Aphrodite

A third Greek deity, Aphrodite, enjoyed prominence in Alexandria, probably owing to the patronage of the Lagid queens. Since she was associated with Arsinoe II, Aphrodite must have had several temples in Alexandria and the surrounding area. One, on Cape Zephyrion between Alexandria and Canopus, was dedicated to Arsinoe Aphrodite Zephyritis. A remarkable statue has recently been discovered in the course of the underwater excavations in the Canopus-Heraklion area, and can be seen in the new Library of Alexandria Museum. It portrays the goddess’s birth as she rises from the waters, with her wet drapery revealing the elegant shape of her body. The festivals commemorating the annual return of Adonis were celebrated at Alexandria on the initiative of Arsinoe II. The women of Alexandria went to the palace to view the pictures of Aphrodite and Adonis set out on an extraordinarily luxurious couch, surrounded by flowers and the ephemeral pots of plants known as the ‘‘gardens of Adonis.’’ On the final day of the festival the women went at dawn to the seashore, where they performed a ritual of mourning to mark Adonis’ departure as he returned to the underworld, and to mark the grief of the goddess (Theocritus, Idylls 15.96144). We know from a fragment of Callixenus (Athenaeus 203e-206c; Rice 1983:196) that there was a circular temple (tholoeides) dedicated to Aphrodite on the sumptuous boat that Ptolemy IV built himself for cruising on the Nile. Inside was a marble statue of the goddess. The cult was still favored by the royal family in the second and first centuries BC: a temple was dedicated to Aphrodite Hathor at Philae by Ptolemy VIII and the two Cleopatras (OGIS 142). Cleopatra VII, in her turn, took on the guise of the goddess when she staged her meeting with Mark Antony at Tarsus (Plutarch, Antony 26-7).

Evidence for private devotion to Aphrodite is rarer. However, a dedication from the middle of the third century BC to Sarapis Dionysos and Isis Aphrodite, originating in Alexandria, has been discovered at Abu el-Matamir (near lake Mariut; SB 5863), and in the second century BC there was a cult association dedicated to the goddess at Alexandria. Furthermore, her image was widespread in the form of statuettes modeled on fine statuary and in molded terracotta figurines (examples are very numerous), which remained extremely popular until the Roman period (Dunand 1990). All these images must have belonged to the decoration of Alexandrian houses. A statuette of Aphrodite is often mentioned in legal papyri as forming part of a young woman’s dowry (Burkhalter 1990).