~Aphrodite~

Birth of Aphrodite

Aphrodite is the Greek Goddess of Love and Beauty, even though she is often spiteful and cruel. Her name is Greek for "out of foam". That is how one story of Aphrodite's birth originated. According to Hesiod, a Homeric Hymn, and Pausanias, Aphrodite was born from the blood of her father, Uranus (Sky).

According to Hesiod, Gaia (Earth), told her youngest son, Cronos (Time) to take the flint-bladed sickle that she had made and castrate his father. The blood that fell on the earth formed the three avenging Furies and from the genitals that fell into the ocean rose Aphrodite.

Another story is that Dione, a titaness or a earth goddess, was Aphrodite's mother and Zeus her father (once again he was cheating). The other story is that Aphrodite is the daughter of Euonyme, the epithet of Gaia, and Cronos (Time). Not much is known about these stories, not much is known about the gods either apart from the fact that Dione and Euonyme are both earth goddesses.

When Aphrodite went to Olympus all of the gods were interested in marring her. Afraid of a war that would break out over Aphrodite, Zeus made Aphrodite marry Hephaestus, the god of the Forge and Fire. Hephaestus was very happy to have a wife as beautiful as Aphrodite...well he was before he found out that she is vain, ill-tempered, and easily offended. Aphrodite was very unhappy about being married to the scared and crippled Hephaestus, though she did like the jewelry that he made for her. Because Aphrodite could not tolerate being around someone so ugly she stared sleeping around and taking lovers.

Aphrodite and baby Eros

One of the most known of Aphrodite's lovers was Ares. With Ares she had a couple of children. Phobos (Fear), Deimos (Dread), Eros (Love and Lust), Anteros (requited and unrequited love), Harmonia (Harmony), and Himeros(Lust) were children she had with Ares alone. All of these god turned out to be minor gods (meaning that they were not well known and not worshiped by many) except for Eros, who had a slightly higher rank. Eros was also very popular in Rome, but they called him "Cupid" there. Always managed to tick the Greeks right off with the name "Cupid". We do know that Phobos and Deimos accompanied their father into battle. Fear and Dread love company.

Dionysus was another or Aphrodite's lovers. With him Aphrodite birthed Priapus, god of fertility. Priapus is usually seen with huge genitals and a constant hard given to him by Hera who disapproved of Aphrodite's promiscuous ways. There was also the gods Hephaestus and Hermes and the humans Butes, Anchises, and Adonis. With the human males she birthed one child to each and with Hermes she had five children who hold no status of importance. With her husband she did not have a child.

Of all of Aphrodite's children the most known of them all was Eros (Cupid). He was known to make couples fall in love or to cause lust between couples. Most often just lust. Though he did have a large sexual appetite as most Greeks did, he was not immune to love for he fell in love with Psyche. In the story Aphrodite was jealous of the human Psyche so she sent Eros to make her fall in love with the uglest man on earth. One version says that Eros saw her and instantly fell in love. Another version is that Eros accidentally pricked himself with his golden arrows used to make people fall in love. I say he fell in love at first sight, but that's just me. Either way he fell in love.

Psyche's parents took her to an oracle to find out if she would ever marry. The oracle told them that she was not destend to have a human love, but a creature that lived on a certain mountain that even the gods feared. Psyche, resigned to her fate, climbed the mountain. At the top of the mountain a gentle west wind picked her up and carried her downward to a cave where Eros came every night. There in the dark they made love, the only request Psyche's love made was that she not light a lamp. Eros had small wings on his back and if she lighted a lamp she would know who he was.

One day Psyche's sisters conviced her to light a lamp. That night she lighted a lamp when her lover fell asleep. When she did so she droped some of the lamp oil on Eros who awoke and fled.

When Psyche told her sisters who her lover was, they rejoyced. Her sisters who were jelous of her went up to the mountain hopping that Eros would chose one of them. Eros still broken hearted over Psyche, did not choose the sisters who then fell to their deaths.

Psyche searched all of Greece for her love. She ended up in the Temple of Demeter who gave her a mixed grain pile to sort into piles. When she finished Demeter told her to the best way to find Eros was to find Aphrodite and gain her approval. So Psyche went to Aphrodite's temple and gave Psyche a similar task to Demeter's, but with a impossible dead-line. Eros, still in love with Psyche, sent ants to sort the grain for her.

Enraged, Aphrodite sent Psyche to find golden sheep and gather some of their wool. Psyche found the field that had the golden sheep with the wool that Aphrodite wanted and was just about to cross the river when a river god stopped her. The river god told her that the sheep would kill her if she went across now, but if she waited until the noon when the sheep were asleep, she could gather the wool from the branches and trees where the sheep had rubbed up on.

Again Psyche finished the task Aphrodite had given her, much to Aphrodite's fury. Finally Aphrodite told Psyche that she had lost some of her beauty from the stress of carrying for her depressed son, Eros because of Psyche's unfaithfulness. In order to get some of her beauty back Psyche needed to go to Hades (the Greek Underworld) and get a black box from Persephone, Hades' (the god) wife. Psyche went to the top of the tower, figuring the quickest way into Hades was to die, but just as she was about to jump off a voice told her the way into Hades without dying. The voice told her how to get pass Cerberus, Charon and any other dangers of the path. Psyche found the path down to Hades and gave Cerberus one of the three barley cakes she made the previous night as the voice had told her to do. To Charon she payed two coins for him to take her across the water into Hades, along the way hand reached out of the water and Psyche threw them a barley cake. Once she reached the other side Persephone said she would gladly do a favor for Aphrodite and gave Psyche the black box. Again she paid charon two coins and gave Cerberus the last of the barley cake.

Once Psyche left the underworld she decided to take a little bit of beauty for herself thinking Eros would surely love her, unknowingly that Aphrodite had tricked her. Inside the box was "Stygian sleep" which over took her making her sleep. Aphrodite was pleased, but Eros who had forgiven her, flew to her body and wiped the sleep from her eyes so she could wake up. Eros than begged Zeus and Aphrodite to let him marry Psyche, which they granted, Zeus also made Psyche immortal. All of this was much to Aphrodite's fury.

Another story about Aphorodite involved Hera, Athena, herself, and a male human named Paris. There are a couple different versions of the story, but the one I am most familiar with goes something like this.

Aphrodite was of the opion that she was the fairest of all the goddesses which upset Hera and Athena who also thought they were beautiful. This started a big fight between the three goddesses. Finally they decided to go down to earth and ask a human male who was the fairest of them all.

This is where Paris came into the story (this name might be familiar because he was the one who stole Helen of troy). So the three goddesses went down to ask him which was the fairest. In the story Paris was worried about which one to choose. The three goddesses got tired of him saying that they were all beautiful and started to bribe him. Athena offered him unlimited knowlege, Hera offered the largest city in the world, and Aphrodite offered him a golden apple. The golden apple, Aphrodite said, was to make anyone who ate it fall instantly in love with him.

Paris thought about these offers. He already owned the largest city in th world (or so he thought) and he had unlimited knowledge. Left only with Aphrodite's offer it made sense to chose her and get the golden apple. With the golden apple he could make Helen of Troy fall in love with him, in doing so that would make his city not only the largest in the world, but also the most beautiful city in the world.

He told the goddesses that he chose Aphrodite as the fairest of all the goddesses. In the end Aphrodite gave him the apple which he used on Helen of Troy. He took Helen to his city in Rome, which started the Trojen War. Athena still mad about the results of the fight gave aid to the Greeks trying to get Helen back. She was the one said to give the idea for the Trojen Horse.

There are other stories about Aphrodite, but they are about her lovers both human and immortal and there is not much to them. So I think that is about all with Aphrodite. She is the Greek Goddess of Love and Beauty and her animal is the dove. In Rome her name is Venus and is worshipped for the same things. She is the protector of prostitutes and harlots (for she is said to have stared prostitution. When someone wants gain her favor or something they don't sacrifice a goat, they have sex in one of Aphrodite's temples.). Fascinating woman, but definitely not one of my favorite goddesses.

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