Lecture about "The Secrets of the Dressed and Naked Aphrodite" by DDr Verena Perko

On the occasion of the exhibition Heritage and the Power of Myths, on Monday, 2 June 2025, we had the opportunity to listen to an extraordinary lecture by Dr Verena Perko "Aphrodite Naked or Clothed".

 

The cult of Aphrodite was widespread in antiquity. The goddess of love and beauty was mainly worshipped by women, but men also often invoked her - especially in prayers for safe seafaring. The speaker wryly pointed out that love and navigation actually have more in common than it seems: many ships run aground, some are broken up by storms. It is the same with our affairs of the heart.

The goddess Hera sought to right the wrong done to her son Hephaestus, whom she had once cast down from Olympus, but later welcomed back. She gave him Aphrodite as a wedding present. But since the bride, despite her powerful position, could not choose a groom, she chose a lover. Actually - several of them. Among them, Ares, the god of war. As punishment, Aphrodite's husband caught them in a golden net and paraded them around.

 

Dr Verena Perko enriched the lecture with many other stories and motifs from ancient myths and also revealed the political background that influenced the cult of Aphrodite and her role in ancient society. Her narrative unfolded like a thread - vividly unfolded, often interwoven, but always with meaningful symbolism.

 

She has thus woven a rich net of stories from the fragments of myths, expanding our understanding of ancient culture and its multilayered nature.