Aphrodite is the daughter of Uranos and the Pontos sea. When Cronos emerged from Gaia’s womb he amputated Uranos’s penis. The organ fell into the sea and the foam it created spawned Aphrodite, the most beautiful of all the goddesses. She is the goddess of lust and passion and her sacred animal is the dove. She is the one who puts feelings of love and attraction into both mortals and gods. Aphrodite used her powers to make Helen fall in love with Paris, an event that set off the Trojan War and the end of the Heroic Age. She is married to Hephaestus, but is often sleeping with Ares.
Aphrodite became married to Hephaestus, the ugliest of the gods, due to Hephaestus holding his own mother hostage. The smith god fashioned a golden throne for Hera, but when she sat down she was stuck. Hephaestus promised to release her only if Aphrodite married him. Zeus arranged the marriage and Hera was freed. Aphrodite resents her lawful husband and has born him no children. Meanwhile she has many children with Ares, Dionysus, and Hermes. Aphrodite even had a son, Aeneas, with a mortal, Anchises.
Aphrodite still prefers the Olympians’ old home in Greece and the Aegean. Her sacred island is Cyrus.
