksmiths and metalworking in order to prevent the other gods from fighting over her. Or possibly, Hephaestus gave his mother Hera a golden throne, but when she sat on it, she was trapped and he refused to let her go until she agreed to give him Aphrodite's hand in marriage. Hephaestus was overjoyed to be married to the goddess of beauty and forged her beautiful jewelry. After forced into marrying Hephaestus, Aphrodite was frequently unfaithful to him, with many lovers. Aphrodite and Ares became lovers during The Trojan War. The sun-god Helios saw Aphrodite and Ares having sex in Hephaestus's bed and warned Hephaestus, who fashioned a net of gold.
Aphrodite was the goddess of love and sex, and the patron deity of sex workers
Aphrodite was an erotic, sexual and persuasive deity who can also be identified as her roman version, Venus. Her general persona as a goddess was that of a sexual and seductive nature. She was an emblem of what women wanted to be, and how they wanted to be perceived by men.
Aphrodite was the ancient Greek goddess of love, sex, desire, and beauty, and one of the 12 gods of Olympus, alongside Zeus , Athena , and Hermes. In Roman mythology, she was known as Venus. Aphrodite easily seduced those around her because she was gorgeous, and both men and women worshipped her. However, Aphrodite was also very vain, and was jealous of mortals and other goddesses who also happened to be good looking. Aphrodite took revenge against those who crossed her, and she had dalliances with many mortals and gods even though she was married. She was the inspiration behind some of the world's most famous pieces of art, and she was partially responsible for staring a major war in Greek mythology. Aphrodite may have been beautiful, but you didn't want to mess with her. Check out some interesting facts about one of Greek mythology's most famous figures. If there's one goddess from Greek mythology that oozes love and sexuality, it's Aphrodite.
