Names: | Aphrodite; Cytherea; Cypris; Lat. Venus. |
Epithets: | Smile-loving; Golden. |
Powers: | Love; beauty; charms; attraction; good luck. |
Attributes and symbols: | Sea-shell; doves; rose; girdle of irresistible attraction. |
Gifts to mortals: | Charms; desire; procreation. |
Origin: | From the severed phallus of Uranus in the sea-foam (Aphrodite
Urania, - Heavenly).
Or: daughter of Zeus and some Dione (derivative of Zeus. - Aphrodite Pandemos, - of the Crowds). |
Loves: | Ares; Adonis; Anchises, et al. |
Spouse: | Hephaestus. |
Children: | Aeneas (by Anchises); Eros/Cupid (by Ares) |
Chosen people/ places: | Islands: Cythera, Cyprus; Cnidus; Corinth.
Worshipped in Rome as Venus Genetrix - Ancestral Venus. |
Pageant: | Charites (Lat. Graces); Horae (Seasons); doves. |
Allies/ favorites: | Trojans, esp. Paris; Helen; Phaedra; sculptor Pygmalion; Hippomenes (won over Atalanta with the golden apples). |
Adversaries: | Hera & Athena (lost to her the beauty contest); Hippolytus (defies her power). |
Victims: | Hippolytus; Phaedra; Dido, et al. |
Notes: | The name Aphrodite is usually explained from the Gk. aphros - foam (of the sea of her birth). Plato, however, explains the name from a-phrosyne - foolishness, lack of wisdom. |