Aphrodite — Ancient Greek God

Aphrodite, Goddess of Love and Beauty
Roman name: Venus
The ancient Greek goddess, Aphrodite, showed up one day, thousands of years ago, and began appearing in ancient Greek myths, the myths told by the ancient Greek storytellers. According to the stories that sprang up about her, she was as vain as she was beautiful, and she was very beautiful. Zeus was delighted to claim her as his daughter. It was Zeus' habit to give his children titles and jobs. He gave Aphrodite the title of Goddess of Love and Beauty, and the job of spreading love and beauty everywhere.

Aphrodite had a son, Eros (known as Cupid in Roman mythology) whom she loved dearly. She had a husband, the handyman to the gods, Hephaestus, whom she tolerated. She even got along with Hera, Queen of all the Greek gods, most of the time. She worked very hard at the job Zeus had given her as the goddess of love and beauty.

Aphrodite tried to be nice to everyone, usually, and tried to spread love and beauty everywhere she went. But unfortunately, her plans for people (and gods and goddesses) did not always work out the way she thought they would, which caused no end of trouble. As Aphrodite often insisted, the things that went wrong were not really her fault.

Aphrodite's Name
Aphrodite’s name is usually linked to the Ancient Greek word for “sea-foam,” aphros, which fits nicely with the story of her birth. However, modern scholars think that both Aphrodite and her name predate Ancient Greece and that the story actually came because of the goddess’ name.

Aphrodite’s Birth
Homer and Hesiod tell two different stories about the origin of Aphrodite.
According to the former, Aphrodite was the daughter of Zeus and the Titaness Diona, thus making her a second-generation goddess, much like the most Olympians.
However, Hesiod retells the much more famous myth. According to him the goddess of love emerged from the waters on a scallop shell, fully-grown, nude, and more beautiful than anything anyone had ever seen before or since.

Aphrodite Married to Hephaestus
Aphrodite was so lovely that only the three virgin goddesses – Artemis, Athena, and Hestia – were immune to her charms and power. Unsurprisingly, the second she got on Olympus, she inadvertently wreaked havoc amongst the other gods, each of whom instantly wanted to have her for himself. So as to prevent this, Zeus hurriedly married her to Hephaestus, the ugliest among the Olympians.

Aphrodite and Poseidon
Poor Hephaestus! He couldn’t have known that when Poseidon saw Aphrodite naked, he fell in love with her all over again. He must have found out later, since Aphrodite gave Poseidon at least one daughter, Rhode.