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A review by _tabby_
Venus and Aphrodite: A Biography of Desire by Bettany Hughes
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.75
Amazing!
I picked up this book because Aphrodite/ Venus is my favourite mythological goddess. This book showed the fascinating transition that Aphrodite went through over periods of history, from a figure of female empowerment to a figure of female oppression and then a grey area of love and controversy- and ending with how she's now used commercially to advertise women's products (its up to the consumer to decide if its empowerment or oppression ofc).
Hughes shows how the interpretations of this goddess throughout history reflects the nature and the behaviour of human society at the time. I'm definitely more of a lover for mythology than history but I fell in love with this book and it was very informative but just as enjoyable.
Would love to read about other gods in this style!
I picked up this book because Aphrodite/ Venus is my favourite mythological goddess. This book showed the fascinating transition that Aphrodite went through over periods of history, from a figure of female empowerment to a figure of female oppression and then a grey area of love and controversy- and ending with how she's now used commercially to advertise women's products (its up to the consumer to decide if its empowerment or oppression ofc).
Hughes shows how the interpretations of this goddess throughout history reflects the nature and the behaviour of human society at the time. I'm definitely more of a lover for mythology than history but I fell in love with this book and it was very informative but just as enjoyable.
Would love to read about other gods in this style!
Content Warnings
Minor: Body shaming, Genocide, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual content, and Colonisation