Aphrodite Urania

[5][6] The most distinctively Western Asian title of the Greek Aphrodite is Urania, the Semitic "queen of the heavens".

It has been explained by reference to the lunar character of the goddess, but more probably signifies "she whose seat is in heaven", whence she exercises her sway over the whole world—earth, sea, and air alike.

Aphrodite Pandemos was held in equal regard with Urania; she was called σεμνή semnē (holy), and was served by priestesses upon whom strict chastity was enjoined.

In time, however, the meaning of the term underwent a change, probably due to the philosophers and moralists, by whom a radical distinction was drawn between Aphrodite Urania and Pandemos.

The term would be used by many homosexual figures such as Karl Heinrich Ulrichs or Oscar Wilde to describe what they saw as the nobility and legitimacy of "uranian love".