She was possibly a
goddess of the sunrise, or of man's waking sense. The Doric form of her name is akin to the Greek word for "rooster" (Alectrona, the feminine genitive of Αλεκτορ, Alektor, the
ancient Greek word for "
rooster"), while the Attic form Electryone is akin to the word for "amber" (Ἠλέκτρα, Elektra), as in the
ambercolor of
sunrise.
A marble tablet from the 3rd century BC found in
Ialyssus contains an inscription about the regulations for visitors to the temple of Alectrona.[3]
^There are two major conflicting stories for Aphrodite's origins:
Hesiod (Theogony) claims that she was "born" from the foam of the sea after Cronus castrated Uranus, thus making her Uranus' daughter; but
Homer (Iliad, book V) has Aphrodite as daughter of Zeus and Dione. According to
Plato (Symposium 180e), the two were entirely separate entities:
Aphrodite Ourania and Aphrodite Pandemos.
^Homer, Odyssey,
1.70–73, names Thoosa as a daughter of Phorcys, without specifying a mother.
^Most sources describe Medusa as the daughter of Phorcys and Ceto, though the author
Hyginus (
Fabulae Preface) makes Medusa the daughter of
Gorgon and Ceto.