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Aphrodite
Greek mythology · deity · love, beauty, desire
Goddess of love and desire, irresistible to gods and mortals alike. Her very origin is contested: born from sea-foam in Hesiod, but a daughter of Zeus and Dione in Homer, two traditions the Greeks never reconciled.
Stories
The Judgment of Paris
Uninvited to a wedding, Eris rolls a golden apple marked "for the fairest" among the goddesses. Hera offers Paris empire, Athena victory, Aphrodite the most beautiful woman alive. He chooses Aphrodite, and Helen's face launches the Trojan War.
The Birth of Aphrodite
Cronus's sickle ends the tyranny of Uranus, and where the severed flesh falls into the sea, foam gathers. From it steps Aphrodite, desire itself, and grass rises under her feet as she comes ashore at Cyprus.