Aphrodite

"Beauty is about finding the right fit, the most natural fit. To be perfect, you have to feel perfect about yourself -— avoid trying to be something you're not. For a goddess, that's especially hard. We can change so easily."

- Aphrodite

Aphrodite (Αφροδίτη in Ancient Greek) is the Greek goddess of beauty, love, desire, sexuality, and pleasure. Her Roman counterpart is Venus. Aphrodite is portrayed by Serinda Swan, in The Lightning Thief (film).

History
After Kronos dismembered Ouranos, he threw his father's remains into the sea, and from the foam Aphrodite was born. The sea in which she was born (although some myths say she was the daughter of Zeus and goddess Dione) is said to be near Paphos, a city at the island of Cyprus in the Mediterranean sea. She later joined the Olympians after Zeus assumed power and quickly became the source of conflict among the gods. Although he was tempted to take her for himself, Zeus eventually married her to Hephaestus. Unhappy with the marriage, Aphrodite had an affair with the handsome and passionate Ares even after her husband humiliated her by publicly exposing her relationship. She would also have romances with both mortals and other gods over the centuries. In some myths it is said she goes to the place she rised from every year and dresses in her finest garments.

Troy
Aphrodite contributed greatly to the cause of the Trojan War, which lasted ten years and caused the violent downfall of the city of Troy. During the marriage of Thetis and Peleus, Eris in anger for not being invited tossed a Golden Apple into the room, where several goddesses saw it and fought over it. Eventually it came down to three goddesses, Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena. They quarreled over who was the fairest of them all, as the apple read "For the Fairest" on it. Zeus, tired of all the arguing sent Hermes to bring the first person he found to judge who is the fairest of the three goddesses. Unfortunately, he found Paris, Prince of Troy, to judge them. Hera offered him control over all Asia and Europe if she was picked, while Athena offered battle skills and intelligence. Aphrodite on the other hand offered him the hand of the most beautiful woman alive. Paris thought nothing of Athena and Hera's offers, so he chose Aphrodite's gift. Aphrodite asked her son Eros to cause Helen to fall in love with Paris. He did as his mother asked and the two fell in love, resulting in Paris sneaking her back to the city of Troy. However, Helen was already married to King Meneleus of Sparta and when he learned of what happened, he went to his brother Agammemnon and the two started a campaign against Troy, resulting in the Trojan War. Aphrodite supported Troy in the war, and intervened many times on behalf of Paris, and her favorite son, Aeneas, who was also of Trojan royalty.

The Lightning Thief
Aphrodite is mentioned as constantly cheating on her husband with Ares (and mortals judging from all of her children). Hephaestus constantly makes traps to try and embarrass her in front of the other gods, one of which Percy and Annabeth get trapped in while recovering Ares' shield. Percy finds the scarf of Aphrodite, which Annabeth snatches away from him before he can get intoxicated by the perfume.

The Titan's Curse
When Percy visits the attic to see the Oracle, he sees Aphrodite's Scarf from the events of The Lightning Thief and wonders why Annabeth had left it in the attic. He later meets Aphrodite and Ares outside of the Junkyard of the Gods in the desert. She expresses her interest in Percy's love life, saying that his desire to save Annabeth is very cute. She also says that she isn't going to make Percy's love life easy. She is also seen at the Winter Solstice voting for Percy and Thalia not being disintegrated.

The Battle of the Labyrinth
When Percy lands on the island of Ogygia, he meets Calypso and thinks that she is more beautiful than Aphrodite, but doesn't dare to say it out loud for fear of being zapped by her. Also, when Hephaestus comes to the island to ask Percy if he wants to leave, he tells him to beware of love due to the lack of loyalty from his wife. Percy also assumes Aphrodite landed him on Ogygia to make his love life interesting because she "likes him", although he later learns that it was Hera who had sent him on Ogygia.

The Last Olympian
When Annabeth is chosen to be the official architect of Olympus, Aphrodite goes along with Apollo saying that there should be many statues of her as well.

The Lost Hero
Aphrodite claims Piper soon after her arrival at Camp Half-Blood. She gives Piper her blessing with new magic makeup, hairdo and a pretty sleeveless dress with gold bracelets. She later makes an appearance in her daughter Piper's dream and talks to her. After the talk, Leo, Jason, Gleeson Hedge, and Piper all have new clothes and a bag with supplies.

In the dream, she tells Piper of their true enemy, Gaea. She also reveals why she considers herself to be the most powerful goddess as well as the oldest, being created out of Ouranos. When he was defeated his immortal essence created sea form and Aphrodite was born. She believes she is the most powerful due to the fact that love can bring the gods to their knees.

She also tells Piper that she truly loved Tristan McLean, and understood him well enough not to reveal her real nature. Aphrodite reveals a more caring nature, appearing to care for her children far more than the other gods, (excluding Poseidon, and possibly Hades, Hermes, Hephaestus, Athena, and Artemis with her Hunters) and treating people she loves in a kinder way, she seems to understand humans more than the other gods and it is likely that without Aphrodite they would not have been able to complete the quest.

The Mark of Athena
Aphrodite/Venus appears as both her Greek and Roman counterpart to Piper, Annabeth, and Hazel. She explains that because love is universal, her Greek and Roman sides stay the same, unlike the rest of the gods.

Personality
Aphrodite is both temperamental and vain. In addition, she is also crafty, flirtatious, and seductive. Despite these qualities, she is both very loving and passionate, having a faith in love that is absolute and true. Aphrodite is very benevolent and gentle to those she favors and deeply cares for her children as well as their fathers. Presiding over the most powerful of human feelings, she has great insight into mortal emotions as well as mortal nature by extension. It is nearly impossible to disagree with her, she is also unfaithful to Hephaestus with all of her affairs.

Appearance
"She was elegant without trying, fashionable without effort, stunning without makeup."

- -Piper complimenting Aphrodite

Aphrodite is the personification of beauty, and appears to others as their personal epitome of physical attraction which is why her true appearance is unknown. Aphrodite will take very good care of how she looks to others and can see the tiniest flaw, as seen in The Titan's Curse when she asked Percy to hold her mirror and fixed some flaw he couldn't see. However, when talking to Percy she wore a red dress and had her hair in a cascade of ringlets, while wearing makeup. Percy said that when she smiled, she looked like Annabeth and a TV actress he had a crush on in fifth grade.

When Piper saw her in Medea's department store during a dream, she is seen very differently. Aphrodite had shoulder length hair, a graceful neck, and a great figure. She was also wearing jeans and a snowy white top, while looking at clothes on the 50% off rack. Her eye and hair color change as Piper looked at them, as she says that Aphrodite tried to match Piper's view of beautiful. The biggest change is that when visiting Piper, Aphrodite had no makeup on. Aphrodite's more simple appearance while visiting Piper may be a result of Piper herself not liking to use makeup or make herself look overly girly, resulting in Aphrodite herself using no makeup and a simple outfit.

Abilities
"I'd met Aphrodite, Goddess of Love, in person, and her powers had scared me worse than Ares."

- Percy Jackson in The Titan's Curse

Aphrodite possesses the standard powers of a goddess with personal abilities such as:

Personification of Desire: Aphrodite as the goddess of Love and Beauty is the personification of all desire and fulfillment, She has absolute power over her realm. She has power over craving of the unattainable. The force of physical appetite or emotional need. Strong envious desire. In contrast she is also lords over satisfaction, extending to the attainment of ones desire.
 * Infallible visual acuity
 * Omnipotent allure
 * Speaks and understands French as it is the language of love
 * Charmspeak: Her voice has a mesmerizing effect, capable of influencing the emotions of others or of placing them in her thrall
 * Amokinesis: As goddess of love and beauty she has the mystical ability to arouse love and passion in others. She also possesses the ability to entrance any mortal or god she desires with control over love, lust, beauty and other things related to them

Venus
Venus is Aphrodite's Roman aspect. She may have children or descendants at Camp Jupiter near San Francisco. The Greeks envisioned Aphrodite as a passionate and sensuous being. The Romans hailed Venus as the divine ancestress of their culture. Other than that fact, her Greek and Roman sides stay the same, unlike the rest of the gods, since she explains that love is universal.



Relationships
Aphrodite is married to Hephaestus, but she is known for her affairs among gods and mortals with Ares as her favorite.

Claiming
Aphrodite's claiming is unique in that she gives her blessing as a declaration. She gives them magic makeup, a magic eyeliner, a sleeveless white dress, gold bracelets and a magic hairdo. It is unknown what the male version looks like.

The Lightning Thief
Aphrodite is briefly seen during a meeting of the Olympian council.

Trivia

 * Homeric sources claim that Aphrodite is a daughter of Zeus and an Oceanid nymph named Dione.
 * Her name is the inspiration for aphrodisiac.
 * The planet Venus is named after her Roman counterpart.
 * She is the eldest Olympian, since she rose from Ouranos' remains before Zeus and his siblings were born.
 * She was born of Ouranos, like the Titans. Despite this, she is a goddess.
 * Aphrodite has a belt (given to her by her husband, Hephaestus) that makes her seem even more beautiful.
 * Aphrodite's shapeshifting ability has been emphasised more than the other gods.
 * She is unaffected by her Roman form, much like Nemesis.