To the Greeks, as with my ancient cultures, religion was an important part of everyday life. Consisting of a multitude of gods and goddesses they were used to tell stories, impart knowledge and bring about cautionary tales of how life and love played out. They did this with the use of an immortal stage, where about their actors lived in a realm with less consequence for their actions but still retained figures like that of man. They also retained their emotions and actions like that of the humans they were overseeing. This allowed for the people telling and hearing the stories to better grasp the message, having it seem more relatible. Of these stories in Greek myth we get the birth of two revered female goddesses Aphrodite's and Athena. They can be described as archetypes portraying characteristics that embody humanity while trying to uphold beliefs and customs of immortals. Both of these women came into being threw unconventional births that where chronicled by the Greeks in detail. From there subsequent births the goddesses were looked at differently in Greek culture and the stories and myths surrounding them reflect the prominence that the society bestowed upon them.
             Aphrodite is the goddess of love and beauty. Later known by the Romans as Venus, she was born threw castration. This even unfolded when Cronus severed the testicles of Uranus and threw them into the ocean. From this foam in the sea formed. From that foam Aphrodite's emerged. She appears fully born into adult hood with no mention of a childhood. Coming from a tragedy and act of violence she takes on the characteristics of a damaged individual.
             Aphrodite is seen as such a beautiful woman that all men are overcome with desire for her, and lose their ability to think critically in order to obtain her as their own. In Hesiod's text "and not vainly did they fall from his hand", we see this manifest itself in Aphrodite's as she in turn is ...