Aphrodite (Greek)/Venus (Roman)
Goddess of love, beauty, and fertility; when the Romans adopted this myth, she became known as Venus.
Aphrodite was the daughter of Uranus. Although she married the smith god Hephaestus, she still seduced Ares, god of war, and had four children with him. Three of them were gods: Deimus (Fear), Phobus (Panic), and Eros (Love). The fourth was a goddess, Harmonia (Harmony). Aphrodite’s husband suspected something was going on, so he trapped Aphrodite and Ares with an invisible net while they were in bed together. Several Olympian gods witnessed this and burst out laughing instead of sympathizing with Hephaestus’ ignominy. The arranger of Aphrodite’s marriage to Hephaestus, Zeus, was utterly disgusted at her behavior. He then made Aphrodite fall in love with a mortal, the Trojan Anchises, and bear him a son , the hero Aeneas. Aphrodite, being a very powerful goddess, took revenge on Zeus. With brazen merriment, she made him fall head over heels for nymphs and mortal women, making him disregard his wife Hera.