This week's #MythologyMonday theme is mirrors. #Aphrodite is often depicted with a mirror, so much so that a stylised mirror became the symbol of the planet #Venus and of the element copper in #alchemy. Copper is associated with Aphrodite through the island of #Cyprus, one of her major cult centres where she is said to have first stepped foot after her birth in the sea. Cyprus was famous in antiquity for its copper ore deposits.
So much so that our word copper derives from aes Cyprium, metal of #Cyprus. Mirrors in antiquity were often made of polished #copper (alloys).
Today, the symbol of #Venus is still used in biology for the female sex ♀️.
Another story about mirrors concerns #Aphrodite's husband Hephaistos: According to the Illiad, #Hephaistos landed on Lemnos after being thrown from Olympos by his father Zeus. The myth can be read as an intersting allegory: