The myths tell us that Aphrodite qualities are essential for the joy of life, but the shadow side of Aphrodite manifests when a woman is completely identified with Aphrodite's powers, when other archetypal qualities of the feminine are unimportant to her.
Aphrodite could be both generous and vengeful. She gave Paris the most beautiful woman in the world as payment for naming her the fairest of the goddesses. The women of Lemnos saw the other side of Aphrodite. These women failed to honor the goddess, so Aphrodite cursed the women with a bad case of body odor.
Aphrodite's Curse is about a dynasty's fall from grace, unrequited love and retribution. A powerful family is brought to ruin, the consequences unforeseen and irreparable. The trouble begins with King Minos who asks the gods for a bull to be sacrificed so that he may become ruler of Kretos and surrounding lands.
Aphrodite loved to meddle in the romantic lives of mortals; she found this exceedingly delightful. Here are some of the myths in which Aphrodite caused wars in the name of love, caused romantic chaos, and created absurd matches — but they all gave her a good laugh, of course.
Unfortunately, possessing these powers had their disadvantages. Aphrodite had a great sense of confidence, and with that she was very vain, bad tempered, and jealous. Her promiscuity also caused her to be very unfaithful…show more content… She only ever had one husband, Hephaestus, the god of the forge.
Type of Hero
Despite being known to have frequent affairs against her husband Hephaestus (especially with her lover Ares, the God of War), she is often portrayed in myths as a friendly, kind, benevolent, and even generous entity.
Aphrodite's Anger
Like other gods, Aphrodite would punish anyone, mortal or god, for slights against her. Theseus' son Hippolytus became a devotee of the virgin goddess, Artemis, and thus shunned the pleasures of the flesh. This angered Aphrodite, who felt that Hippolytus did not worship her sufficiently.
Definition. Aphrodite was the ancient Greek goddess of love, beauty, desire, and all aspects of sexuality. She could entice both gods and men into illicit affairs with her beauty and whispered sweet nothings.
Just like many other Greek gods, she was vain and punished anyone who dared to neglect her or what she stood for. The goddess's ways of getting back at people who didn't worship her were cunning, often involving other gods and even mortals, without sparing their feelings or lives.
The recurrent theme for her devotees—male and female, young and old—was her capacity to create harmony and union. This could be purely sexual, or could pertain to marriage or fertility. Furthermore, because of her ability to bring about unity, Aphrodite was perceived as able to grant good order and smooth sailing.
An evil characteristic of Aphrodite is that she is disloyal. She did not love her husband, Hephaestus, so she decided to have an affair with Ares. Aphrodite is jealous, she did not want any mortal to be more beautiful than her.
In Greek mythology, Psyche was a mortal woman whose beauty was so great that it rivaled that of the goddess Aphrodite. Aphrodite became so jealous of Psyche that she sent her son, Eros, to make Psyche fall in love with the ugliest man in the world.
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.
She was married to Hephaistos (god of fire and metalworking) but was famously caught sleeping with Ares (god of war). Other divine lovers included Dionysos (god of wine) and Hermes (god of travel and commerce), from whom she gave birth to the fertility deities Priapos and Hermaphroditos, respectively.
Of Aphrodite's mortal lovers, the most important were the Trojan shepherd Anchises, by whom she became the mother of Aeneas, and the handsome youth Adonis (in origin a Semitic nature deity and the consort of Ishtar-Astarte), who was killed by a boar while hunting and was lamented by women at the festival of Adonia.
KENKHREIS (Cenchreis) A queen of Kypros (eastern Mediterranean) who boasted that her daughter Myrrha was more beautiful than Aphrodite herself.
Aphrodite's manipulative character is most apparent in the story of Helen, queen of Sparta, whom she offered as her bribe in the Judgment of Paris, inciting ten years of dreadful war at Troy. The Judgment was a popular subject in Pompeian wall painting, an example of which is shown here.
In another legend, the goddess Aphrodite wept tears of sorrow at the death of her handsome lover, Adonis. Where her tears fell, windflowers sprang up.
What happens if you say someone is more beautiful than Aphrodite? It's not that people get cursed, (myths aren't literal) it's that to say something is prettier than Aphrodite is to say something is more beautiful than Beauty itself, which is meaningless/paradoxical.
The story of Venus and Adonis is one such tale. Here's how it goes: Venus, the goddess of love, fell for the handsome hunter Adonis. Adonis, who was a bit of a snob, believed he was the best hunter in the world and that nothing could ever happen to him. One day Venus dreamed that Adonis had an accident while hunting.
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.
🕊 Aphrodite :: Greek Goddess of Love and Beauty
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.
According to her myth when she wept in sorrow and grief her tears were transformed into flowers and as they fell to the ground they blossomed into anemones. The Tears of Aphrodite is an art installation by Émilie Gautier and Rebecca Devaney that began on International Women's Rights Day 2019.
It was even suggested in the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite that there were only three deities who could resist the passions that Aphrodite aroused, and they were Athena, Artemis, and Hestia. Note that all three were goddesses, and all were also virgins by choice.
Aphrodite was sometimes described as easily offended
Some mythical narrations suggest that the goddess of love was not always kind and forgiving. In some cases, she is depicted as having a short temper, punishing those who offended her.