Page "Aphrodite" Paragraph 19

Aphrodite is usually said to have been born near Paphos, on the island of Cyprus, for which reason she is called " Cyprian ", especially in the poetic works of Sappho.

Her chief center of worship was at Paphos, where the goddess of desire had been worshipped from the early Iron Age in the form of Ishtar and Astarte.

However, other versions of her myth have her born near the island of Kythira ( Cythera ), for which reason she is called " Cytherea ".

Kythira was a stopping place for trade and culture between Crete and the Peloponesus, so these stories may preserve traces of the migration of Aphrodite's cult from the Middle East to mainland Greece.