But Hera, who disapproved of Aphrodite's free ways, deformed their child Priapus. This union produced a double-sexed child: Hermaphroditus.Īphrodite also slept with the youngest of gods, Dionysus. To retrieve it, the goddess was forced to submit to Hermes. The king of gods dispatched an eagle to steal one of Aphrodite's sandals. When Aphrodite spurned his advances, Hermes sought the help of Zeus. Hermes too fell in love with naked Aphrodite. Poseidon, however, was not the only god to envy Ares' position. Our word hermaphrodite-meaning a person born with both male and female reproductive organs-is derived from the offspring of Hermes and Aphrodite. Ares did ultimately default on the debt, but Hephaestus-still smitten with his wife-did not really want a divorce at all, so he never brought it up again. Poseidon gladly offered to serve as guarantor: If Ares defaulted on the payment, Poseidon would pay the price and take Aphrodite as his wife. So the sea god suggested that Ares should pay for the marriage gifts. With his first glance at the naked goddess, Poseidon fell in love. (Hermes and Apollo snickered that they would gladly make such a public spectacle if it meant lying with Aphrodite.) But the ruler of the gods refused, calling the adultery a marital dispute and ridiculing Hephaestus as a fool for making it a public spectacle. Hephaestus then demanded the return of the marriage gifts he had given to Zeus. The cuckolded god quickly gathered all the other gods at his bedside to witness the shame of the naked, helpless couple and to heap ridicule upon them. When the morning came, Hephaestus walked in-“Surprise! Hi, honey, I'm home!”-and found the two ensnared in the net. Then he bid Aphrodite adieu, saying he was going to relax on Lemnos for a while.Īs soon as he had gone, Aphrodite sent for Ares. When Helius told Hephaestus what he had seen, the smith god forged an unbreakable bronze net and secretly attached it to the posts and sides of his bed. After a wedding attended by all the Olympians, Cadmus became the founding king of Thebes, in central Greece. Their daughter Harmonia (Harmony) fell in love with the mortal Cadmus, who served her father for eight years to atone for killing a dragon sacred to Ares. Their sons, Phobus (Panic) and Deimus (Fear), became Ares' constant companions, driving his chariot on the battlefield. As Helius hitched up his golden chariot of the sun, he saw the lovers in Ares' palace in Thrace.Īphrodite had three children by Ares. But one night, the lovers tarried too long together. The most long-standing and significant of all of Aphrodite's lovers was Ares. She had countless affairs with both gods and mortals. The goddess did not remain faithful to Hephaestus-not by a long shot. Aphrodite could not confine her love to just one other. Unsurprisingly, the marriage of the enchantingly beautiful, sensual, and insatiable Aphrodite and the powerful, but gruff, ugly, and lame Hephaestus was not a happy one. Zeus, Aphrodite's adoptive father, agreed. Hera, reconciled with her son Hephaestus, arranged for him to marry the goddess of love. Hippolytus (see Lucky in War, Unlucky in Love: Theseus) was just one of the mortals whom Aphrodite punished for denying himself erotic joys. Like the other gods and goddesses, however, Aphrodite also harshly punished those who refused to honor her properly (in her case, this meant celibates or others who withstood the pleasures of love). (Zeus paid her back in kind by making her fall in love with the mortal Anchises-and conceive the hero Aeneas.) She took particular delight in causing her fellow Olympians to fall in love with mortals. Indeed, she had no other responsibility but to make love-and that she did with abandon.Īphrodite, who possessed a magic girdle that made its wearer an object of desire for everyone who saw her, was always happy to help young lovers. The goddess of love, lust, and mating never had to do a bit of work. Greatly apologetic, Aphrodite immediately abandoned her work and never took it up again. Athena spotted her working at a loom and complained that this was her domain.
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