Aphrodite's notable divine offspring include those from her affair with Ares, the god of war: Harmonia, the warrior twins Phobos and Deimos, and Eros, the god of love. From her relationship with the mortal Anchises, she became the mother of Aeneas, a mythical hero of Troy and Rome.
Aphrodite and Hermes had one child together – Hermaphroditus. Hermaphroditus was also considered one of the Erotic gods and sometimes called Atlantiades since Hermes was the great-grandchild of Atlas.
Ares was said to have loved Aphrodite, the goddess of love. Ares and Aphrodite had several children together. Their children included the twins Phobos (which means “fear”) and Deimos (which means “panic”). Even though Ares was one of the main gods of ancient Greece, people did not worship him much.
Her lovers included Ares, the god of war, and the mortal Anchises, a Trojan prince with whom she had a famous son, Aeneas. Her most famous lover, however, was the handsome and youthful mortal Adonis.
Psyche was a young princess from Sicily, famous for her extraordinary beauty. According to legend, she was even more beautiful than Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty.
Though married to Hephaestus, Aphrodite had an affair with Ares, the god of war. Eventually, Hephaestus discovered Aphrodite's affair through Helios, the all-seeing Sun, and planned a trap during one of their trysts.
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Aphrodite later and of her own volition had an affair with Zeus, but his jealous wife Hera laid her hands upon the belly of the goddess and cursed their offspring with malformity. Their child was the ugly god Priapos.
The total number of Aphrodite's offspring is generally said to be fifteen, although some sources indicate a sixteenth: Tyche, goddess of fortune and luck. There are seven consorts listed as the fathers of these many children, including the gods Poseidon and Dionysus.
Given that Ares was such hard work, perhaps it is no surprise that he never married. But he still had several love affairs and fathered many children. Ares famously had a love affair with Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love.
She was known as Athena Parthenos "Athena the Virgin," but in one archaic Attic myth, the god Hephaestus tried and failed to rape her, resulting in Gaia giving birth to Erichthonius, an important Athenian founding hero.
While that approach has certainly yielded important information on gender dynamics in late-Classical Greece, it tends to overlook the fact that though this Aphrodite is female, she is also divine.
Where was Aphrodite born? The Greek poet Hesiod recounts in his epic Theogony that Aphrodite was born from the white foam produced by the severed genitals of Uranus, the personification of heaven, after his son Cronus threw them into the sea. Hence, the goddess's name comes from the Greek word aphros, meaning “foam.”
Arguably her most famous son was Eros, the god of love. Aphrodite was often shown as particularly devoted to her son, who unlike the majority of personifications had a distinct personality and eventually stories centered around him as a character. She also had one mortal son.
Cupid is, quite literally, the child of the goddess of love, Venus. In Greek mythology, he is known as Eros, and, depending on the source, was thought to be a primordial god who came into the world either asexually, from an egg, or the son of Aphrodite (Venus' Hellenistic counterpart).
Hera. The most famous of Zeus' wives, Hera was also the sister of the father of the gods, and the goddess of women, marriage, family, and childbirth.
Aphrodite was married to Hephaistos (Ἡφαιστος), the god of fire, smiths, and craftsmen. However, as we'll soon learn, this wasn't by her own choosing, and thus she had a longstanding affair with her true love, Ares (Αρης), The Greek god of War.
Zeus finally became enamored of the goddess who was to become his permanent wife — Hera.
Aphrodite held Adonis in her arms as he bled to death. As she cried over her beloved, her tears fell into the pools of blood around them, and they were transformed through her love: from those tears mingled with the blood there bloomed the most beautiful anemone flowers.
All three were beautiful, but Psyche was the most beautiful. Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, heard about Psyche and her sisters and was jealous of all the attention people paid to Psyche.
Zeus and his many lovers
He was definitely the most adulterous god, though, with his list of consorts and children being the most expansive in Greek mythology.
Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty, was described as having blonde hair. In ancient Greece and Rome, blonde hair was frequently associated with prostitutes, who dyed their hair using saffron dyes in order to attract customers.
Aphrodite's Curse is about a dynasty's fall from grace, unrequited love and retribution. A powerful family is brought to ruin, the consequences unforeseen and irreparable. The trouble begins with King Minos who asks the gods for a bull to be sacrificed so that he may become ruler of Kretos and surrounding lands.
Mythological tales vividly relate Aphrodite's involvement in matters of the heart, and these have contributed greatly to our conception of the goddess as primarily concerned with love and sex. Few were immune to her seductive charms, and Zeus punished her for the many improper unions that she caused.