What Are the Personality Traits of Aphrodite?

Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love and beauty. She is physically attractive and has a fearsome and formidable streak. If her beauty is not given due credit, she is known to punish both man and God. She is married to Hephaestus, who is ugly and deformed. She is one of the few goddesses known to be unfaithful.

Aphrodite possesses a girdle that makes her irresistible to men. Aphrodite was jealous of Medusa and her sisters and placed a curse on them. As a result, the sisters had snakes for hair and a stone-gaze. Aphrodite is associated with the sea, dolphins, doves, swans, apples and pomegranates. She is believed to have been born from sea foam. Another legend suggests that she is the daughter of Zeus and Dione. Many lesser beings are considered her children. Adonis was one of Aphrodite’s lovers, and when he died, she went to the underworld to get him. There she fought with Adonis’ wife, Persephone, over him. Zeus intervened, and Adonis agreed to spend six months with each of them.

Aphrodite is comparable to Venus, the Roman goddess of love. In the modern era, Aphrodite is associated with love and passion and not lust and fertility.