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Aphrodite: Love
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Aphrodite is the goddess of beauty and love. When the 3 goddesses, Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite, competed for the golden apple, they appealed to Paris, son of King Priam of Troy, to judge which of them was the most beautiful. Paris judged the goddess of beauty to be the loveliest. In return for his verdict, Aphrodite promised Paris the loveliest mortal as wife. Unfortunately, this mortal woman was Helen of Sparta, the wife of Menelaus. Paris took the prize that had been awarded him by Aphrodite anyway, and so started the most famous war in history, that between the Greeks and Trojans.
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In one version of the story of Hippolytus, Aphrodite was the catalyst for his death. He scorned the worship of Aphrodite for Artemis and, in revenge, Aphrodite caused his stepmother, Phaedra, to fall in love with him, knowing Hippolytus would reject her. In the most popular version of the story, the play Hippolytus by Euripides, Phaedra seeks revenge against Hippolytus by killing herself and, in her suicide note, telling Theseus, her husband and Hippolytus' father, that Hippolytus had raped her. Hippolytus was oath-bound not to mention Phaedra's love for him and nobly refused to defend himself despite the consequences. Theseus then cursed his son, a curse that Poseidon was bound to fulfil and so Hipploytus was laid low by a bull from the sea that caused his chariot-team to panic and wreck his vehicle. This is, interestingly enough not quite how Aphrodite envisaged his death in the play, as in the prologue she says she expects Hippolytus to submit to lust with Phaedra and for Theseus to catch the pair in the act.
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Although Aphrodite had numerous affairs, they were generally with gods; she only rarely took mortal men as her lovers. One of these very few relationships was with a man from Troy named Anchises, described in an early poem entitled the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite. This poem begins with the goddess mocking the other Olympians, even Zeus, for having affairs with mortals, so Zeus decided to punish her arrogance by compelling her to be attracted to a human.
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Until things cooled down in the tabloids, the embarrassed lovers went on separate vacations to the Greek Islands, but cousin Aphrodite had the last laugh on Helios, that big mouth. She made him fall in love with a mortal beauty called Leucothoe, daughter of Orchamus who was king of Persia. The anamoured Helios assumed the form of Leuchothoe's mother, dismissed the servants and then revealed his identity and proceeded to seduce the king's daughter.
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Not long after Aphrodite leaves, Adonis comes across an enormous wild boar, much larger than any he has ever seen. It is suggested that the boar is the god Ares, one of Aphrodite's lovers made jealous through her constant doting on Adonis. Although boars are dangerous and will charge a hunter if provoked, Adonis disregards Aphrodite's warning and pursues the giant creature. Soon... Adonis is the one being pursued; he is no match for the giant boar. In the attack, Adonis is castrated by the boar, and dies from a loss of blood. Aphrodite rushes back to his side, but she is too late to save him and can only mourn over his body.
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Ancient mythology furnishes numerous instances in which Aphrodite punished those who neglected her worship or despised her power, as well as others in which she favoured and protected those who did homage to her and recognized her sway. Love and beauty are ideas essentially connected, and Aphrodite was therefore ... the goddess of beauty and gracefulness. In these points she surpassed all other goddesses, and she received the prize of beauty from Paris; she had further the power of granting beauty and invincible charms to others. Youth is the herald, and Peitho, the Horae, and Charites, the attendants and companions of Aphrodite. (Pind. New. viii.
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