Aphrodite Relationship

There are two different popular stories to how Aphrodite was born. One story was about how Uranus, the god of Heaven, wasn't such a great god and husband to his wife Gaia. So she sent her son Cronus to go up against him, armed with a sickle. So when Cronus was battle his father he ended up castrating him with the sickle. The severed genitals were thrown into the sea and it was there that the beautiful Goddess of Love and Sex was born. The other story was the one described by Homer , in the Iliad. It says that Aphrodite isn't parentless as she seems. Her mother's name was Dione which means "Divine queen". More importantly, in the story it says that Zeus was actually her father. This relationship between Aphrodite brings up conflict later on …show more content…
She has the ability to make the most strongest gods fall in love with who ever she chooses and most of the time she paired them with mortals. Even the strong Zeus couldn't stop her persuasions and fell in love with a mortal woman. That's how the whole conflict started in the first place. As one of his children she had a lot of power, and as it was proven and shown in previous stories, Zeus didn't like his children to be too power. He feared that Aphrodite would take over his spot. She bragged to all the gods and goddess about how she in the only one that can make the strongest of men fall in love and that would mean that she could do something that he couldn't. So he made her fall in love with a mortal so it can be proven that she isn't as powerful as she seems and to stop her from bragging to everyone about how powerful she was. In the Hymn it talks about her bragging and states how Zeus hopes that making her fall in love with a mortal will stop it. It says, "...might not some day with sweet laughter make her boast among all the gods...that she has united the gods to mortal lovers, that they had borne for deathless gods mortal sons, and that she untied goddesses with mortal men" …show more content…
When she went over to meet Anchises she was taken aback because of how beautiful he looked. In the hymn they said that he was, "...graced with beauty from the gods" (Hyginus, 199). So she did what most gods and goddesses do when they meet a mortal, they take on a different form. In this case she disguised her self as a beautiful virgin. She lied to him and told him how she was the daughter of the famous Otreus, who is the ruler of Phrygia. Then she continues to lie and say that she was sent by Hermes who said that she was meant to be the bride of Anchises. So as per usual he falls madly in love with her and they end up sleeping together. However when he falls asleep on the bed Aphrodite turns back into her goddess form and wakes him up. Anchises is terrified when he catches a glimpse of her and hides his face. He begs that she pity him and that she grants him strength to live on. Aphrodite on the other hand does not wish to grant him immortality because she says she's seen the things it can do to mortals. She starts to talk about another story of a goddess named Eos who falls in love with a mortal named Tithonos. They were both madly in love with each other so Eos went to Zeus to beg to give Tithonos immortality. The wish was granted but it came with a price; Tithonos only stopped aging when he was close to his death bed. He suffered a lot and Eos had to lock him up in one of her