Throughout the Greek pantheon,
we’ve seen evidence of stagnation, of an inability to change. Yet we just
looked at story of Aphrodite picking up the craft of weaving. Athena invented
this craft, yet Aphrodite became skilled enough to make Athena want to renounce
her claim to weaving altogether.
This is not just some idle
part-time hobby, or maybe it is! We don’t’ know how much devotion Aphrodite
gave to the craft, but her skill level and time put in are not the point, the
fact that she can learn and learn well are.
Aphrodite exhibits that rare talent
of being able to learn, to grow beyond what she was born as that, so far, only
Zeus has exhibited. Clearly, characterizations as a simple goddess of love do
not do her justice. It’s clear that if Aphrodite wants to do something, she
can. None of the domains of the gods are safe from Aphrodite. She is not only
able to learn the basics of some other domain, but master them.
Are there limits? It’s not clear.
We have the weaving incident, and no others. Weaving is one of those crafts
clearly relegated as “women’s work” in the Ancient world, so that could be the
dividing line, but it’s all speculation without more evidence.
She learned, though. She grew to be
more than the goddess of love, which is fantastic in a pantheon full of
stagnation. It begs the question, is there anything beyond Aphrodite?