Aphrodite

Even those who know nothing about ancient Greek mythology will recognize the name of Aphrodite, the beautiful Goddess of love and romance. She was born when the Titan Cronus had his genitals cut off by his father Uranus, and they were thrown into the sea. Her name means "sea foam" or "foam born".

Not only was Aphrodite the Goddess of love, she was also associated with generosity, renewal and rebirth, relationships of all kinds (not just romantic ones) and independence for women.

As mentioned above, she had a long-standing relationship with Ares even though she was married to Hephaestus. It was Zeus' doing that she married the blacksmith God, and she was never happy with the match. She was beautiful and loved all things of beauty, and Hephaestus was unattractive and lame. Aphrodite had no children by Hephaestus. As if she was not already beautiful, Hephaestus made her a golden girdle that made her completely irresistible when it was worn.

At her temples, the priestesses of Aphrodite engaged in sexual rites with the men that came to worship the Goddess. Contrary to popular opinion, her priestesses were not some sort of Divine prostitutes. The sex involved in these rituals was sacred, and represented a union with the Goddess herself. There were many temples built to Aphrodite across the cities of Greece. Her main festival was called the Aphrodisiac, which was very popular in Athens and Corinth.

In the Roman pantheon, Aphrodite was known as Venus.