I. Name

Aphrodite was the Greek goddess of love whose sacred animal is the dove (Pirenne-Delforge 1994). The Greeks derived her name from ἀφρός “foam”, and explained it from her birth myth (Hesiod Th. 191). Modern etymologies found no general consent, be it the rare Indo-Europaean ones or those deriving her name from a Semitic language (Burkert 1977:240 n.18). The goddess was identified with several Oriental goddesses, from Egyptian Nephthys to Phoenician Astarte, Assyrian Ishtar and Arabian Alilat (H…