II. 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.
Before his marriage to Hera, Zeus consorted with a number of the female Titanes (and his sister Demeter). These liaisons are ordered by Hesiod as follows: (1) Metis; (2) Themis; (3) Eurynome; (4) Demeter; (5) Mnemosyne; (6) Leto.
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.
Homer calls Aphrodite the daughter of Zeus and Dione, who was either a Titan or one of the daughters of Oceanus. The name Dione is also the feminine form of Zeus' name.
Zeus finally became enamored of the goddess who was to become his permanent wife — Hera. After courting her unsuccessfully he changed himself into a disheveled cuckoo. When Hera took pity on the bird and held it to her breast, Zeus resumed his true form and ravished her.
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.
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.
"Venus [Aphrodite] is said to have loved Anchises and to have lain with him. By him she conceived Aeneas, but she warned him not to reveal it to anyone. Anchises, however, told it over the wine to his companions, and for this was struck by the thunderbolt of Jove [Zeus]."
Aphrodite was no directly connected to Zeus. She was probably a generation older than the other Olympian Gods. The myth says that she was born out of the foam of the sea either near Paphos Cyrpus or near Kythira island.
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.
Zeus fell in love with Io and seduced her. To try to keep Hera from noticing he covered the world with a thick blanket of clouds. This backfired, arousing Hera's suspicions. She came down from Mount Olympus and begain dispersing the clouds.
Suffice it to say that Zeus was constantly involved in extramarital affairs. Throughout the various and sometimes contradictory myths composed by Greek authors, there are at least 20 divine figures with whom he consorted, and about twice as many mortals.
Aphrodite was also sometimes accompanied by Harmonia, her daughter by Ares, and Hebe, the daughter of Zeus and Hera. The fertility god Priapus was usually considered to be Aphrodite's son by Dionysus, but he was sometimes also described as her son by Hermes, Adonis, or even Zeus.
Metis, an Oceanid or sea-nymph, was Zeus's first wife. Wise and prudent, she was endowed with the gift of prophecy. In their early years together, she was Zeus's closest ally and aide, helping him win the battle against Cronus.
Perhaps partly because of the strange circumstances of her birth, Athena is often cited as Zeus's favourite child. He also greatly admired her strength of character and fighting spirit. Some believe Athena was Zeus's first born child, which might, somewhat unfairly, suggest why he chose her as his favourite.
Even though married to Hephaestus, she had affairs with all Olympians except Zeus and Hades, most famously with Ares, the god of war. She also had famous romances with two mortals, Anchises and Adonis.
Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, heard about Psyche and her sisters and was jealous of all the attention people paid to Psyche. So she summoned her son, Eros, and told him to put a spell on Psyche. Always obedient, Eros flew down to earth with two vials of potions.
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.
While Aphrodite is only depicted with male lovers in myth, she is said to have supported same-sex relationships in Ancient Greece, such as those of the poet Sappho, who is believed to have had relationships primarily with women lovers.
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.
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.
Upon meeting Psyche, Eros himself fell in love with her. He disobeyed Aphrodite and instead took Psyche to his own hidden home to be his wife. When Psyche betrayed his trust one time, Eros abandoned her.
Calling someone prettier than Aphrodite makes Aphrodite jealous, and she kills them. That's it.
Impregnation by Zeus
Nonnus classifies Zeus's affair with Semele as one in a set of twelve, the other eleven women on whom he begot children being Io, Europa, Plouto, Danaë, Aigina, Antiope, Leda, Dia, Alcmene, Laodameia, the mother of Sarpedon, and Olympias.
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.”