Aphrodite/Venus

**Aphrodite** is the Greek goddess of beauty, love, desire, passion, pleasure, and fertility. Her Roman name and counterpart is **Venus**. Her Etruscan counterpart is **Turan**.

## Basic Info

### Alias

Goddess of Love and Beauty, Goddess of Lust and Sexuality, Goddess of Desire and Pleasure, Lady of the Doves, Lady of Kythera, Lady of Cyprus, Aphrodite Urania, Mom (By her children)

### Symbols

Rose, seashell, pearl, mirror, girdle, anemone, lettuce, narcissus

## Family Info

### Siblings

Titans, Elder Cyclopes, and Hekatonkheires,(half-siblings)

### Offspring

Eros, Phobos, Deimos, Harmonia, Pothos, Anteros, Himeros, Hermaphroditus, Rhodos, Eryx, Peitho, The Graces, Beroe, Golgos, Priapus, Aeneas (Immortal children)Max Palacios-Balcazar, Angelica Charity, Primrose White, Markell Lafayette, Damon Argos, Vanessa Palacios-Balcazar (Demigod children)

### Extended Family

* Zeus, Hades and Poseidon (nephews)
* Hestia, Demeter, Hera, and Kelene (nieces)
* Hephaestus/Vulcan (Ex-husband)
* Psyche (daughter-in-law)

## History

### Birth and Marriage

After Kronos dismembered Ouranos, he hurled his father's remains into the sea. His genitals created some foam, from which Aphrodite was born. The sea in which she was born is said to be near Paphos, a city on the island of Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea. There she met the three Horai (season goddesses), who clothed her in a beautiful white dress, a delicate golden crown, golden earrings, and a golden necklace, and subsequently escorted her to Mount Olympus.

Due to her incredible beauty, Aphrodite caused a lot of problems on Olympus when she first arrived. While Zeus, Poseidon, Ares, Apollo, and Hermes all instantly wanted her for themselves, Hephaestus didn't participate in the commotion, and instead sat in the shadows, quiet and dejected, knowing that his ugliness stripped him of any chance of competing for the gorgeous Aphrodite. Hera, feeling that her godly family was about to unravel, was determined to prevent that, and hastily ordered the other Olympians to silence themselves. As the goddess of marriage, she felt an obligation to pick the perfect husband for the new goddess and proclaimed that such a perfect match was her son Hephaestus, much to Ares' and Aphrodite's dismay. Hephaestus himself was so surprised that he fell off of his throne. Athena was quick to agree with Hera as well, pointing out that if Aphrodite were to marry anyone else, all of the other male gods would never stop fighting about it, while it would be nearly impossible for them to be jealous of Hephaestus. Hence, Zeus married both of them right then and there, with Hephaestus promising to be a loving husband.

She would later have her husband forge her a magical golden girdle, which made her completely irresistible to anyone she fancied. Hera would borrow it from her on at least one occasion, to make amends with Zeus after a particularly unpleasant argument or if she ever wanted something from him.

### Humiliation by Hephaestus

While Hephaestus did keep his word, Aphrodite would stay away from her husband as much as possible, with them never having any kids. She soon began an affair with Ares, the handsome and passionate god of war, which became the worst kept secret on Mount Olympus (as they were seen together many times by Helios), with Hephaestus being the only person that didn't know, possibly because he wanted to believe that his wife could love him. Aphrodite gave birth to five children from Ares: Eros, Deimos, Phobos, Harmonia, and Anteros, yet their lack of resemblance to Hephaestus would make her husband suspicious.

One day, when Hephaestus pretended to depart for Lemnos, Ares and Aphrodite retired to the latter's bedroom but were imprisoned and immobilized by an unbreakable golden net set by Hephaestus as soon as they jumped into bed. A returned Hephaestus then proceeded to lead the rest of the gods into his bedroom, determined to humiliate the cheating pair. However, Zeus and Hermes found the situation hilarious and were promptly joined in prolonged contagious laughter by the other gods, with Athena taking the chance to jeer at Aphrodite. Finally, however, Poseidon managed to collect himself and requested that Hephaestus release the pair. The blacksmith god begrudgingly agreed, but only on the condition of Zeus repaying him all the gifts that he had made for Aphrodite's dowry. Poseidon then insisted that Ares be released as well, vouching to ensure that the war god would pay any price that would settle this debt. Hephaestus agreed, requesting a price of a hundred wagon loads of the best armor, weapons, and war spoils from Ares' fortress. With an agreement reached, Hephaestus finally released them both.

In the subsequent years, however, Hephaestus continued to find ways to trap and publicly embarrass Ares and Aphrodite. While he was still married to his unfaithful wife, Hephaestus would now feel entitled to pursue relationships with other women as well, the first of them, much to Aphrodite's annoyance, being Aglaia, who was one of her three Charities handmaidens. Despite the public humiliation, however, Aphrodite continued her affairs with Ares. She would also have romances with both mortals and other gods over the centuries.

### Athena's Flute

When a proud Athena performed with her newly invented flute before Aphrodite, Demeter, and Hera, the goddesses began giggling and whispering to each other, with Aphrodite being the one to demonstrate how Athena's facial features comically contort while she plays. An embarrassed Athena fled in humiliation, and hurled the flute off of Olympus, cursing it to give the worst fortune to the next person to play it, which ended up being the satyr Marsyas, in which he felt entitled enough to challenge Apollo to a contest and lost, which resulted in him being flayed alive (although Apollo claims that he didn't flay him).

### Pandora

Desperate to punish the Titan Epimetheus for the actions of his brother Prometheus (who had stolen divine fire from the gods and shared it with mankind), Zeus offered him quite a few gifts, but the Titan refused, heeding his wise brother's advice. Finally, Zeus took Aphrodite's suggestion of using a woman. Hence, at Aphrodite's direction, Hephaestus molded the very first woman out of clay, and all the gods participated in ensuring that this first woman was perfect in every way: Athena gifted her with cleverness and curiosity, as well as teaching her weaving and crafts; Apollo taught her to sing and play the lyre, Demeter taught her how to tend a garden, Poseidon gave her a pearl necklace and promised she would never drown, Hermes gave her deceitfulness, while Aphrodite herself gave her beauty and charm to make her irresistible. As a result, this woman was named "Pandora", meaning "all the gifts" or "all giving". Stunned at her beauty, Epimetheus forgot all about his brother's warning and promptly married her. Aphrodite soon dropped off a large ceramic jar as a gift for Pandora and encouraged the latter to never open it. After several days, however, Pandora, overwhelmed with curiosity, finally opened it, unleashing Hunger, Thirst, Poverty, Murder, Death, Jealousy, and many other evil things into the world. Only Elpis, the spirit of Hope, remained in the jar.

### Hippolytus

After learning that Hippolytos, a charming and handsome prince joined Artemis' hunt without any interest in flirting with her Huntresses, the goddess was greatly enraged. Hence, when Hippolytus returned home to visit his father, Theseus, the two got into an argument about Hippolytus marrying and having children, despite the latter insisting on remaining with Artemis. Unbeknownst to father and son, Aphrodite was manipulating their emotions into a rage, resulting in Theseus drawing a sword and striking Hippolytus dead. Artemis, however, managed to persuade her nephew Asclepius to resurrect her dear friend with the Physician's Cure, angering Aphrodite again, making her complain to Zeus. The king of Olympus appeased her and Hades by personally striking down Asclepius with a thunderbolt.

### Pygmalion

Pygmalion, a Cypriot sculptor, failed to find love among local women and carved a beautiful ivory statue resembling Aphrodite, his ideal of what a woman should be. Much to his dismay, he found himself deeply in love with the statue. Hence, during the Feast of Aphrodite, Pygmalion went to the goddess' temple and requested her assistance in finding a woman as wonderful as the goddess herself, and as beautiful as his ivory statue. Touched by his passionate love, Aphrodite granted the sculptor's request, making the statue come to life as a woman who returned Pygmalion's passionate love and affection.

### Anchises and Aeneas

Zeus would eventually come to blame Aphrodite for inducing his many affairs with mortal women since that always caused problems and arguments with his wife Hera. Hence, as a punishment, Zeus somehow made her fall in love with a mortal shepherd Anchises. Aphrodite disguised herself as a mortal maiden and approached him. Awed by her beauty, Anchises would soon propose to her and they had a wonderful honeymoon. Several months later, however, Zeus' enchantment finally wore off, much to the goddess' shock and embarrassment. She had to leave, making Anchises promise never to reveal who his wife had been. Aphrodite subsequently raised their demigod son Aeneas until he was five, after which she brought him back to his father. When Anchises got older and less careful, he eventually let it slip that Aeneas's mother was actually Aphrodite herself and as punishment, Anchises was lightly struck by Zeus' thunderbolt, injuring his legs. Aeneas would grow up to become a great prince of the city of Troy, participating in the 10-year-long Trojan War, and later sailing to Italy, becoming the first leader of a new people, who came to call themselves the Romans.

### Adonis

One Greek princess, Smyrna, refused to worship Aphrodite, so the goddess punished her by making Smyrna fall in love with and seduce Cinyras, her own father. Afterward, an infuriated Cinyras would pursue her with a bared sword, threatening to kill her. However, Aphrodite took pity on the woman and transformed Smyrna into a myrrh tree. Nine months later, the tree split open, revealing a baby boy inside. Due to her own busy schedule, Aphrodite chose Persephone to help her raise him, with both goddesses taking turns raising the boy (whom Aphrodite named Adonis), shuffling him back and forth between Aphrodite's secret lair on Cyprus and Persephone's Palace. He would eventually grow up into an incredibly handsome young man, by far the most handsome mortal man in the world. As a result, both goddesses instantly fell in love with Adonis and began fighting over him. With them unable to reach a compromise, both goddesses took Adonis to Mount Olympus, where Zeus decided that it would be best for Adonis to spend a third of each year with each respective goddess, and have the final third to himself. During the time he spent with Persephone, Adonis would have to hide in closets and under her bed every time Hades entered her chambers since the latter did not know about his wife's secret boyfriend. For a while, Adonis and Aphrodite were a happy couple and had a demigod daughter Beroe. One day, however, while hunting in the woods, Adonis came across a fierce wild boar (most likely placed there by a jealous Ares) that stabbed him to death with its tusks. A devastated Aphrodite turned his body into blood-red roses and anemones.

### The Trojan War

Aphrodite contributed greatly to the cause of the Trojan War, which lasted ten years and caused the violent downfall of the city of Troy. During the marriage of Thetis and Peleus, Eris, in anger for not being invited tossed a golden apple into the room, where several goddesses saw it and fought over it. Eventually, it came down to three goddesses, Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena. They quarreled over who was the fairest of them all, as the apple read "For the Fairest" on it. Zeus, tired of all the arguing, sent Hermes to bring the first person he found to judge who is the fairest of the three goddesses. Unfortunately, he found Paris, Prince of Troy, to judge them. Hera offered him unlimited wealth and control over all Asia and Europe if she was picked while Athena offered battle skills, intelligence and success in war. Aphrodite, on the other hand, offered him the hand of the most beautiful woman alive. Paris thought nothing of Athena and Hera's offers, so he chose Aphrodite's gift. Aphrodite asked her son Eros to cause back to the city of Troy. However, Helen was already married to King Menelaus of Sparta and when he learned of what happened, he went to his brother Agamemnon and the two started a campaign against Troy, resulting in the Trojan War. Aphrodite supported Troy in the war and intervened many times on behalf of Paris, and her favorite son, Aeneas, who was also of Trojan royalty.

#### Birth of Damon

While healing her hand after getting stabbed through the wrist, Aphrodite began to think about Diomedes. Amongst other things, Aphrodite was a goddess worshiped in Sparta, as a goddess of war... And she was impressed by Diomedes' strength, finding herself...attracted to the King of Argos. One night, Aphrodite went to Diomedes' tent, paying him a small visit. Diomedes was skeptical of the goddess, and was very wary of her. Aphrodite simply said that she was impressed by his strength. Diomedes was still confused but Aphrodite, offered that if he slept with her, then the war would belong to the Greeks. After a while of flirting from Aphrodite, Diomedes agreed, and the two ended up in bed together. The next morning, Aphrodite was gone, but all Diomedes was wondering if her word was true. A few days later, Aphrodite realized she was pregnant, but never told Diomedes. On Olympus, she gave birth to her son, who she named, Damon. She would keep him hidden on Olympus.

## Personality

Aphrodite is temperamental, crafty, flirtatious, smart and free as the wind and disloyal to her husband Hephaestus, as evident by her having many affairs (most notably with Ares). She was shown to have a deep grudge against those who have "perverted" notions of love, such as the self-absorbed Narcissus and the asexual Hippolytus, and would punish them severely if she could. Aphrodite could also be vindictive against those who either disrespect her, as seen by the example of Smyrna, who refused to worship and respect the goddess. As a result, the goddess cursed Smyrna into falling in love with Cinyras, her own father. Afterwards, an infuriated Cinyras pursued her with a bared sword, threatening to kill her. The goddess was infamously brutal towards Psyche in *Caspian's Miscellaneous Myths (Hero Edition)*, since the latter had not only unintentionally taken away the spotlight from Aphrodite, but had also won the love of the goddess' own son, Eros. The fact that she is disloyal to Hephaestus because of his looks can display her to be quite shallow. However as she was essentially sold to Hephaestus, one cannot entirely blame her for having affairs. Despite her dark side, Aphrodite could be truly sweet, loving, and passionate, and she has a faith in love that is absolute and true. She could also be gentle and gracious to those she favors (such as Pygmalion and Adonis in *Caspian's* *Miscellaneous Myths*), and she deeply cares for her children as well as their fathers. Her graciousness could even extend towards those who had initially incurred her wrath by offending her, as seen by how she ultimately took pity on Smyrna and transformed her into a myrrh tree to protect her from her father's wrath. Presiding over the most powerful of human feelings, Aphrodite has great insight into mortal emotions, as well as mortal nature by extension. It is nearly impossible to disagree with her. She also is shown to be good-natured and cheerful, looking at the bright side of most, if not all, situations. She also appears to be one of the most motherly of all the goddesses, as shown when she kisses her children following the Battle of Athens.

## Appearance

As the personification of pure unmatched beauty, Aphrodite's true appearance is actually unknown as she would appear to others as their personal epitome of physical attraction. Above all Aphrodite is simply the fairest, most beautiful, desirable, alluring, elegant, stunning and drop dead gorgeous goddess in all creation. In the third story, Aphrodite was portrayed as wearing a red satin dress, with hair curled in a cascade of ringlets, perfect makeup, dazzling eyes like pools of spring water, and a smile that would have lit up the dark side of the moon. Her beauty was such that at his first sight of her, Caspian forgot his location and how to speak coherently, and he noted that when she smiled, she looked like a mixture of Leo and a TV actress he had a crush on in fifth grade. Aphrodite was also shown to take especial care of her looks and can see the tiniest flaw, as demonstrated by her asking Caspian to hold her mirror while she amended some flaw he could not see. In the sixth story, when Angelica first saw Aphrodite in Medea's department store during a dream, she wore a different appearance but was still gorgeous to behold: shoulder-length hair, a graceful neck, perfect features, and an amazing figure tucked into jeans and a snowy-white top. Angelica also noted that Aphrodite was different from other extremely beautiful women she had seen before: her mother was elegant without trying, fashionable without effort, stunning without makeup. However, she was unable to determine the exact color of her mother's hair and eyes, given that Aphrodite's appearance changed as she observed her, due to her trying to match Angelica's ideal of beauty. In the eight story, Aphrodite appeared to Gianna as the prettiest, loveliest and most breathtakingly beautiful woman in the universe with dark chocolate curls and eyes that sparkled playfully, going from green to blue to amber. She was dressed like a Southern belle: her gown had a low-cut bodice of pink silk and a three-tiered hoop skirt with white scalloped lace, and she wore long white silk gloves and held a feathered pink-and-white fan to her chest. Her face was said to be hard to describe as her features seemed to shift from those of one glamorous movie star to another, becoming increasingly beautiful as it changed by the second. Gianna was instantly, irrationally jealous of her because she had always wished she had more tamable hair, since her own curls were thick and coily. Aphrodite also manifested other traits that served to make Gianna feel inadequate: the easy grace with which she wore her dress, the perfect yet understated makeup, and the way she radiated feminine charm that no person who is attracted to women could possibly resist.

It was confirmed that Aphrodite's appearance would change to appeal to each person who gazed upon her. Before she was presented to the other gods at Olympus, the Horai dressed her in a beautiful white gossamer dress, placed a delicate golden crown on her head, hung gold earrings in her ears, and draped a gold necklace at the base of her throat. She was so beautiful that she immediately excited desire and admiration in all the gods, and envy and resentment in all the goddesses. In *Caspian's Miscellaneous Myths*, it is mentioned that Aphrodite's eyes glow pink when she is infuriated.

## Powers and Abilities

### Goddess Powers

* **Amokinesis**: As the Goddess of Love, Lust, and Sexuality, Aphrodite has divine authority and absolute control over the emotions associated love and desire. She is able to arouse love and passion in others, entrancing any mortal or god she desires.. The only known deities who have at least partial immunity to this are the three Virgin Goddesses.
	+ **Charmspeak**: Aphrodite's voice has a mesmerizing effect, capable of influencing the emotions of others in order to place them in her thrall. Her charmspeak is far more powerful than that of her children.
	+ **Personification of Desire:** Aphrodite is the personification of all desire and fulfillment. She has divine authority and absolute control over craving of the attainable, physical appetite, emotional need, envious desire, and satisfaction of one's desire. In *Caspian's Miscellaneous Myths*, she granted Pandora irresistible charm.
* **Beauty:** As the Goddess of Beauty, Aphrodite can change her appearance to perfectly fit the perception of beauty according to the person she is in the presence of. She is so breathtakingly beautiful that Caspian's jaw dropped and he was speechless for a couple of seconds after first seeing her in the 3rd story. In the 6th, her daughter Angelica described Aphrodite as "elegant without trying, fashionable without effort, stunning without makeup."
	+ **Omnipotent Allure**: Aphrodite can change her appearance to become the most physically attractive or sexually attractive body according to the person she in the presence of.
	+ **Biokinesis**: Aphrodite can manipulate one's body to grant and/or enhance their beauty or make them ugly and undesirable. In *Caspian's Miscellaneous Myths*, she granted Pandora irresistible beauty. Her claiming enhances the beauty of her already gorgeous demigod children and removes their physical imperfecions, such as pimples. As shown in *Caspian's Miscellaneous Myths (Hero Edition)*, Aphrodite can turn others ugly. She cursed the women of Lemnos with a stench so terrible that none of the men could stand to be within 50 feet of them.
	+ **Infallible Visual Acuity**: Aphrodite possessed a level of microscopic-vision. In the third story she was able to see flaws in her makeup that Caspian couldn't.
* **Fertility Manipulation**: Aphrodite can influence fertility in terms of reproduction. She can bless someone with high fertility, and curse others with infertility.
* **French**: As revealed in the 6th story, Aphrodite has perfect fluency and understanding of French, as it is a language of love.
* **Chlorokinesis**: Aphrodite has control over flora (especially flowers), though not to the extent of Demeter and Dionysus. In *Caspian's Miscellaneous Myths*, it is mentioned that magnificent flowers would blossom wherever she walked. In the 10th story, she strews numerous rose petals into the Giantess' eyes to distract the latter in her children's fight.
	+ **Plant Transformation**: Aphrodite can turn anyone into anything related to flowers. In *Caspian's Miscellaneous Myths*, she transformed the corpse of Adonis into blood-red roses and anemones.
* **Photokinesis**: Aphrodite has limited control over light, though not to the extent of Apollo.
	+ **Pyrokinesis**: As seen in *Caspian's Miscellaneous Myths (Hero Edition)*, Aphrodite can generate pink explosions, which are destructive enough to instantly blast the ceiling of her palace to rubble.
	+ **Virtuakinesis**: As seen in *Caspian's Miscellaneous Myths (Hero Edition)*, Aphrodite can create optical illusions. She created several illusions of people in need to try to distract Psyche.
* **Nephelokinesis**: In the 10th story, Aphrodite can float on a small white cloud. She used this ability while helping her children fight Periboia.
* **Control of Animals**: Aphrodite has a high level of control over her sacred animals, particularly the dove. In the 10th story, she summoned doves to rise up from nowhere and flutter into Periboia's face whenever the Giantess tried to strike.
* **Life Creation**: Aphrodite has demonstrated the ability to manipulate reality itself to a considerable extent. In *Caspian's Miscellaneous Myths*, she was able to make Pygmalion's beautiful ivory statue come to life.
* **Teleportation**: In *Caspian's Miscellaneous Myths (Hero Edition)*, Aphrodite summoned a rosewood box for Psyche instantly.

## Attributes

As mentioned in *Caspian's Miscellaneous Myths*, Aphrodite has a great many attributes. However, the most significant of all was her girdle, which had the ability to render any woman who wore it irresistible to the opposite sex, and it was described as a delicate sash embroidered with scenes of courtship, romance, and beautiful people doing beautiful things.

Aphrodite's sacred fruit is the apple (most likely as a result of Paris' judgement with the Apple of Discord). Her sacred flowers are the daffodil, the myrtle, the rose, and the anemone (the latter two had blossomed from the blood of her beloved Adonis). One of her sacred plants is the lettuce. Her sacred gem is the pearl, since it came from the sea just like she did. Her sacred animals are the dove, the sparrow, the swan, the dolphin and the hare. Some other symbols are the mirror and the scallop shell.

## Attendants

Aphrodite also has numerous loyal attendants, including Eros (her son and male counterpart), Hymenaios (the god of marriage ceremonies), Ganymede (the god of homosexual love and desire), the three Charites (who serve as her handmaidens), and the Erotes — miniature winged love gods.

## Romances

Aphrodite is married to Hephaestus, but is known for her affairs among gods and mortals. Ares is her favorite lover.

### Immortal Children

 Adonis
 Hermes
 Dionysus
 Poseidon

### Mortal Children

 Connor Palacios-Balcazar
 Andrew Charity
 Diomedes
 Kage White
 Leonardo Lafayette
 Mr. Perez

## Etymology

Meaning unknown, possibly of Phoenician origin. Aphrodite was the Greek goddess of love and beauty, identified with the Roman goddess Venus. She was the wife of Hephaestus and the mother of Eros, and she was often associated with the myrtle tree and doves. The Greeks connected her name with *ἀφρός (aphros)* meaning "foam"

## Trivia

1. Aphrodite is also referred to as the "Lady of the Doves", as the dove is one of her sacred animals.
2. In some versions, Aphrodite is actually the daughter of Zeus, and an Oceanid named Dione.
3. Some myths say her parents were Ouranos and Thalassa, the primordial sea goddess. When Ouranos' remains fell into the sea, Thalassa was impregnated and then gave birth to Aphrodite from the sea.
4. Her name is the inspiration for *aphrodisiac*.
5. The planet Venus is named after her Roman counterpart.
6. any assume Aphrodite is the eldest Olympian since she arose from Ouranos' remains. However, it's never stated *when* she arose from the sea foam from Ouranos' remains. In *Caspian's Miscellaneous Myths*, it was confirmed that Aphrodite did indeed arise from the sea after Zeus and his siblings were born, when they began to rule the world from Mount Olympus.
7. She was born of Ouranos, like the Titans. Despite this, she is a goddess. This may be because she could have arisen from Ouranos' remains after Zeus and his siblings were fully grown, thus being a goddess instead of a Titaness.
8. Aphrodite has a belt (given to her by her husband, Hephaestus) that makes her seem even more beautiful. It's said that it contains all her enchantments. Hera borrowed it once to seduce Zeus in order to distract him from the Trojan War.
9. Aphrodite's shape shifting ability has been emphasized more than the other gods.
10. She is unaffected by her Roman form, much like Nemesis.
11. Some myths say that she divorced Hephaestus, and he married Aglaia, the youngest of the three Charites.
12. Aphrodite is one of two Olympians who is neither a child nor a sibling of Zeus the other is her husband Hephaestus . However, it was said that Zeus adopted her, and Homer's *Iliad* states that she was the daughter of Zeus and Dione.
13. Her Norse equivalent would be Freya.
14. Despite being the goddess of love first and foremost, Aphrodite can and will actually partake in combat, such as the final battle between the gods, heroes and giants. She tends to use her magic or powers of seduction to do this, but will also shift to direct combat if need be.
15. Aphrodite was married to Hephaestus, but Aphrodite did not enter into this union of her own volition (that's why she had, and still has, affairs with other men).
16. Aphrodite and her son Eros often teamed up to cause Zeus to fall in love with mortals (such as Europa). For that reason, Zeus decided to take revenge on Aphrodite. He caused her to fell hopelessly in love with Anchises and from their union Aphrodite gave birth to the demigod Aeneas.
	1. Anchises met his tragic fate when he drunkenly bragged to his surroundings that he had slept with the goddess of love. Furious and enraged with him, Zeus struck Anchises with his lightning bolt. As a result, Anchises remained blind for the rest of his life.
17. Aphrodite used (and still uses) a swan-drawn car to glide easily through the air.
18. Although Aphrodite and Hera were not friends (and, presumably, they still don't have a good relationship), Hera went to the Goddess of Love for help as she endeavored to assist the heroes in their quest for the Golden Fleece.
	1. Hera asked from Aphrodite to initiate the love between Jason and the daughter of the Colchian king, Medea. So, Aphrodite and Eros fulfilled Hera's wish.
19. Aphrodite was present at the wedding of Cadmus and her daughter Harmonia. As a wedding gift, Aphrodite gave Harmonia a necklace that brought disaster and misfortune to later generations and those who possessed it. It is said that the necklace was cursed.
20. Aphrodite is well known for receiving the Golden Apple from Paris, having promised to give him the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen of Troy.
21. Early Greek art depicted the goddess as nude.
22. Aphrodite's centres of worship were numerous, Cyprus (and Paphos) in particular as it is the place where she came to shore after rising from the sea.
23. The temple of Aphrodite situated on the acrocorinth, the acropolis of ancient Corinth, was famous for its temple prostitution (employing some thousand of *hetairas*), which contributed to the city's vast wealth, making it a rival to Athens and Thebes.