Aphrodite is the Olympian goddess of love, beauty, sexual pleasure, and fertility. She is regularly attended by few of her children, the Erotes, who are capable of stirring up passion in both mortals and gods at the goddess’ will. Portrayed as both insatiable and unattainable, Aphrodite was born near the coast of Cythera out of the foam (aphros) Uranus' castrated genitals created when they fell into the sea. Even though married to Hephaestus, she had affairs with all Olympians except Zeus and Hades, most famously with Ares, the god of war. She also had famous romances with two mortals, Anchises and Adonis.

Aphrodite’s name is usually linked to the Ancient Greek word for “sea-foam,” aphros, which fits nicely with the story of her birth. However, modern scholars think that both Aphrodite and her name predate Ancient Greece and that the story actually came because of the goddess’ name.

If Apollo represented the ideal of the perfect male body to the Greeks, Aphrodite was certainly his most appropriate female counterpart. Beautiful and enchanting, she was frequently depicted nude, as a symmetrically perfect maiden, infinitely desirable and as infinitely out of reach. She was sometimes represented alongside Eros and with some of her major attributes and symbols: a magical girdle and a shell, a dove or a sparrow, roses, and myrtles.

Aphrodite was so lovely that only the three virgin goddesses – Artemis, Athena, and Hestia – were immune to her charms and power. Unsurprisingly, the second she got on Olympus, she inadvertently wreaked havoc amongst the other gods, each of whom instantly wanted to have her for himself. So as to prevent this, Zeus hurriedly married her to Hephaestus, the ugliest among the Olympians. Of course, this merely alleviated the problem: Aphrodite didn’t plan to remain faithful.

So, she started an affair with someone as destructive and as violent as herself: Ares. Helios, however, saw them and informed Hephaestus, after which the cuckolded god made sure to devise a fine bronze net, which ensnared the couple the next time they lay together in bed. To add insult to injury, Hephaestus called upon all the other gods to laugh at the adulterers and freed them only after Poseidon agreed to pay for their release.

Poor Hephaestus! He couldn’t have known that when Poseidon saw Aphrodite naked, he fell in love with her all over again. He must have found out later, since Aphrodite gave Poseidon at least one daughter, Rhode. And she didn’t give up on Ares either! In fact, after the bronze net scandal, she bore the god of war as many as eight children: Deimos, Phobos, Harmonia, Adrestia and the four Erotes (Eros, Anteros, Pothos, and Himeros).

Hermes didn’t have many consorts, but he did have Aphrodite at least once, as the very name of their offspring, Hermaphrodites, suggests. And if we take into account that Priapus is usually considered a son of Dionysus and Aphrodite, it seems that only Zeus and Hades managed to never fall for the goddess of love. But the second one didn’t even live on Olympus, and the former may have been her father.