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
Aphrodite also had notable mortal lovers, including Adonis and Anchises. Adonis was a handsome young man and Aphrodite fell deeply in love with him. Persephone was also in love with Adonis, so they went to Zeus to decide who would have the youth's love [see Persephone]. Zeus split Adonis' time into three parts.
Paris chose Aphrodite, seduced by the prospect of Helen and her famed beauty. His elopement with the wife of Menelaos was the cause of the Trojan War. Two critical moments in this story are depicted on the Athenian vase shown below.
The latter saw the lovers among the same sheets in which Aphrodite slept with Hephaestus. Full of indignation, he sought the god of fire and told him everything. The myth of Aphrodite and Ares tells that Hephaestus felt hurt as never before.
The goddess did not remain faithful to Hephaestus—not by a long shot. She had countless affairs with both gods and mortals. The most long-standing and significant of all of Aphrodite's lovers was Ares.
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.
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.
She never had a true lover or someone to hug and hold her; all she had was her loving mother, caring father and most of all her brothers and sisters. For some very strange reason it was hopeless that she would fall in love; Hephaestus tried once, yet failed. Athena was well known for giving advice/mentoring heroes.
"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]."
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.
Goddess Aphrodite Married Hephaestus
Aphrodite was the goddess of love, pleasure, and beauty. This meant that she enjoyed flirtatious occasions with a number of others. However, her father Zeus decided that she should marry and end her dallying with men. Zeus forced Aphrodite to marry Hephaestus.
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.
Ares, not always a warrior, was a lover as well. He was known for being the lover of Aphrodite aka Venus, shown with him here, who was married to Hephaestus aka Vulcan, the God of Fire.
Aphrodite was married to Hephaistos (Ἡφαιστος), the god of fire, smiths, and craftsmen. However, as we'll soon learn, this wasn't by her own choosing, and thus she had a longstanding affair with her true love, Ares (Αρης), The Greek god of War.
She was known as Athena Parthenos "Athena the Virgin," but in one archaic Attic myth, the god Hephaestus tried and failed to rape her, resulting in Gaia giving birth to Erichthonius, an important Athenian founding hero.
Athena began growing inside Zeus's head. When Haphaestus cut open Zeus's head, and Athena was born, she was not born an infant. Instead, Athena was born a fully grown warrior, dressed in armor and ready for war. This is how Athena became the goddess of war and wisdom.
Hephaestus and Aphrodite
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.
Hades: The Most Loyal Greek God
The Greek god Hades is comparatively a better husband than his peer gods. Whilst Zeus and Poseidon – Hades' brothers – are widely known for their affairs, Hades remained loyal to Persephone.
Persephone's jealousy suggests she might have loved Hades
In Ovid's famous text Metamorphosis, Hades has an affair with a young Nymph named Minthe. Persephone, now in her later years, was so incensed with jealousy that she turned Minthe into a mint plant.
Artemis, the virgin goddess of the wilderness and hunting, was one of the most highly venerated Greek gods. Artemis was the oldest twin born to Zeus and Leto. The ancients believed that as soon as she was born, she assisted her mother in bringing her brother, Apollo, into the world.
All three were beautiful, but Psyche was the most beautiful. Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, heard about Psyche and her sisters and was jealous of all the attention people paid to Psyche.
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.
THE ILIAD : APHRODITE WOUNDED BY DIOMEDES. In the Iliad she is wounded by Diomedes while attempting to rescue her son Aeneas.
Aphrodite's notable divine offspring include those from her affair with Ares, the god of war: Harmonia, the warrior twins Phobos and Deimos, and Eros, the god of love. From her relationship with the mortal Anchises, she became the mother of Aeneas, a mythical hero of Troy and Rome.
At a party, during which Hades sees Persephone for the first time, he remarks that she is even more beautiful than Aphrodite.