Goddess of love. Unlike the other Olympians, she was charged with only one duty- to incite desire. She did nothing else. Love was her profession, her pleasure, her hobby. She had no parents. Aphrodite means foam-born. In the beginning of time, Cronus killed his father, Uranus, and flung the gigantic body into the sea. The blood of the dismembered god drifted in the sun, whitened into foam. From the foam rose a tall yellow-haired maiden who came ashore at Cyprus. Where she walked, flowers bloomed and birds circled, singing. Thus, in the legend, love was born out of the primal murder, expressing the Greek belief in the final indestructibility of life. Aphrodite was courted by all the gods, but surprised everyone by marrying the ugliest of the Pantheon, Hephaestus, the little lame smith-god. As goddess of love, which is the main spring of human activity, she enters more legends than any other god or goddess. She bore many children, who had almost as many fathers: Eros, the archer of love, son of Zeus; Phobos, fear, and Harmonia, mother of the Amazons, both sired by Ares; the misshapen Priapus, son of Dionysus; and her encounter with Hermes produced the self-sufficient monster, Hermaphroditus. After every adventure, she returned to Hephaestus- who always forgave her. Apple, rose, myrtle and the dove are sacred to her. In Roman mythology, Aphrodite was known as Venus. Show less «