GENEALOGY AND MYTHOLOGY
There are two versions of the mythological birth and origin of
Aphrodite. Hesiod and Homer tell two contradictory stories.
In Homer’s version, Aphrodite had a conventional birth. She was
simply the daughter of Zeus and a sea nymph, Dione.
In Hesiod’s version, Aphrodite was born as a consequence of a
violent act. Cronos (who later became the ruler of the Titans and
father of the first-generation Olympians) took a sickle, cut off the
genitals of his father Uranus, and threw them into the sea. White
foam spread around them as sperm and sea mixed, from which
Aphrodite was born, emerging from her oceanic conception as a
fully grown goddess.
The image of Aphrodite emerging from the sea was immortalized
during the Renaissance by Botticelli in “The Birth of
Venus”—sometimes referred to irreverently as “Venus on the Half-
Shell.” His painting shows a graceful and delicate nude figure
standing on a seashell, being blown to the shore by flying wind gods
amidst a shower of roses.
Aphrodite was said to have come ashore first either on the island
of Cythera or on Cyprus. Then accompanied by Eros (Love) and
Himeros (Desire), she was escorted into the assembly of the gods
and received as one of them.
Many of the gods, struck by her beauty, vied for her hand in
marriage. Unlike other goddesses who had not chosen either their
mates nor their lovers (Persephone was abducted, Hera was seduced,
Demeter was raped), Aphrodite was free to choose. She selected
Hephaestus, the lame God of Craftsmen and God of the Fire of the
Forge. Thus Hera’s rejected son became Aphrodite’s husband—and
would often be cuckolded by her. Aphrodite and Hephaestus had
no children. Their marriage may represent the union of beauty and
craft, out of which art is born.
In her liaisons, Aphrodite was paired with second-generation
Olympian male gods—the generation of the sons, rather than with
the father-figure generation of Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. Aphrodite
was linked romantically with Ares, God of War, with whom she had
a long-term affair and several children. Another lover was Hermes,
Messenger of the Gods, who
Goddesses in Everywoman