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With punishments ranging from being turned into an animal and being accused of rape to having to kill your own children, Aphrodite was anything but forgiving.
She decided to punish Narcissus for his vanity and treatment of Echo with a curse: the next time he saw his reflection in the water, Narcissus would immediately fall in love… with himself. His vanity had now turned into insanity as he couldn't bear to be apart from his reflection.
Aphrodite was frequently unfaithful to him and had many lovers; in the Odyssey, she is caught in the act of adultery with Ares, the god of war. In the First Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, she seduces the mortal shepherd Anchises.
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.
Euripides twice placed this story on the Athenian stage, of which one version survives. According to some sources, Hippolytus had spurned Aphrodite to remain a steadfast and virginal devotee of Artemis, and Aphrodite made Phaedra fall in love with him as a punishment.
Aphrodite asked her son, Eros, the god of desire, to fire an arrow at Psyche, which would make her fall in love with a hideous creature. She commanded Eros: “Punish mercilessly that arrogant beauty… Let this girl be seized with a burning passion for the lowest of mankind…
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.
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.
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.
KENKHREIS (Cenchreis) A queen of Kypros (eastern Mediterranean) who boasted that her daughter Myrrha was more beautiful than Aphrodite herself.
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'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.
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.
ATTEMPTED RAPE APHRODITE IN KYPROS. Zeus once tried to rape Aphrodite on the island of Kypros but the goddess managed to escape his pursuit.
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.
Years before the original film, Aphrodite grew jealous of her priestess Medusa, fearing her to be more beautiful than her. Further infuriated when Medusa and Poseidon did away in her own temple, Aphrodite cursed Medusa into becoming a hideous Gorgan while also turning her beautiful hair locks into snakes.
Her special powers were those of love and desire. She had a belt that had the power to cause others to fall in love with the wearer. Some of the other Greek goddesses, such as Hera, would borrow the belt from time to time. Aphrodite had the ability to cause fighting couples to fall in love again.
The Romans knew her as Venus. Prostitutes considered her their patron. The poets called her the Lady of Cyprus.
Zeus begrudgingly agreed, and so Aphrodite was married off to Hephaestus. Unsurprisingly, Aphrodite was not happy about this trickery, as she had been dating Ares, God of War. This led to a very unhappy marriage with many affairs. Eventually, Hephaestus divorced Aphrodite.
At the start, Aphrodite explains that Hippolytus refuses to honor her, having sworn a vow of chastity to Artemis, goddess of the hunt. Disregarding warnings from others to show respect to Aphrodite, Hippolytus remains steadfast in his commitment to Artemis- something that sets Aphrodite on a path of revenge.
Hippolytus' Rejection
Unfortunately for Hippolytus, young men in ancient Greece were expected to worship Aphrodite during and after puberty because she was the goddess of love and sexual desire. By choosing to worship Artemis only, he rejected Aphrodite and refused to worship 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.
THE ILIAD : APHRODITE WOUNDED BY DIOMEDES. In the Iliad she is wounded by Diomedes while attempting to rescue her son Aeneas.
Aphrodite was quite vengeful and ruthless when she did not get her own way.