Ever since the beginning of time, people have always been fascinated with loveliness. It may be the cause of their greatest joy or of their greatest disappointment, as with the case of Adam and Eve at the time of creation. Poets and singers have sung homages to man’s fascination with beauty and sometimes the ancient civilizations celebrated beautiful things, not unlike the normal beauty contests that bring together the most beautiful women across the world usually once a year.
Beauty is really a concept that’s difficult to define but is comprehended by every one. For example, we may find it difficult to express ourselves when asked what is beautiful to us. However , if we are requested to indicate a beautiful woman from a group, men can do it without too much hassle. As the saying goes, when it comes to great beauty, we know it when we see it.
In ancient times, people were so enamored with the concept of beauty that they actually deified beauty by identifying and worshipping female goddesses.
Aphrodite is goddess of love and beauty in Greek mythology. Her legend says that she was born of the sea foam (“foam-arisen”) after a monumental crash between the titan Cronus and the god Uranus. According to writings, Cronus cut off the genitals of Uranus and cast these into the sea, “and white foam arose from immortal flesh; with it a girl grew.”
Freya is the goddess of fertility as well as of love, sex, war, beauty, prophecies and attraction in Norse mythology. Like the modern-day woman, Freya was crazy about jewelry. She named her daughter “Hnoss,” meaning “jewel”.
Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth, light, wisdom and fortune, as well as (secondarily) luck, beauty and fertility in Hindu mythology. She was the deity who conformed the least to our conventional view of beauty. Lakshmi is often portrayed as a fair lady with four arms who sat on a lotus and projected a benign countenance.
Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty, is the most well known of the goddesses of beauty. When painting and sculpture was the prime factor of the Renaissance time in Europe, Venus was the most popular subject among painters and sculptors, what individuals often portrayed her in the nude.
