In Greek mythology she was the goddess of beauty, love and fertility, whom the Romans identified with Venus. According to Homer she was the daughter of Zeus and Dione, one of the goddesses of the first divine generation, associated with the sky, the sea and beauty ; instead, according to Hesiod’s Theogony, she was born in spring from the sea foam fertilized by the genitals of Uranus that Cronos had thrown into the sea after the rebellion against his father. Aphrodite, from the Greek afros , the foam, also had the name of Urania, because she was the daughter of Heaven. As soon as she emerged from the waves, on a mother-of-pearl shell, Zephyr had pushed her onto the shore of the island of Cyprus and, when the goddess took her first steps on the beach, the flowers blossomed under her feet, and immediately the Hours came to meet her, as well as the Charites , Peito , the persuasion, Potos, the desire, Himeros , the longing, to welcome and honor it. They dressed her in a beautiful dress and belt, put ringlets of gold and gems on her ears, bracelets on her wrists, and a dazzling necklace around her neck. A chariot of gems arrived from the sky, pulled by two doves, the goddess climbed into it, she was thus taken up into Heaven and Zeus gave her to Hephaestus as a wife . Aphrodite was represented in the flower of her youth, wearing a magic belt over her dress, where all the charms, the graces, the smile that promises every joy, the tender dialogues of lovers, the persuading sighs and the expressive silence were gathered.

Plato then formulated a theory to reconcile the two different versions of Aphrodite’s origin by insinuating that there actually existed two different goddesses with the same name, one to represent the higher love between men, and the other one to represent the love between men and women. Plato called them respectively the ‘Heavenly Aphrodite’ and the ‘Pandemia Aphrodite’.
In mythology, on the occasion of the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, Eris (the goddess of discord) presented a golden apple to be given to the most beautiful goddess. Hera, Athena , and Aphrodite vied for honor, and Zeus appointed Paris, the Trojan prince, as judge. To sway his decision, Athena promised him strength and invincibility, Hera offered him the regions of Asia and Europe , and Aphrodite promised him the most beautiful woman in the world. Paris chose Aphrodite. Helen of Sparta won, already wife of Menelaus, and so the abduction of Helen carried out by Paris prompted the king of Sparta to request the help of his brother Agamemnon and to send an expedition to Troy to recover Helen, hence the outbreak of the war of Troy.

They were sacred to Aphrodite: among the plants, the myrtle, the rose, the apple tree, the poppy; among the animals, the sparrow, the hare, the swan, the dolphin and above all the dove. By her various unions she had some children, by the Trojan Anchises she had Aeneas ; by the god Dionysus she had Hymen , the god of wedding feasts; by Ares he had two terrible sons, Eros, Love , and Anteros . The Greek poets tell that when Aphrodite had Eros, she complained to the goddess Temi because her son didn’t grow up; Temi replied that the child would not grow up until he had a brother. Then Aphrodite gave life to Anteros which means ” the one who reciprocates love “; so the poets with this legend meant that love, in order to grow, must be reciprocated.

Furthermore Aphrodite was honored as the protector of those who traveled by sea and in fact her origins and the consequent association with the sea, manifested themselves in the position of many coastal sanctuaries dedicated to her and in several epithets, among which Aphrodite Pontia (‘of the deep sea ‘) and Aphrodite Euploia (‘of good navigation’). Aphrodite was also associated with the brightest planet, Venus, which has always been considered a valuable aid to navigation.

The story of Aphrodite continued to interest artists over the centuries, especially during the Renaissance, and we find her immortalized in Sandro Botticelli’s painting, The Birth of Venus, which is located in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.