Girdle of Aphrodite

Hera, in her role as the goddess of marriage, sometimes borrowed it from Aphrodite to mitigate lovers' quarrels, to instigate the bridal contests of suitors, and on at least one occasion to manipulate her husband Zeus.

The earliest mention of the girdle is in Book 14 of the Iliad, when its magical power is sought by Hera, who wants to seduce her husband Zeus, and has arrayed herself in all her finery, when she asks Aphrodite for "love and desire" (φιλότητα καί ἵμερον, philótēta kaí hímeron).

[2] Aphrodite immediately understands what she wants and gives her the magic girdle, her "broidered zone, curiously-wrought" (κεστὸν ἱμάντα ποικίλον, kestón himanta poikílon).

[3]She spake, and loosed from her bosom the broidered zone, curiously-wrought, wherein are fashioned all manner of allurements; therein is love, therein desire, therein dalliance—beguilement that steals the wits even of the wise.

[1] Homer's text suggests that the kestós himás, traditionally translated as "embroidered girdle", may be describing a kind of decorated breast-band (στρόφιον, stróphion), for Aphrodite advises Hera: "Take now and lay in thy bosom this zone".