Query: Aphrodite appears in Greek mythology.

Relevant passages:
Anchises <=SEP=> In Greek mythology , Anchises ( -LSB- ænˈkaɪsiːz -RSB- or -LSB- æŋˈkaɪsiːz -RSB- ; , -LSB- aŋkʰi͜ísɛ͜ɛs -RSB- ) was the son of Capys and Themiste ( daughter of Ilus , who was son of Tros ) . He was the father of Aeneas and a member of the royal family of Troy .   His major claim to fame in Greek mythology is that he was a mortal lover of the goddess Aphrodite ( and in Roman mythology , the lover of Venus ) . One version is that Aphrodite pretended to be a Phrygian princess and seduced him . She later revealed herself and informed him that they would have a son named Aeneas . Aphrodite had warned him that if he boasted of the affair , he would be blasted by the thunderbolt of Zeus . He did not heed her warning and was struck with a thunderbolt , which in different versions either blinds him or kills him . The principal early narrative of Aphrodite 's seduction of Anchises and the birth of Aeneas is the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite . According to the Bibliotheca , Anchises and Aphrodite had another son , Lyrus , who died childless . He later had a mortal wife named Eriopis , according to the scholiasts , and he is credited with other children beside Aeneas and Lyrus . Homer , in the Iliad , mentions a daughter named Hippodameia , their eldest ( `` the darling of her father and mother '' ) , who married her cousin Alcathous .   After the defeat of Troy in the Trojan War , the elderly Anchises was carried from the burning city by his son Aeneas , accompanied by Aeneas ' wife Creusa , who died in the escape attempt , and small son Ascanius . The subject is depicted in several paintings , including a famous version by Federico Barocci in the Galleria Borghese in Rome . The rescue is also mentioned in a speech in Shakespeare 's Julius Caesar when Cassius attempts to persuade Brutus to murder Caesar . Anchises himself died and was buried in Sicily many years later . Aeneas later visited Hades and saw his father again in the Elysian Fields .   Homer 's Iliad mentions another Anchises , a wealthy native of Sicyon in Greece and father of Echepolus .

Cronus <=SEP=> In Greek mythology , Cronus , or Kronos ( -LSB- ˈkroʊnəs -RSB- or -LSB- ˈkroʊnɒs -RSB- from Κρόνος , krónos ) , was the leader and youngest of the first generation of Titans , the divine descendants of Uranus , the sky , and Gaia , the earth . He overthrew his father and ruled during the mythological Golden Age , until he was overthrown by his own son Zeus and imprisoned in Tartarus . According to Plato , Phorcys , Cronus and Rhea were the eldest children of Oceanus and Tethys .   Cronus was usually depicted with a harpe , scythe or a sickle , which was the instrument he used to castrate and depose Uranus , his father . In Athens , on the twelfth day of the Attic month of Hekatombaion , a festival called Kronia was held in honour of Cronus to celebrate the harvest , suggesting that , as a result of his association with the virtuous Golden Age , Cronus continued to preside as a patron of harvest . Cronus was also identified in classical antiquity with the Roman deity Saturn .

Interpretatio graeca <=SEP=> Interpretatio graeca ( Latin , `` Greek translation '' or `` interpretation by means of Greek -LSB- models -RSB- '' ) is a discourse in which ancient Greek religious concepts and practices , deities , and myths are used to interpret or attempt to understand the mythology and religion of other cultures . It is thus a comparative methodology that looks for equivalencies and shared characteristics . The phrase may describe Greek efforts to explain others ' beliefs and myths , as when Herodotus describes Egyptian religion in terms of perceived Greek analogues , or when Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Plutarch document Roman cults , temples , and practices under the names of equivalent Greek deities . Interpretatio graeca may also describe non-Greeks ' interpretation of their own belief systems by comparison or assimilation with Greek models , as when Romans adapt Greek myths and iconography under the names of their own gods .   Interpretatio romana is comparative discourse in reference to ancient Roman religion and myth , as in the formation of a distinctive Gallo-Roman religion . Both the Romans and the Gauls reinterpreted Gallic religious traditions in relation to Roman models , particularly Imperial cult .   Jan Assmann considers the polytheistic approach to internationalizing gods as a form of `` intercultural translation '' :  The great achievement of polytheism is the articulation of a common semantic universe . ... The meaning of a deity is his or her specific character as it unfolded in myths , hymns , rites , and so on . This character makes a deity comparable to other deities with similar traits . The similarity of gods makes their names mutually translatable . ... The practice of translating the names of the gods created a concept of similarity and produced the idea or conviction that the gods are international .   Pliny the Elder expressed the `` translatability '' of deities as `` different names to different peoples '' ( nomina alia aliis gentibus ) . This capacity made possible the religious syncretism of the Hellenistic era and the pre-Christian Roman Empire .

Aphrodite <=SEP=> Aphrodite ( -LSB- æfrəˈdaɪti -RSB- ; Greek : Αφροδίτη ( Afrodíti ) ) is the Greek goddess of love , beauty , pleasure , and procreation . She is identified with the planet Venus ; her Roman equivalent is the goddess -LSB- Venus ( mythology ) , Venus -RSB- . Myrtle , roses , doves , sparrows and swans were sacred to her .   In Hesiod 's Theogony , Aphrodite was created from the sea foam ( aphros ) produced by Uranus 's genitals , which had been severed by Cronus .  In Homer 's Iliad , however , she is the daughter of Zeus and Dione . In Plato ( Symposium , 180e ) , these two origins are said to be of hitherto separate entities : Aphrodite Ourania ( a transcendent , `` Heavenly '' Aphrodite ) and Aphrodite Pandemos ( Aphrodite common to `` all the people '' ) . She had many other names , each emphasising a different aspect of the same goddess , or used by a different local cult . Thus she was also known as Cytherea ( Lady of Cythera ) and Cypris ( Lady of Cyprus ) , both of which claimed to be her place of birth .   In Greek myth , the other gods feared that Aphrodite 's beauty might lead to conflict and war , through rivalry for her favours ; so Zeus married her off to Hephaestus . Despite this , Aphrodite followed her own inclinations , and had many lovers -- both gods , such as Ares , and men , such as Anchises . She played a role in the Eros and Psyche legend , and was both lover and surrogate mother of Adonis . Many lesser beings were said to be children of Aphrodite .

Zeus <=SEP=> Zeus -LSB- ˈzju : s -RSB- ( Ζεύς , Zeús , -LSB- zdeǔ̯s -RSB- Modern Δίας , Días -LSB- ˈði.as -RSB- ) is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion , who ruled as king of the gods of Mount Olympus . His name is cognate with the first element of his Roman equivalent Jupiter . His mythologies and powers are similar , though not identical , to those of the Indo-European deities such as Indra , Jupiter , Perun , Thor , and Odin .   Zeus is the child of Cronus and Rhea , the youngest of his siblings to be born , though sometimes reckoned the eldest as the others required disgorging from Cronus 's stomach . In most traditions , he is married to Hera , by whom he is usually said to have fathered Ares , Hebe , and Hephaestus . At the oracle of Dodona , his consort was said to be Dione , by whom the Iliad states that he fathered Aphrodite . Zeus was also infamous for his erotic escapades . These resulted in many godly and heroic offspring , including Athena , Apollo , Artemis , Hermes , Persephone , Dionysus , Perseus , Heracles , Helen of Troy , Minos , and the Muses .   He was respected as an allfather who was chief of the gods and assigned the others to their roles : `` Even the gods who are not his natural children address him as Father , and all the gods rise in his presence . '' He was equated with many foreign weather gods , permitting Pausanias to observe `` That Zeus is king in heaven is a saying common to all men '' . Zeus ' symbols are the thunderbolt , eagle , bull , and oak . In addition to his Indo-European inheritance , the classical `` cloud-gatherer '' ( Greek : Νεφεληγερέτα , Nephelēgereta ) also derives certain iconographic traits from the cultures of the ancient Near East , such as the scepter . Zeus is frequently depicted by Greek artists in one of two poses : standing , striding forward with a thunderbolt leveled in his raised right hand , or seated in majesty .

Aphrodite Pandemos <=SEP=> Aphrodite Pandemos ( Πάνδημος `` common to all the people '' ) , occurs as an epithet of the Greek goddess Aphrodite , and that in a twofold sense , first describing her as the goddess of low sensual pleasures as Venus vulgivaga or popularis , in opposition to Aphrodite Urania , or `` the heavenly Aphrodite '' . She was represented at Elis by Scopas riding on a ram . The second sense is that of Aphrodite uniting all the inhabitants of a country into one social or political body . In this respect she was worshipped at Athens along with Peitho ( persuasion ) , and her worship was said to have been instituted by Theseus at the time when he united the scattered townships into one great body of citizens . According to some authorities , it was Solon who erected the sanctuary of Aphrodite Pandemos , either because her image stood in the agora , or because the hetaerae had to pay the costs of its erection . The worship of Aphrodite Pandemos also occurs at Megalopolis in Arcadia , and at Thebes . A festival in honour of her is mentioned by Athenaeus . The sacrifices offered to her consisted of white goats . Pandemos occurs also as a surname of Eros .   The goddess riding on a goat was also known as Aphrodite Epitragia , `` from a she-goat '' . According to Plutarch , she acquired this epithet from an episode in the life of Theseus when , by the recommendation of Apollo , the hero sacrificed a goat to Aphrodite before departing for Crete in hopes that she would guide him on his voyage . As Theseus sacrificed the customary she-goat , the animal was suddenly transformed into a male goat .

Adonis <=SEP=> Adonis ( -LSB- əˈdɒnɪs , _ əˈdoʊnɪs -RSB- Ἄδωνις ) , in Greek mythology , is a central figure in various mystery religions . In 1966 , Wahib Atallah wrote that the `` cult of Adonis belonged to women '' , and further asserted `` the cult of dying Adonis was fully developed in the circle of young girls around Sappho on Lesbos , about 600 BC , as a fragment of Sappho reveals . ''   There has been much scholarship over the centuries concerning the multiple roles of Adonis , if any , and his meaning and purpose in Greek religious beliefs . Modern scholarship sometimes describes him as an annually renewed , ever-youthful vegetation god , a life-death-rebirth deity whose nature is tied to the calendar . His name is often applied in modern times to handsome youths , of whom he is the archetype .