Aphrodite Callipyge

> *"You see, there's a great different between who you think I am and me: I'm everything that she's supposed to be. A warrior, a queen, a lover, and a fighter. You stripped her of everything remotely militaristic, leaving behind just a paramour. And yet, you still failed to contain her. Haven't you realized it Zeus? You haven't been a player in this game of thrones for a long, long time. Now you're just a pawn in Aphrodite's game."*
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## Aphrodite Callipyge

### Aliases

* Cytherea
* Venus
* Goddess
* V
* Acidalia
* Cerigo

### Titles

* The Goddess of Love
* Lady of Cythera or Lady of Cyprus

## Personal Status

### Relatives

* Uranus (Father)
* Hephaestus (Husband)
* The Titans, the Hecatoncheires, the Cyclopes, The Meliae, the Erinyes, the Giants (Siblings)
* Eros, Harmonia, Pothos, Anteros, Himeros, Hermaphroditus, Eryx, Peitho, Priapus, Aeneas (Children)

## Professional Status

### Affiliation(s)

Ascim

**Aphrodite Callipyge** is the Goddess of Love and Beauty.

## Personality

Aphrodite is joyful, loving, benevolent, and friendly, not to mention being soft-spoken and passionate. She isn’t as flirtatious as people presume she is; rather one glance at her would catch the attention of all the gods and mortal men, causing them to madly desire and fall in love for her.

She has a faith in love that is absolute and true. She could be very gentle and gracious to those she favors, and she deeply cares for her children.

As she presides over the most powerful and complex of human feelings, Aphrodite has great insight into mortal emotions, as well as mortal nature by extension.

## History

### Birth

After Uranus was cut apart by Cronus, he threw most of Uranus' body parts in Tartarus, though as a fail safe, he also threw parts into the ocean. These divinities caused the sea foam to turn into a goddess, resulting in Aphrodite, thus making her the younger half-sister of the Titans, the Hecatonchires, and the Cyclops. She was clothed by the three Graces.

### Marriage to Hephaestus

At some point, Hephaestus gave his mother Hera a golden throne, but when she sat on it, she became trapped and he refused to let her go until she agreed to give him Aphrodite's hand in marriage. Hephaestus was overjoyed to be married to the goddess of beauty, and forged her beautiful jewelry, including a *strophion* (στρόφιον) known as the *kestos himas* (κεστὸς ἱμάς), a saltire-shaped undergarment (usually translated as "girdle"), which accentuated her breasts and made her even more irresistible to men. Such *strophia* were commonly used in depictions of the Near Eastern goddesses Ishtar and Atargatis.

With Hepheastus, Aphrodite was considered the mother of the mortal goddess Harmonia, the Trojan hero Aeneas, Eryx, the king of Sicily, the God of Lust Eros, Pothos (God of sexual longing), Anteros (God of requited love), the intersex-born Hermaphroditus, the persuasive Peitho, Himeros (God of unrequited love), and Priapus (a gardener with huge genitals).

### Etidorhpa

At some point, Aphrodite fell in love with the God of Darkness, Erebus. However, he coldly rejected her, which was the first time anyone had ever rejected Aphrodite. This rejection sparked the birth of Etidorhpa, the God/Being of Hate.

Aphrodite generously rewarded those who honored her, but on the contrary, Etidorhpa punished those who disrespected her, often quite brutally. One such story is when the women of the island of Lemnos refused to sacrifice to Aphrodite, Etidorhpa cursed them to stink horribly so that their husbands would never have sex with them. Instead, their husbands started having sex with their slave-girls. In anger, the women of Lemnos murdered the entire male population of the island, as well as all the slaves. When Jason and his crew of Argonauts arrived on Lemnos, they mated with the sex-starved women under Aphrodite's approval and repopulated the island. From then on, the women of Lemnos never disrespected Aphrodite again.

Theseus's son Hippolytus worshipped only Artemis, the goddess of virginity, and refused to engage in any form of sexual contact. Etidorhpa was infuriated by his prideful behavior and declared that, by honoring only Artemis and refusing to venerate Aphrodite, Hippolytus has directly challenged her authority. Etidorhpa therefore causes Hippolytus's stepmother, Phaedra, to fall in love with him, knowing Hippolytus will reject her. After being rejected, Phaedra commits suicide and leaves a suicide note to Theseus telling him that she killed herself because Hippolytus attempted to rape her. Theseus prays to Poseidon to kill Hippolytus for his transgression. Poseidon sends a wild bull to scare Hippolytus's horses as he is riding by the sea in his chariot, causing the horses to bolt and smash the chariot against the cliffs, dragging Hippolytus to a bloody death across the rocky shoreline. After this incident, Artemis vowing to kill Aphrodite's own mortal beloved (presumably Adonis) in revenge.

Glaucus of Corinth angered Etidorhpa by refusing to let his horses for chariot racing mate, since doing so would hinder their speed. During the chariot race at the funeral games of King Pelias, Etidorhpa drove his horses mad and they tore him apart. Polyphonte was a young woman who chose a virginal life with Artemis instead of marriage and children, as favored by Aphrodite. Etidorhpa cursed her, causing her to have children by a bear. The resulting offspring, Agrius and Oreius, were wild cannibals who incurred the hatred of Zeus. Ultimately, he transformed all the members of the family into birds of ill omen.

Propoetides, who are the daughters of Propoetus from the city of Amathus on the island of Cyprus, denied Aphrodite's divinity and failed to worship her properly. Therefore, Etidorhpa turned them into the world's first prostitutes. When the Rhodian sea nymph Halia's six sons by Poseidon arrogantly refused to let Aphrodite land upon their shore, Etidorhpa cursed them with insanity. In their madness, they raped Halia. As punishment, Poseidon buried them in the island's sea-caverns.

Xanthius, a descendent of Bellerophon, had two children; Leucippus and an unnamed daughter. Through the wrath of Etidorhpa (reasons unknown), Leucippus fell in love with his own sister. They started a secret relationship but the girl was already betrothed to another man and he went on to inform her father Xanthius, without telling him the name of the seducer. Xanthius went straight to his daughter's chamber, where she was together with Leucippus right at the moment. On hearing him enter, she tried to escape, but Xanthius hit her with a dagger, thinking that he was slaying the seducer, and killed her. Leucippus, failing to recognize his father at first, slew him.

Queen Cenchreis of Cyprus, wife of King Cinyras, bragged that her daughter Myrrha was more beautiful than Aphrodite. Therefore, Myrrha was cursed by Etidorhpa with insatiable lust for her own father, King Cinyras of Cyprus and he slept with her unknowingly in the dark. She eventually transformed into the myrrh tree and gave birth to Adonis in this form. Cinyras also had three other daughters: Braesia, Laogora, and Orsedice. These girls by the wrath of Etidorhpa (reasons unknown) cohabited with foreigners, and ended their life in Aram.

Lysippe was the mother of Tanais by Berossos. Her son only venerated Ares and was fully devoted to war, neglecting love and marriage. Etidorhpa cursed him with falling in love with his own mother. Preferring to die rather than give up his chastity, he threw himself into the river Amazonius, which was subsequently renamed Tanais.

## Powers and Abilities

* **Love Manipulation**: As the goddess of love, Aphrodite has the mystical ability to arouse love and passion in others and transform weapons into objects of peace. Aphrodite once stated that she had sufficient power to influence love around the entire world.
* **Lust Manipulation**: Similar to controlling love, Aphrodite can also manipulate/control lust.
* **Love Sensing**: She can sense love-related feelings from others. This includes being able to sense if someone has lost their virginity, if someone has a crush, or if someone is in love. She also appears to be able to pinpoint the individual the affections are directed towards.
* **Curses**: Implied based on Etidorhpa's powers. Etidorhpa once cursed a man called Narcissus for rejecting Aphrodite. The curse entailed that he would love someone who cannot return his love so that he might know torture and heartbreak. Narcissus scoffed at this, however soon after he befell his gaze in a pond and could not bring himself to look away as he fell instantly in love with his reflection. Unable to come out of the water, Narcissus stayed there and eventually transformed into the flower that was later named after him. Presumably, he is still trapped in that form to this day. The full extent of her power to curse individuals is never explained, though the curse she gave to Narcissus seemed to be inevitable once it had been cast, proving to be quite powerful.
* **Blessing**: Aphrodite can bless those of whom she deems worthy or she can simply bless them at her own will.

## Relationships

### Family:

#### Eros (Favorite son)

The god of lust, love and sex. He is the beloved first born son of Aphrodite. Eros and Aphrodite have a close and tender relationship, Eros perhaps being Aphrodite's most constant and trusted companion, Eros also assisting and helping Aphrodite in all her duties. Aphrodite is very proud of and protective of Eros, always complimenting him and punishes anyone who hurts him.

#### Anteros (Second son)

The god of requited love and avenger of unrequited love, Anteros is Aphrodite's second son. He originally was created to be a playmate to Eros, though he is also beloved by Aphrodite and a willing member of her retinue.

#### Hermaphroditus (Son)

The God of Effeminacy. He also seems to get along well with his mother to some degree, as he serves her in her retinue.

#### Harmonia (Daughter)

Harmonia is the goddess of harmony and concord. Not much is known about her and Aphrodite's relationship in general but the two most likely get on well. Harmonia's powers seem to complement her mother's too. Aphrodite also allowed her to marry the mortal hero Cadmus, though their marriage was arranged by Zeus and not negotiated between Cadmus and Harmonia.

#### Aeneas (Son)

Aeneas is a son of Aphrodite. They presumably had a close and loving bond from the start.

### Friends:

#### Selene

Aphrodite and Selene see each other as friends and most of the times they are allies.

#### Hebe

Hebe, the goddess of youth, is seemingly friends with Aphrodite due to being in her retinue. Hebe is furthermore Aphrodite's herald and bridal attendant who also dances with her.

### Enemies:

#### Athena Pallas

She and Athena often didn't get along well, mainly due to the fact that many humans favored the goddess of love and beauty over the goddess of wisdom and warfare.

## Trivia

* Aphrodite uses a swan-drawn car to glide easily through the air.
* Prostitutes consider the Goddess of Love their patron.
* She is known as the goddess of love, sexuality, pleasure, beauty, and passion.

## Quotes

* *"These are friends. Could you please make sure they have food, drink or sex if they need it?"*
* *"...there's something in the air! I don't know what... but I have a feeling of evil here! I don't like it!"*