The Goddess of Love and Beauty Aphrodite The Goddess of Love and Beauty

Background Informormation Aphrodite is the goddess of beauty, desire, and love. She was the cause of the Trojan War

Aphrodite and the Trojan War Aphrodite was one of the many who had attended the wedding of King Peleus and Thetis. Eris, the goddess of discord, though was not invited. She was furious and threw a golden apple where the worthiest women would get the apple . Hera and Athena had also attended the wedding and they along with Aphrodite felt the were the ones worthy of the apple. Since all they were doing was bickering they asked Zeus to decide but Zeus had refused, so they asked Paris, Prince of Troy. The three goddesses all offered Paris a bribe but Paris picked Aphrodite’s bribe granting him the most beautiful woman in the world. With Aphrodite’s gift Paris had fell in love with Helen, a wife of the Greek king Menelaus. So with the gift of Aphrodite the Trojan War had begun

Aphrodite’s Birth There a two different stories on Aphrodite’s birth: 1) In the first story on her birth she is goddess of pure and the Heaven’s and the Earth’s were separated. Here she is known as Aphrodite Urania or Celestial Aphrodite, goddess of spiritual love. 2) In the second story she was born from Zeus and Dione. Here she is known as Aphrodite Pandemos or the Common Aphrodite. She is associated with a way of pleasing people

Aphrodite and Her Powers Aphrodite’s powers were unlike any other god/goddess’s One of the best examples of her powers is the Trojan War She also used her powers to help her followers Although she had generosity of her powers she killed those who tried to disrupt the natural order of love

Aphrodite’s Marriage Aphrodite is married to Hephaestus, the ugliest God on Mount Olympus. In the Homeric legend it says that Aphrodite was forced to marry Hephaestus. Since she was married off she was in constant search for a new lover. One of her lovers was Ares who she later married Since Aphrodite was beautiful and constantly in search for love she had many children The most desirable child she had was Eros who is also known as cupid

Pictures

Aphrodite is depicted in many different ways on the previous slide Pictures Aphrodite is depicted in many different ways on the previous slide Aphrodite is also sculpted in various statues but each show her differently

Aphrodite can also be called Venus Venus is the Roman name for Aphrodite