Goddess of love, beauty and desire, born from the foam of the sea – Aphrodite has inspired more works of art than perhaps any other goddess. Discover her birth, her loves and the golden apple that started the Trojan War.
Who is Aphrodite?
Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure and procreation, one of the twelve Olympians. The Romans worshipped her as Venus. Her cult was strongest on the islands of Cyprus and Kythira, both said to be places where she first came ashore.
In art Aphrodite is the ideal of feminine beauty, often shown with a scallop shell, a mirror, roses, doves or swans, and frequently accompanied by her son Eros (Cupid). Famous statues such as the Aphrodite of Knidos by Praxiteles and the Venus de Milo set the standard of classical beauty for centuries.
Born from the sea
According to the poet Hesiod, Aphrodite was born from the sea foam (aphros in Greek) off the coast of Cyprus, after the Titan Kronos cast the remains of his father Ouranos into the waves. She rose from the water fully grown and was carried ashore on a seashell by the gentle west wind, flowers springing up wherever she stepped. Botticelli's Birth of Venus made this scene one of the most famous images in art. In Homer's version, she is simply the daughter of Zeus and the goddess Dione.
Love on Olympus
Zeus married Aphrodite to Hephaestus, the lame smith-god, perhaps to prevent rivalry among the other gods over her beauty. But Aphrodite loved Ares, the handsome god of war. Hephaestus caught the lovers in an invisible golden net and showed them to the laughing gods of Olympus. From the union of love and war came Harmonia (harmony), Phobos and Deimos (fear and terror) and, in some stories, Eros himself.
Aphrodite and Adonis
Aphrodite fell deeply in love with the beautiful young hunter Adonis. She begged him to avoid dangerous beasts, but he was killed by a wild boar. Where his blood fell, the red anemone grew; where Aphrodite's tears fell, roses bloomed. Each year the women of Greece mourned Adonis in a festival marking the death and rebirth of nature.
The golden apple
When Paris of Troy was asked to choose the fairest among Hera, Athena and Aphrodite, Aphrodite promised him the love of the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen of Sparta. Paris gave her the golden apple – and his abduction of Helen launched a thousand ships and the ten-year Trojan War.
Aphrodite in art and in your home
Aphrodite symbolises love, beauty and harmony, which makes her statues a romantic gift for weddings, anniversaries and Valentine's Day, and an elegant piece for a bedroom, dressing table or living room. Choose a classical figure such as the Aphrodite of Knidos or the Venus de Milo for timeless grace, or a bust for a smaller space; marble bases and bronze patinas suit her beautifully.
Related gods
Read the stories of Hera and Athena, her rivals in the judgement of Paris, and of Zeus. Browse all the Olympians in our Greek Mythology collection.
