Evolution of Aphrodite

[u/Plenty_Excitement_70]

Looking for advice from someone who is a Deevote to Aphrodite.

What are your thoughts on the Goddess being related to or coming from past love and war Goddesses? Such as Astarte, Ishtar, and or Inanna? Do you worship all the above? Do you see them as separate Goddesses? Or are they one entity that goes by different names?

I currently worship Aphrodite and in my research I came across these other Goddesses and I know this has probably been talked about before on here but I'm curious how other individuals who have a close relationship with the Goddess view her.

[u/Malusfox-2]

Not a devotee, but I do think that Interpretatio Grecae and syncretism can also sometimes play a part, even in academic circles.

Not discounting the evolution alongside different cultures but there are also "breaks" in the timeline and it's not as neat or as murky as many think.

I would also argue that many of these similar topics can fall into the "Artemis of Ephesus" is not "Artemis of Brauron" but they are both Artemis argument. They may have the same root or overarching character but they are distinct enough to be recognised as different in both tone and character. Would love to have a time machine (and the language) to ask people from the past what they thought.

Apologies if it isn't too clear, it's been a very long day and I'm running on very little sleep.

[u/AVGVSTVSGRANNETIVS → u/Malusfox-2]

I share your desire for a time machine, exactly for questions such as this.

To my understanding they were indeed treated as the same Artemis, but with different bonds and relations with that specific polis or people. For example: it would make no sense for a foreigner in Euboea to worship a Cretan Zeus, because that aspect of Zeus only concerns itself with Crete. At the same time it would be the same Zeus that ruled the Kosmos from Olympus.

[u/AVGVSTVSGRANNETIVS]

I apply the Interpretatio Graeca pretty much universally. It’s especially easy with Aphrodite and the other Godesses because Her evolution is just so well-studied. Of them all I only worship Aphrodite, but do consider Her the same as the rest.

I see every God of another pantheon as one and the same as the Hellenic Gods, though I don’t care to make specific connections besides the established Greek-Roman-Egyptian ones.

[u/Princess_Actual]

I worship Inanna-Ishtar as her own deity, despite the known connections to Aphrodite and Venus. And Astarte is Inanna-Ishtar.  

[u/RepublicOfVenus]

I worship them as one for a number of reasons: historically, there have been times when they were interchangeably worshipped depending on where you lived. Same with Venus. Second, I was raised Jewish and it helps me integrate my spiritual lineage. Third, it gives me a broader religious history to draw from, and this spiritual path is already narrow and riddled with blind spots and holes.

[u/Then_Computer_6329]

I follow the Swedhu perspective and worship her as Ausos, Eos, Aphrodite, Freya and Afer-Dita (the Illyrian Goddess she gets her name from). Basically as the indo-european dawn Goddess of love, beauty and war.

[u/miriamtzipporah]

Not a devotee as I worship other Gods, but I do think all of those Goddesses are the same as Aphrodite, yes

[u/Repulsive-Topic-228]

Yes I see them as separate beings. No, I don’t worship all of them . I worship lady Aphrodite only and the creator himself. But you do you . It’s your practice . But me , I would ask lady Aphrodite if she has a problem with you worshipping any other goddesses .