What is deity?

What Does deity Mean

A deity is a being to whom conditions proper to a divinity are attributed . The term, which comes from the Latin word deitas , can be used as a synonym for the god or gods of a religion .

Deities, therefore, are superhuman beings , exceeding the natural. The usual thing is that the deities are worshiped, have faithful or followers and pay tribute to them . For example: "Vishnu is a deity of great importance to the Hindus" , "Researchers have made new discoveries about the Inca deities" , "I do not know of any deity of the cult that they profess in this town . "

The representation of the deities varies according to religion, culture and time. While in religions that believe in a single god (that is, they are monotheistic ) it is considered that attributing a specific form to divinity is blasphemy , other religions attribute the appearance of a human or an animal to it .
Generally, deities are imputed with various powers . There are peoples who consider that their deities were responsible for the creation of the universe and humanity and that they act on nature and destiny.
Sometimes the boundaries and distances between the deity and the human being become blurred or even erased. Thus we find people who proclaim themselves as deities or superhuman entities, as was the case with many rulers in ancient times.
In colloquial language, the notion of deity can be applied to someone who considers himself superior to others or believes he possesses the truth : "I cannot bear to be praised the president as if he were a deity: he makes mistakes like anyone else " , "How can you believe that do you know what i feel Do you think you are a deity? " .
The deity and ancient Greece: Aphrodite
According to religion, the Olympian gods of ancient Greece are the most important of the pantheon and lived on top of the most imposing mountain in Greece: Olympus. While more than twelve deities (sometimes referred to as the twelve Olympians ) never coexisted , fourteen are known in total, belonging to different eras .
A deity whose name is known to all was Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty and love for Greek mythology, who can be compared to Venus, a Roman goddess. There are two versions regarding her origins : the first places her as the daughter of Dione and Zeus; the second explains that once Cronus, another Greek god, castrated his father, Uranus, Aphrodite was born from the foam that formed in the sea water with the blood that emerged from the wound.

Aphrodite had great powers , such as fertilizing homes, protecting husbands and supervising human births. On the other hand, his name is a symbol of unbridled passion that threatens the harmony of love relationships and pushes mortals to fall into vices and excesses.
Mythology tells that Aphrodite married Hephaestus, although she had passionate romances with Ares, Hermes, Poseidon and Dionysus; his sons Anteros and Eros, in fact, belong to his relationship with Ares. But Aphrodite not only sought love in other deities, she was also attracted to mortals; and that gave rise to his well-known romances with Anchises (a Trojan with whom he fathered Aeneas) and Adonis.
Hephaestus learned of his wife's adultery with Ares thanks to the sun, and this discovery led him to develop a mechanism that would trap them in his bed the next time they met; and so it was that they were chained and humiliated in front of the other gods.

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