1. Who is Aphrodite?

Aphrodite, or Venus, is known to be the greek goddess of sex, beauty, and love. She came to life after Cronus castrated his own father, Uranus, and threw his testicles into the ocean. After throwing the testicles into the ocean, Aphrodite emerged out of foam and assumed the body of a fully-formed adult woman.

In terms of her own love life, Aphrodite has commonly been paired with either the gods, Hephaestus or Ares. However, she has had many children with other gods, like Hermes. Some notable children of Aphrodite are Eros (God of love and desire, also known as Cupid), Deimos (God of terror and dread), and Phobos (God of fear). You can learn more in Overly Sarcastic Productions’ video on youtube.

2. Aphrodite In Pop Culture

Greek mythology has been used to fuel art like sculptures and paintings, but Aphrodite has also been depicted many times through modern books, publications, and movies. One popular example is the Percy Jackson series. This book series depicts Aphrodite as an effortlessly beautiful and graceful individual. In other adaptations, like in the web comic, Lore Olympus, Aphrodite is of course described as beautiful. However, she is also described as being quite vain and vengeful. This image of Aphrodite is actually quite similar to her personality in the original greek myths.

3. Personal Breakdown: Aphrodite

I find Aphrodite to be a very interesting character throughout the entirety of greek mythology. Someone born in such a grotesque manner and who gave birth to the literal personifications of fear and terror (Phobos and Deimos) still manages to be mostly well-known for her undying beauty. I think that her flaws are what make her an icon worth acknowledging. Something most people might not know is that she single-handedly caused the Trojan War because she wanted to win a beauty contest. Another interesting fact about her is that she is a relentlessly protective mother. This trait was so strong that she even chose to punish Psyche rather than her own son, Eros, because she didn’t want to be shown up by Psyche’s beauty. Aphrodite has layers and that is not too different to the backgrounds of most greek gods. I believe that this is what makes her special.

Beauty is a finite resource and it will fade with time. Having said that, Aphrodite will be forever beautiful and she will continuously represent this trait. I personally believe that there are many things to learn from her myths. It is important to harness one’s beauty and use it to one’s advantage. However, where there is beauty, there is also jealousy and resentment. These flaws can come from the outside and/or the inside as well. I’m going to choose to learn from Aphrodite as opposed to judging her imperfect character choices.