Aphrodite

Aphrodite
Every woman's dream is to be beautiful and find love. Luckily for Aphrodite, she has it all. Aphrodite, the goddess of love, beauty, and attraction has the power to make anyone fall in love. Thi s love-sick goddess cannot be tied down by anyone not even her husband. Watch out world because according to Aphrodite, all you need is love. o the sea. From there the water turned into sea foam and from the foam came Aphrodite. The sea swept her up and landed her on the island of Cyprus where, wherever she walked flowers bloomed. Aphrodite’s husband is Hephaestus but she has flings with Ares and Adonis. Her friends are @Helen of Troy and Paris but her foes are Hera, and Athena ( Aphrodite: //Wikipedia//, Bryant, Regula)

Aphrodite had two lovely twin sons na med @Eros and Himeros. @Eros and Himeros were Aphrodite’s two Erotes or winged Love-Gods. Her son @Eros is also known as Cupid which makes him the more famous one. A lot like Aphrodite, @Eros could make anyone fall in love with his golden arrows. He could shoot either god or mortal. Himeros is the god of desire and he could also make people (god or mortal) fall in love by shooting arrows. Aphrodite was commonly seen with her two twins by her side (Bryant, HIMERUS ).

Despite being the most irresistible goddess, Aphrodite’s marriage is not all it is cracked up to be. As soon as Aphrodite showed her face on Mount Olympus, all the gods fell in love with her because of her power of attraction. Afraid of a fight between the gods for his daughter’s love, Zeus made Aphrodite marry Hephaestus; god of fire. He was dependable which made him a good choice for Aphrodite. This made Aphrodite very unhappy because Hephaestus is known to be the only ugly Olympian. Also, Aphrodite’s love for Ares, the god of war, made being married t o Hephaestus quite unbearable. To win over Aphrodite’s heart, Hephaestus wove Aphrodite a beautiful golden belt, but instead of making Aphrodite fall in love with him, it only made her more desirable to others (Bryant, Aphrodite: //Myths and Legends of the World// ).

Since marrying Hephaestus made Aphrodite ’s love with Ares forbidden, sneaking around and cheating on Hephaestus was just what she thought needed to be done. The small complication of her marriage was not going to stop Aphrodite and her love life. One day, when Hephaestus left, Aphrodite and Ares met up. When Helios, the sun god, saw Aphrodite and Ares, he informed Hephaestus straight away. Together they devised a plan to catch the lovers in action. He hung an invisible net around Aphrodite’s bed so when Aphrodite and Ares were together the net would fall down and trap them. When the net caught Aphrodite and Ares, Hephaestus brought many Olympians to see the cheating lovers, but instead of frowning upon them like Hephaestus had intended, they found it quite amusing (Bryant) All the gods and goddesses except E ris, the goddess of discord, went to Peleus and Thetis’s wedding. As a result of not being invited, Eris got upsthe girls took off their clothing a golden apple marked for “the most beautiful” into the reception. Since the apple was marked for “the most beautiful” Aphrodite, Hera and Athena all claimed that the apple was for them. Not wanting the wedding to turn into a huge disaster, Zeus thought that Paris; the prince of Troy should have a beauty contest to decide which goddess deserved the golden apple. Paris told each goddess to make him an offering and whichever one was the most appealing would b e the goddess to receive the ap  ple marked for “the most beautiful”. In the end, Paris chose Aphrodite. Since Aphrodite is the goddess who can make anyone fall in love, she offered Paris the chance to fall in love with Helen of Troy; the most beautiful woman in the world. Since Helen was married to Menelaus; king of Sparta, kidnapping Helen was the reason for the Trojan War (Bryant, History of the Trojan War ).

Aphrodite even fell in love with mortals. Adonis, a beautiful young shepherd caught the eye of Aphrodite when she gave him to Persephone; queen of the underworld so she could keep him safe. As soon as Aphrodite gave Adonis over to Persephone she fell in love. The only problem was Persephone also fell in love with him and did not want to give him back to Aphrodite. Adonis was out hunting one day wh en he was killed by a wild boar. Astonished, Aphrodite begged Zeus to bring him back to her. Zeus did not want to anger Persephone or Aphrodite so he brought Adonis back to life and promised that both goddesses could share Adonis. He made the plan that Adonis would stay with Aphrodite during spring and summer and all the rest of the seasons he was to stay with Persephone (Bryant).

Ocean blue eyes, heavenly gold hair, and most beautiful goddess of all, who could resist? Besides her beautiful eyes, long hair, and flawless skin, Aphrodite can make anyone fall in love, which makes her the most irresistible goddess of all. The reason why I chose Aphrodite was because she is the goddess of love and beauty and who is not interested in those things? I soon realized after doing research that she is quite obsessed with herself.

Works Cited


 * Regula, DeTraci. "Aphrodite, Greek Goddess of Love and Beauty - Fast Facts on Aphrodite." //Travel - Travel to Greece and the Greek Islands//. Web. 02 Dec. 2010. .
 * · Bryant, Megan E. //She's All That!: a Look-it-up Guide to the Goddesses of Mythology//. New York: Franklin Watts/Scholastic, 2010. Print.
 * · Ardagh, Philip. //World Book Myths & Legends//. Chicago: World Book, 2002. Print.
 * · "Aphrodite." //Myths and Legends of the World//. Ed. John M. Wickersham. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2000. //Gale Student Resources In Context//. Web. 6 Dec. 2010.
 * · "Aphrodite." //Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia//. Web. 06 Dec. 2010. .
 * · "History of the Trojan War." //Stanford University//. Web. 10 Dec. 2010. .
 * · "HIMERUS: Greek God of Sexual Desire; Mythology; Pictures: HIMEROS." //THEOI GREEK MYTHOLOGY, Exploring Mythology & the Greek Gods in Classical Literature & Art//. Web. 10 Dec. 2010. .