A deity is a being to which conditions of 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.
The deities, therefore, are superhuman beings, who exceed the natural. The usual thing is that the deities are adored, 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 any deity of the cult that they profess in this town”.
A deity is a superhuman being.
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Representation and powers of the deity
The representation of 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 blasphemous to attribute a specific form to the deity, other religions attribute to it the appearance of a human being or an animal.
Various powers are generally imputed to deities. 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.
Deity and god can be used as synonyms.
The case of Aphrodite
According to religion, the Olympian gods of Ancient Greece are the most important in 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 co-existed, fourteen in total are known, belonging to different eras.
A deity whose name is known to all was Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty and love in Greek mythology, who can be compared to Venus, a Roman goddess. There are two versions regarding her origins : the first of her places her as the daughter of Dione and Zeus; the second explains that once Cronus, another Greek god, castrated her father, Uranus, Aphrodite was born from the foam that formed in the sea water with the blood that came from the wound.
Aphrodite had great powers, such as fertilizing homes, protecting husbands, and supervising human births. On the other hand, her 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 affairs with Ares, Hermes, Poseidon and Dionysus; her sons Anteros and Eros, in fact, belong to her relationship with Ares. But she Aphrodite not only looked for love in the other deities, but she was also attracted to mortals; and that gave rise to her well-known romances with Anchises (a Trojan with whom she fathered Aeneas) and Adonis.
Hephaestus found out about his wife’s adultery with Ares thanks to the sun, and such a 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 before the other gods.
Deity and humans
Sometimes the limits and distances between the deity and the human being become blurred or even eliminated. Thus we find people who proclaim themselves as deities or suprahuman entities, as was the case with many rulers in ancient times.
In colloquial language, the notion of deity can be applied to those who consider themselves superior to others or believe they possess the truth : “I can’t stand it when they praise 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? .