Born from the genitals of Cronus as his sons used a sickle on him for revenge. They were thrown into the sea which foamed up with a beautiful girl within. Aphrodite was born in a wave of foam on a shell, as the myth goes, leaving the sea, onto the island of Cyprus. She was greeted and as each drop of water fell from her body, they turned into pearls. The Horae (Goddesses of the Seasons) that met her gave her jewels and golden robes to wear. After getting royally dressed she was taken to Mount Olympus to greet the other Gods.
Aphrodite is one of most known of the gods. Mortals and Gods were always after her favour, including Zeus. When Zeus asked to be his wife however, she scorned him and made her marry Hephaestus. He was the crippled God of Blacksmiths and was very boring, to a sensuous and loving goddess.
She was a very promiscuous and sexual Goddess who found joy and beauty. She did have an evil side though. She took revenge on mortals and gods alike when they interfered with the natural order of love. With her power of love, good and bad, she was a powerful Goddess who was adored but feared at the same time. She started the Trojan War infact by offering Helen of Sparta to Prince Paris of Troy at a wedding between Peleus and Thetis. Of course Helen’s husband, Menelaus was not too pleased and the war broke out. With the passion and spark of love, she could manipulate the importance of a lot of episodes in mythological history.
Aphrodite had many lovers and many children by them. They were all passed off as Hephaestus’s offspring.
Her most known of all affairs is with Ares, the God of War. He was the favourite of so the myth tells. They had a child together, Anteros who punished people who never returned love. Adonis was another suitor who stayed with Aphrodite for a third of a year with Aphrodite, a third by himself and a third with the Goddess of the Underworld, Persephone. The goddesses were fighting over him and so Zeus sorted the solution to the argument.
The openness of the affairs with Ares was noticed by Gods and soon filtered down to Hephaestus. He made a golden web for revenge and threw it over them when they were naked and in each others arms. Both were totally humiliated and embarrassed by the act.
She did have a child to Zeus, Cupid (Eros). He became the god of sensual love. Aphrodite actually turned down Zeus when he made his intensions known to be his wife.
By Hermes she was the mother of Hermaphroditus, who was welded with a nymph into a body with both sexes.
By Dionysus she had two sons, Hymen and Priapus. While Hymen was worshipped as the god of marriage, his ugly brother, Priapus represented human lust. They were exact opposites
One of Aphrodite's mortal children was Aeneas, her son by the shepherd, Anchises. Aeneas became the mythological God of Italy and the Roman countrymen. Therefore he is well remembered in Italian history
With all the passions of herself and her offspring together, they had the most control of every felling known to God and mortal alike.
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Source: http://www.ArticlePros.com/author.php?Donna Critchley
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