Aphrodite-Goddess of Love

                                    Aphrodite

APHRODITE was the goddess of love and beauty, in Greek mythology. She is said
to be the daughter of Zeus and Dione, one of his consorts, but in later legends
she is described as having sprung from the foam of the sea and her name may be
translated "foam-risen."

In Homeric legend Aphrodite is the wife of the lame and ugly god of fire,
Hephaestus. Among her lovers was Ares, god of war, who in later mythology
became her husband. She was the rival of Persephone, queen of the underworld,
for the love of the beautiful Greek youth Adonis.

Perhaps the most famous legend about Aphrodite concerns the cause of the Trojan
War. Eris, the goddess of discord, the only goddess not invited to the wedding
of King Peleus and the sea nymph Thetis, resentfully tossed into the banquet
hall a golden apple, marked "for the fairest." When Zeus refused to judge
between the three goddesses who claimed the apple, Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite,
they asked Paris, prince of Troy, to make the award. Each offered him a bribe:
Hera, that he would be a powerful ruler; Athena, that he would achieve great
military fame; and Aphrodite, that he should have the fairest woman in the
world. Paris selected Aphrodite as the fairest and chose as his prize Helen of
Troy, the wife of the Greek king Menelaus. Paris's abduction of Helen led to
the Trojan War.

Aphrodite was identified in early Greek religious beliefs with the Phoenician
Astarte and was known as Aphrodite Urania, queen of the heavens, and as
Aphrodite Pandemos, goddess of the people.