Aphrodite

Aphrodite, the goddess of love. (www.google.com)

Everybody knows that love is one of the most important aspects in our life. The word love we use since we had learned how to talk. The first sentence a mother usually teaches to her kids is, I love you, Mom, or I love you, Dad. Well, what exactly the meaning of love is, I’m not quite sure. All I know is love is some kind of feeling that comforts us as humans.

In Ancient Greek mythology, Aphrodite is the goddess of love. According to the resources I got, she was born when Uranus (the father of the gods) was castrated by his son Cronus. Cronus threw the severed genitals into the ocean which began to foam about them. From the aphros ("sea foam"), appeared Aphrodite, and the sea carried her to either Cyprus or Cythera. So, she is often referred to as Kypris and Cytherea. Homer calls her a daughter of Zeus and Dione. Aphrodite was born with a spectacular gift, she had a very beautiful face with white soft skin. Because of that, a lot of other gods fell in love with Aphrodite.

Zeus was afraid that the other gods would fight with each other to get Aphrodite’s attention. So, Zeus married Aphrodite off to the smith god, Hephaestus. Hephaestus felt very lucky. He could not believe that Aphrodite was his wife. He used his smithing skills to made fabulous jewelry for Aphrodite. But Hephaestus was unwise. He put magic into his work. With those magical jewelries Aphrodite wore, no one could resist her. Aphrodite realized that she was too gorgeus to belong to a hard-working smith god.

Aphrodite was loved by many gods and mortals. She had many sons, such as Eros, Anteros, Hymenaios, and Aeneas (with her Trojan lover Anchises).

I choose Aphrodite as my hero because I’m interested in Greek Mythology, especially in Aphrodite. I adore her very much. She inspires me to believe in love magic and for me, she had shown the power that no men can have over it. She proves that power is not only about strength, but also about beauty.