Olympian
Aphrodite
Ἀφροδίτη
Roman:
Venus
Overview
Goddess of love, beauty, desire and attraction.
Generation
Olympian
Symbols
Dove, rose, myrtle, shell
Notes
Her genealogy varies. Hesiod describes her emerging from sea foam after the castration of Uranus, while Homeric tradition presents her as a daughter of Zeus and Dione.
Beyond Antiquity
Modern Legacy
Aphrodite still appears in the modern world through language, science, medicine, astronomy or culture.
Aphrodisiac
Today: Something believed to stimulate sexual desire.
The word derives from Aphrodite, the Greek goddess associated with love, beauty and sexual desire.
Explore Aphrodite in modern language →Related Myths
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The Overthrow of Uranus
Born from the sea in the Hesiodic tradition -
Phaedra and Hippolytus
Causes Phaedra's desire in the Euripidean tradition -
Atalanta and the Golden Apples
Provides the golden apples in a major tradition -
Pygmalion and the Living Statue
Brings the statue to life -
Aphrodite and Adonis
Divine lover of Adonis -
Aphrodite and Anchises
Goddess and mother of Aeneas -
The Judgment of Paris
Receives the golden apple -
The Trojan War
Divine supporter of Paris -
Diomedes Wounds the Gods
Goddess wounded while protecting Aeneas