Aphrodite is the
Greek goddess of love and beauty. Her name literally translates as "Risen from sea-foam". Originally she was considered a daughter of
Zeus and
Dione, one of the ocean nymphs
?. By classical times, however, an alternate story of her birth had gained precedence, that she was born of the sea foam near Pafos, Cyprus after Cronus
? cut off
Uranus' genitals and the god's blood dropped on the sea. The
Iliad refers to both versions.
Aphrodite was married to Hephaestus?, the lame Blacksmith god. This didn't stop her from having affairs with other gods (for example with Ares, the god of war) and even mortals (Anchises? of Troy).
She had eight children. Most of them were gods (like Eros? and Priapos?), but she also gave birth to a mortal, namely Aeneas, son of Anchises.
Her Roman analogue is Venus.
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