Aphrodite

Don’t mess with the goddess of love and lust. Her golden hair, bright eyes, and skin as white as the sea foam she was born from captivated all gods and mortals as she mercilessly bewitched them.

Aphrodite was said to have been born out of sea foam, and arrived ashore on a scallop shell. Ironically, scallops today are a well-known aphrodisiac. Although she is known to be the daughter of Zeus, her creation was a result of extreme hate and debauchery. The foam she was born out of was from the castration of Ouranos by his youngest son Cronos, in an attempt to save his mother from his ongoing abuse. It is said the reason why Aphrodite is so passionate and evil at times is due to having those ties.

Aphrodite was married off to Hephaestus by Zeus’s order. He was the complete opposite of her: very unattractive. His own mother tried to get rid of him when he was born because he was so ugly to her. Everyone was horrified that someone as beautiful as her could be paired with such an awful match. Instead of protesting, Aphrodite willingly went along with the union. But behind everyone’s back, she engaged in a very long affair with Ares, the extremely handsome, equally passionate god of war, and had four of his children, of which Hephaestus thought were his. Hephaestus was a blacksmith who worked at night, so Aphrodite would invite Ares over and he would leave before dawn.

One morning, dawn arrived before Ares left, and Helios, the sun god, caught them in bed together, since he could see everything when he rose each morning. It is said he told Hephaestus about the affair out of spite, since Helios himself would have wished to have been in Ares’ position. He was devasted, and devised a plan of revenge. Hephaestus created a net of brass, and caught the two lovers in it, and invited all the gods and goddesses to witness their humiliation. Aphrodite was furious at their mockery, and took it out on all the gods by sleeping with husbands and casting spells on women. She was flattered, however, by the lustful gaze of Hermes at her body, so she also had an affair with him and had his child as well.

One day, Aphrodite caught wind of a mortal princess named Psyche who was considered by many to be more beautiful than her, causing less and less mortals to worship Aphrodite at her temple. Enraged and envious, Aphrodite sent her son Eros to strike Psyche with his magical arrow while she was sleeping that would make her fall in love with something ugly. When he cast his eyes on her, he was instantly taken aback by her beauty and accidentally scratched himself, causing him to fall in love with her.

In the meantime, Psyche’s father prayed to Zeus about his daughter, who wasn’t able to fall in love with anyone or be actually loved by a man, as she was only admired. He received horrible news: that Psyche‘s fate was to be taken to an abyss and be married off to a cruel monster, who would cause her death. When Psyche entered the premises; however, she was greeted with beauty, and when her husband came to her that night, although she could not see him, his voice was beautiful and his touch was gentle. But he instructed her she could never see his face. The truth is that she was betrothed to Eros, but their love was forbidden because he is a God and she is a mortal.