Having castrated his father, Kronos throws the disembodied parts into the sea. They are carried by the surging waves for a long time, Hesiod remarks.8 The spume coalesces around the sperm (sometimes I write these sentences just to see if my editor still has a red pen), and Aphrodite forms from this frothing white aftermath of violence. This is why men call her Aphrodite, Hesiod adds: because she is aphrogenea,9 born from the foam.
