Aphrodite

* Regular
* Areia
* Pandemos
* Urania

Crius, Coeus, Cronus, Oceanus, Hyperion, Iapetus, Kottos, Briareos, Gyges, Brontes, Steropes, Arges (brothers)
Eros, Anteros, Phobos, Deimos, Aeneas (sons)
Harmonia (daughter)
Hedone, Semele and Ino (granddaughters)

### Symbols

Doves, roses, girdle, mirror, pearls, seashell

## Physical description

### Base color

Warm pink

**Aphrodite** (Ancient Greek Ἀφροδίτη, *Aphrodítē*) is the Greek goddess of love, beauty, sex, pleasure, passion, fertility, procreation, sexuality, lust, prostitution, and occasionally war.

Her Roman equivalent is the goddess Venus.

## Overview

Aphrodite is one of the main twelve Olympian gods, either a daughter of Zeus by Dione or the motherless daughter who was born of Ouranos' severed testicles. Aphrodite features in a number of stories and is most notable for having a hand in the starting of the Trojan War, as it was her who promised Helen of Troy to Paris in exchange for the Apple of Discord.

## Miscellaneous Myths

### The Theogony

    The goddess was born when Cronus castrated his father Ouranos with a sickle and cast the genitalia into the sea from where Aphrodite appeared amidst the resulting foam (*aphros*).

### Aphrodite

    Aphrodite is cited as partly responsible for the Trojan War. At the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, Eris offered a Golden Apple for the most beautiful goddess. Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite vied for the honor, and Zeus, as not to be responsible, appointed the Trojan prince Paris as judge. To influence his decision, Athena promised him strength and invincibility, Hera offered the regions of Asia and Europe, and Aphrodite offered the most beautiful woman in the world. Paris chose Aphrodite and so won fair Helen of Sparta. However, as she was already the wife of Menelaus, Paris’s abduction of Helen provoked the Spartan king to enlist the assistance of his brother Agamemnon and send an expedition to Troy to take back Helen.

### Eros and Psyche

    Aphrodite is also a doting and overprotective mother as seen when it comes to her relationship with her son Eros and how she tormented Psyche for being the woman her son fell in love with. Psyche was a mortal princess so beautiful people worshipped her in place of Aphrodite; furious, she commanded her son Eros to make Psyche fall in love with something gross. Eros instead fell in love with her himself and married her, although he did not reveal his identity to her, and did not even allow his new wife as much as look at him. However after Psyche's curiosity got the better of her, she managed to get a glimpse of him. Eros then left her and flew to Aphrodite to sulk.

    Aphrodite then found Psyche and made her face four trials if she wished to see Eros again. The first trial was to sort a huge mount of seeds. With the help of a empathetic ant colony, Psyche completed this task. Her next task was to gather wool from a notoriously dangerous sheep. Psyche was saddened but helped by a river god, who taught her to collect pieces of wool from bushes. Her next task was to collect water from the underworld. Psyche was now assisted by the eagle of Zeus, who collected the water for her.

    Psyche's last task was the most difficult; she had to bring back some of Persephone's beauty for Aphrodite. Persephone willingly gave Psyche some of her beauty. When she was near Olympus, Psyche opened the box of Persephone's beauty, but the only thing inside was the essence of death. Psyche died, but her husband, Eros, who had forgiven her by that point, saved Psyche's life and took her to Olympus. Psyche was made the goddess of the soul. Psyche and Eros had a daughter, Hedone, goddess of physical joy. Aphrodite was against Eros' and Psyche's marriage at first until she was warned by Zeus to back off.

### Nerites

    After Aphrodite rose from the foam created by Ouranos's genitals but before her ascent on Mount Olympus, she spent her early days in the sea, in the company of a young sea god named Nerites who became her lover. But soon enough Aphrodite decided she wanted to leave the sea, and asked Nerites to come with her. But Nerites declined; he did not want to leave his home and his family behind, and wouldn't change his mind no matter what, not even after Aphrodite offered him a pair of wings. Aphrodite, hurt over rejection, turned Nerites into a shrimp and gave the wings to her son Eros.

### Hippolytus

    Hippolytus was a hunter devoted to Artemis who shunned all forms of romance. Outraged over the lack of respect, Aphrodite caused Hippolytus' step-mother Phaedra fall madly in love with him; the tragedy that followed took both their lives.

### Pygmalion and Galatea

    During the festival of Aphrodite in Cyprus, the sculptor Pygmalion prayed to her and asked her to bring his statue to life. Aphrodite, approving of the couple, granted his wish so Pygmalion could marry her.

### Pride Tales

    Artemis, Athena and Hestia are famously the one three beings that can resist Aphrodite's power; throughout the video Aphrodite is shown trying to pair up Athena with some guy, only for Athena to decline as she is simply not at all interested in this sort of battlefield.

### Atalanta

When Hippomenes asked Aphrodite to help him win a foot race against Atalanta (if a man could beat her, she'd marry him; otherwise, she would kill him) Aphrodite gave him three golden apples he used to distract Atalanta, thus winning the race.

### The Minotaur

Aphrodite helped Poseidon make Minos' wife Pasiphae fall in love with the Cretan Bull.

### Aphrodite's Affair

    Aphrodite is often described as the only goddess who benefits from the dozens of relationships and love affairs that occur within the Greek Pantheon, although her own love life is not entirely clear. The Iliad and other Homeric sources cited her as an unmarried consort of Ares, while the Odyssey states that she is married to Hephaestus, though still a consort of Ares. The marriage between Aphrodite and Hephaestus is an unusual and wildly unexplained as to its origins. Later sources came up with a few reasons as to how the two very different gods came together.

    While being married to Hephaestus, Aphrodite was actively having an affair with Ares. Not long after, Hephaestus found out, leading to him forging a fine netting of indestructible metals to put over their bed. Hephaestus then announced to Olympus that he would be going away for awhile, allowing Aphrodite and Ares to continue their affair immediately after. However, to their surprise, Hephaestus lied about leaving Olympus, and so he set off the trap and dropped the net on Aphrodite and Ares.

    Bringing all the Olympians into the bed chambers, Hephaestus demanded to Zeus that the two be punished, and that he should be reprimanded for the betrayal. Poseidon, however, requested that Hephaestus release Aphrodite and Ares on the condition that they be exiled from Olympus.

## Physical appearance

Aphrodite is a warm, pink-colored goddess, keeping her hair loose. She is the only god drawn with lips. As Aphrodite Areia, she's the same rust red as Ares and wears a helmet and carries a spear like him. As Aphrodite Urania, she's blue-colored. As Aphrodte Pandemos, she's a darker pink color.

## Aspects of Aphrodite

* Aphrodite Areia: A more war-oriented aspect of the goddess.
* Aphrodite Urania: A goddess of "celestial and pure" love, often seen as the motherless child of the Ouranos.
* Aphrodite Pandemos: A goddess who represents the "base" love of the carnal variety, who is often seen as the child of Zeus and Dione, though also sometimes the child of Ouranos.

## External Links

The Iliad

Pygmalion and Galatea

Eros and Psyche

Pandora

Dionysus (cameo)

The Theogony

Hippolytus

Aphrodite

Nerites

Pride Tales

The Minotaur

The Zodiac

Aphrodite's Affair

The Trojan War

## Gallery

* Aphrodite being born out of Ouranos
* Aphrodite Areia
* Aphrodite Urania
* Aphrodite Pandemos
* Aphrodite Areia
* Aphrodite offering wings to Nerites
* Aphrodite's festival
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