Aphrodite (Greek: Ἀ) φροδίτη、 Aphrodite is a goddess of love and beauty in ancient Greek mythology, as well as a goddess of sexuality. She is one of the twelve main gods of Olympia. Due to its birth in the ocean, it is sometimes revered as the patron saint of navigation.
Aphrodite was born in the waves of the sea, with white porcelain like skin, blonde hair and blue eyes, and the perfect figure and appearance of ancient Greek women. She symbolizes the beauty of women and is considered the highest symbol of female physical beauty.
Aphrodite was the wife of Hephaestus, the god of fire and craftsmanship, but she often betrayed her husband, and there are many legends about her love life. In ancient Greek, Roman, and Renaissance art works, she was portrayed as a stunning beauty, and the most famous statue about her is "Aphrodite of Milos" unearthed on the island of Milos.

naissance
There are two versions regarding the birth of Aphrodite.
The first version (more commonly said) is described in Hesiod's "Divine Manual", that is, Aphrodite was born from the foam that the phallus of the god Uranus was thrown into the sea, and was the daughter of Uranus; It is said that Cronus cut off his father Ulanos' penis with a sharp sickle, interrupted Ulanos's intercourse with Gaia, and was born successfully. Cronus threw this thing into the sea because of the indecent gesture of holding the penis in his hand, and then a pearl like foam appeared around the penis. Aphrodite was born. She came out of the huge shell rising from the sea and walked barefoot on the beach (in Paphos, Cyprus) . The place she passed by bloomed with beautiful flowers, and the goddess of time, Holly, had been waiting for her not far away for a long time. She had put on a shining golden crown, dressed in beautiful and appropriate attire, and tied a golden belt for her, which made Aphrodite even more charming. Afterwards, Aphrodite boarded a float pulled by a pair of pigeons and flew towards Mount Olympus. The gods on Mount Olympus praised and fell in love with the exceptionally beautiful Aphrodite.
Another version is from the first part of the Homeric Epic, the Iliad, which records that Aphrodite was the daughter of Zeus and Dione.
Beauty
Aphrodite is naturally beautiful, and all the gods admire her. Her beauty is like the shimmering light of the day, her pink cheeks are like peach blossoms, her long golden curly hair shines brightly, and her eyes seem to contain deep blue seawater. Therefore, she has become the most beloved goddess among the gods.
Revenge against Zeus
In some myths, Zeus pursued her but was rejected. Therefore, in a fit of anger, Zeus betrothed her to the ugly and lame fire god blacksmith Hephaestus as his wife. In retaliation, Aphrodite made Zeus become promiscuous and allowed his neglected wife Hera to punish his lover and descendants.

marriage
After Aphrodite was forcibly married to Hephaestus for refusing Zeus's request for love, she admired the god of war Ares and gave birth to several children, including the little god of love Eros, the god of lust Antelos, the goddess of coordination Hermonia, and a pair of twins (Phobos, the god of terror, and Demos, the god of fear). When Hephaestus discovered that his wife had an affair with Ares, the angry god of fire cast a golden net, Catch the lovers who are having fun in bed on the spot. He summoned the gods of Mount Olympus and publicly revealed the couple who had an affair. Most of the onlookers on the scene were male gods, among whom Apollo felt a desire to express himself when he saw the shy Aphrodite. He only asked Hermes how he felt, but Hermes boldly said that he dared to use his head as a guarantee to be tied to the beautiful goddess of love. Even if he added three more iron chains and was criticized by the goddesses present, he was willing to do so. Finally, Poseidon, the sea god who had been coveting the goddess of love for a long time, intervened and convinced Hephaestus to release the cheating couple.
Aphrodite returned to Paphos, Cyprus, and bathed in the seawater there. The three goddesses of beauty applied ointment to purify her body, restoring her chastity. To thank Hermes for boldly expressing his passion for her, she and Hermes gave birth to the bisexual Hermaphrodites; Due to Poseidon's intervention and resolution of her embarrassment, Aphrodite favored her and gave birth to a son named Erix for Poseidon. In addition, Aphrodite also had children with some gods and mortals - the three goddesses of beauty and elegance, Callitis, were Aphrodite's attendants, and there are also claims that the three goddesses of beauty were the daughters of Dionysus and Aphrodite.

Using Helen
The most famous sacrifice of Aphrodite was Helen, who was the most beautiful woman among mortals, surpassing Aphrodite in beauty. The outbreak of the Trojan War was also related to beauty. In order to win a beauty pageant with Hera and Athena, Aphrodite deceived Paris and promised him that if he chose himself as the most beautiful goddess among the three of them, he would have a daughter born to Zeus and Leda. Paris gave the honor of being the "most beautiful goddess" to Aphrodite, and then he came to Sparta and abducted Helen, the wife of Spartan king Menleaus. All of this was promised to Paris by Aphrodite.
In the third chapter of the Iliad, Homer wrote that the Greeks and Trojans decided to end the war and instead had a duel between their husband Menelaus, who was wearing a green hat, and Helen's kidnapper Paris.
Helen stood behind the walls of Troy, watching the duel between her husband and lover. As she watched, a strong admiration for Menelaus quietly surged into Helen's heart. It was her abandoned ex husband. Aphrodite noticed this and transformed into the image of an old servant favored by Helen, as she descended from the walls of Sparta, trying to lead Helen to her lover Paris's bed. Helen recognized Aphrodite, complained to the goddess about the blame she had suffered, and told her that she no longer wanted to live with Paris. Aphrodite told Helen that if she abandons Paris, the goddess will no longer care about her and will escalate the war or even threaten to kill Helen. In this way, Helen was convinced by Aphrodite and had no choice but to stay by Paris's side. However, she couldn't help but compare the man beside her to the legal husband she had abandoned.

The Trojan War
During the Trojan War, she became enemies with the queen Hera and the goddess of wisdom Athena, allowing the war god Ares to join forces with her to support the Trojans and provide special protection to Paris. When Paris faced Menelaus in a one-on-one battle and was about to be defeated, Aphrodite secretly helped and saved him, causing another great war between the two armies. Due to Aphrodite's lack of military knowledge, when Paris was about to be killed by Diomedes, it was Aphrodite who endured her own pain and blocked the attack to save him again. At the same time, on the battlefield, she was also attacked by Hera and Athena together with Ares, repeatedly losing the battle. However, despite her repeated assistance to the Trojans, she was unable to prevent the fall of Troy and the death of Paris.
In Roman mythology, after the defeat of the Trojans, it was Venus, corresponding to Aphrodite, who protected the fleeing Trojans. It was only then that Aeneas had to carry his father and son with him, holding the statue of Trojans, and escape from the blazing city of Troy. He also established his own new homeland on the land of Dali, which is why Venus became a special protector of Rome. Later, Caesar the Great of Rome claimed to be a descendant of Aeneas and honored Venus as the ancestor of the Romans

love
Aphrodite also possessed a golden love belt (some myths say it was a veil), which concealed her secret of seducing others. As long as she wore the belt around her waist, she could increase her charm, arouse the attention and desire of others.
Due to Aphrodite's wild personality, he openly betrayed Hephaestus and once again offended Zeus. Zeus disliked Aphrodite's behavior and behavior, but was also attracted by her charm. Through careful planning, he made Aphrodite fall in love with the mortal Anchises and gave birth to Aeneas with him. In Roman mythology, Venus, who corresponds to Aphrodite, also deeply loved Anchesis and warned him to strictly keep the secret of their son Aeneas's birth. However, Ankases ignored it and suffered punishment for blindness and lameness.
Aphrodite's beauty not only conquered the gods on Mount Olympus, but also conquered the entire nature. Wherever she went, there would be laughter and joy, presenting a scene of joy and prosperity. But the scenery of spring is not too long, and the flowers will not never wither, because Adonis, whom Aphrodite loves, is the embodiment of the fleeting spring. Although Aphrodite is the god of love, she cannot control her own love and is always fooled by fate to not obtain her own true love. Therefore, humanity cannot obtain the happiness of perfect love. From then on, the path of human love is also covered with suspicion, worry The shadows of pain and sorrow.
Among Aphrodite's many lovers, the beautiful young Adonis can be considered her true love. Adonis was originally a deity from Lebanon and later incorporated into Greek mythology. He was once the object of contention between Aphrodite and Persephone, and was eventually arbitrated by the celestial god Zeus, who ruled that one-third of Adonis's life belonged to Adonis himself, one-third belonged to Persephone, and the remaining one-third belonged to Aphrodite. When Adonis returned to the earth from the underworld, Aphrodite was very worried that Adonis would face danger to his life. He often advised Adonis not to go out hunting, but the young Adonis did not listen to the advice. Unfortunately, he was bitten while hunting a wild boar and fell to the ground on the spot. Fresh blood stained the flowers around him (some say that the wild boar that bit Adonis was actually a transformation of Aphrodite's old lover Ares).

When Aphrodite heard Adonis calling out, she hurried towards the scene of the accident and accidentally got stabbed in the foot by a thorn on the white rose, staining it red with blood. When Aphrodite arrived by Adonis's side, he had already stopped breathing. Aphrodite, who was plunged into sadness, hugged Adonis's body and burst into tears. Her tears fell to the ground and lotus flowers grew one after another.
Constellation Story
In astrological mythology, there is also the story of Aphrodite. At the banquet of the gods, the monster king Difeng suddenly appeared, causing the gods to flee in fear. At this moment, Aphrodite discovered that her son Eros was missing. She nervously searched everywhere and later found Eros trembling with fear under the piano stage. In order to prevent Eros from being separated from her again, Aphrodite tied the feet of the two with a rope and transformed them into two fish jumping into the Nile River to escape. In commemoration of this event, Zeus elevated two fish to the sky in this two tailed, inseparable posture, transforming them into Pisces. In addition to representing love and beauty, it also symbolizes the combination of spirit and body.

Aphrodite is a beautiful goddess of love, directly related to ancient fertility and nurturing goddesses such as Hassel, Isis, Inanna, and Astati. Some people think Aphrodite is a Phoenician, and she is the sisters of Ista, the goddess of Babylon, and Astati, the goddess of the Syrian Phoenicians. Some legends suggest that Aphrodite was born in cream; There are also many legends that Aphrodite was born from the boiling foam of the sea when Cronus threw Ulanos' broken penis into the sea, and then was washed to the island of Cyprus by the waves. Therefore, there is a temple specially built for Aphrodite.
Aphrodite was forced to marry the fire god Hephaestus and had only had illicit sexual relationships with other gods. It is said that apart from the three goddesses Athena, Artemis, and Hestia, Aphrodite is able to ignite the flames of desire in the hearts of all gods and gather them together through her influence. Her fanatical followers are scattered throughout the Mediterranean, and in one form or another, a festival called "Hot Desire" is held to celebrate her. Plato divided Aphrodite into two types of goddesses in the Book of Drinking, namely the goddess of pure love and the goddess of sexual desire, as well as the protector of prostitutes. Aphrodite represents noble spiritual love in heaven as "Aphrodite Urania", and on earth as "Aphrodite Pandemos", representing vulgar carnal love that everyone can possess.

At first, Aphrodite was just a goddess of fertility and was in charge of everything in nature, including the reproduction of animals and plants. Sometimes, she is also seen by some as the goddess who gives dreams (not the god of dreams, but other gods) because she is responsible for transmitting messages from the Olympian gods through dreams (Hermes is god to god, Apollo is only responsible for oracle). She is one of the few gods who can directly use and control dreams to communicate with people (few gods can do so).
Aphrodite was also revered as the patron saint of sailors, and people living in bays and islands generally believed in Aphrodite. Therefore, she also had some other similar nicknames, such as "Aphrodite in the bay", "Aphrodite bestowed with the wind", and "Aphrodite that calms the ocean". In addition, she is revered as a god of war wearing armor in Cyprus, Kishira Island, Sparta, and other places. This may be her primitive image in the East, but it can also be explained by her close relationship with the god of war Ares.
Love for beauty is human nature, and many wizards regard Aphrodite as the most respected and worshipped deity. Pigeons, sparrows, swans, goats, lynx, and dolphins are all sacred objects of Aphrodite. Her sacred plants include roses, poppies, pomegranates, myrtle, warm cypress, clover, and aquatic mint. Her sacred day is Friday, and some special festivals related to her are April 1st, April 23rd, and July 19th.