In Greek mythology, Aphrodite is the goddess of love, beauty and fertility.
That is why throughout history, she has been widely related to red roses, which symbolize love and passion. Here’s why.
Aphrodite and red roses are a symbolic match
The red rose, with its vibrant red color, has come to symbolize passion, desire and passionate love. It is a symbol that evokes beauty and sensuality, attributes that are closely related to Aphrodite.
How did this relationship come about?
One of the best-known myths related to Aphrodite involves Adonis, a young man of great beauty. It is said that Aphrodite fell in love with him, and his untimely death is linked to the red rose.
This story is marked by very interesting details, their romance reached a large scale, so much so that William Shakespeare is said to have been inspired by such a story for one of his plays, for Aphrodite and Adonis were like Romeo and Juliet of the time.
Aphrodite was the wife and lover of other gods like her, understanding that Adonis was a mortal being but with an extraordinary beauty.
How did Adonis, Aphrodite’s love, turn out to be such a beautiful and unique mortal?
The king of Cyprus had a daughter and proclaimed to the four winds that she was the most beautiful being in the world. The goddess Aphrodite did not like these claims and in revenge sent him a curse that would cause the king and his daughter, the princess, to have incestuous relations.
After being taped by her own father, the young woman fled pursued by him, who in desperation tried to put an end to her unforgivable sin, murdering her.
Aphrodite, feeling guilty for putting the curse on them, turned the princess into a myrrh tree, from which 9 months later a beautiful mortal child was born.
The fate of the little one was uncertain. For Aphrodite things had gotten out of control, so she did not know what to do with the child.
She hid him in a small chest and took him to Persephone, wife of Hades and queen of Avernus. She instructed her to take care of the chest without ever seeing its contents, since Aphrodite had been deeply impressed with the child and as it grew up she wanted it to be hers alone.
Clearly Persephone did the opposite and opened the chest, falling madly in love with Adonis, who over the years became a strong young man and hunter.
Right there was where the romance with Aphrodite began to bear fruit, but she realized that Persephone had disregarded her order to never open the chest, so they entered into a dispute over the possession of Adonis.
To solve it, Zeus decreed that the young man should spend 4 months with Aphrodite and 4 with Persephone, but the goddess of love defied this decision by increasingly seducing Adonis and taking him into their affair on the sly.
A sad ending
Aphrodite always warned Adonis with her hunts, begging him to be careful because she could not bear to lose him, but in one of those, she encountered a huge boar, which was none other than Ares himself, who had found out about the romance between Aphrodite and Adonis. And, pierced by jealousy, he decided to put an end to it with the death of the young man.
It was at that moment when the tears of Aphrodite together with the blood of Adonis fell on the earth and turned into flowers, the red rose being the symbol of their eternal love.
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