Aphrodite

Aphrodite (Αφροδίτη in Ancient Greek) is the goddess of love, lust and beauty. Her Roman counterpart is Venus.

History
Aphrodite has two birth stories. The first states that she is the child of Zeus and a goddess named Dione, which may be another name for Hera. Another myth says she rose from the sea foam after the defeat of Uranus, when his divine blood fell into the ocean.

Due to her immense beauty, Zeus was frightened that she would be the cause of violence between the other gods. Thus he married her off to Hephaestus, the dour, humorless god of smithing.

The Trojan War
Aphrodite contributed greatly to the cause of the Trojan War, which lasted ten years and caused the violent downfall of the city of Troy. She bribed Paris, prince of Troy, with the most beautiful woman in the world (Helen), in return for him declaring her the fairest of the goddesses; a title she vied for with Hera and Athena.

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. She also sparked the conflict by causing the already married Helen to fall in love with Paris, and vice versa. Despite the fact that their affair caused the end of Troy, Aphrodite seems to view them as a tragic and sympathetic couple.

Adonis
Aphrodite was Adonis' lover and a surrogate mother to him. A mortal named Myrrha gave birth to a baby boy named Adonis. Aphrodite happened to be by the Myrrh tree and, seeing him, takes pity on the infant. She places Adonis in a box, and takes him down to Hades so that Persephone can care for him. Adonis grows into a strikingly handsome young man, and Aphrodite eventually returns for him. Persephone, however, loaths to give him up, and wishes Adonis would stay with her in the Underworld. The two goddesses begin such a quarrel that Zeus is forced to intercede. He decrees that Adonis will spend a third of the year with Aphrodite, a third of the year with Persephone, and a third of the year with whomever he wishes. Adonis, of course, chooses Aphrodite.

Adonis begins his year on the earth with Aphrodite. One of his greatest passions is hunting, and although Aphrodite is not naturally a hunter, she takes up the sport just so she can be with Adonis. They spend every waking hour with one another, and Aphrodite is enraptured with him. However, her anxiety begins to grow over her neglected duties, and she is forced to leave him for a short time. Before she leaves, she gives Adonis one warning: do not attack an animal who shows no fear. Adonis agrees to her advice, but, secretly doubting her skills as a huntress, quickly forgets her warning.

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, however, 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.

On his death, Adonis goes back to the Underworld, and Persephone is delighted to see him again. Eventually, Aphrodite realizes that he is there, and rushes back to retrieve him. Again, she and Persephone bicker over who is allowed to keep Adonis until Zeus intervenes. This time, he says that Adonis must spend six months with Aphrodite and six months with Persephone, the way it should have been in the first place.

The Titan's Curse
She expressed her interest in Percy's love life, saying that his desire to save Annabeth was very cute. She also said that she wasn't going to make Percy's love life easy.

She is also seen at the Winter Solstice voting with Demeter for Apollo to continue his haiku. She also votes for Percy to not get disintegrated.

The Last Olympian
When Annabeth is chosen to be the official architect of Olympus she yells out along with Apolloand Ares to have a lot of statues of them.

Percy's Reaction
In the Titan's Curse, Percy meets Aphrodite. He describes her as first seeing Annabeth, then a beautiful actress he had a crush on in 5th grade, and so on. When he first sees her, he says, "Uh, um gah." Only when Ares unintentionally disrupts his "thoughts" does Percy start talking.

Appearance
Her appearance changes depending on what type of woman a man finds to be the perfect woman, for example, if the man likes tall blond women with crystal blue eyes, than she'll appear as a tall blond woman with crystal blue eyes to the man. She is hard to remember due to her exquisite beauty and charm.

Physical Description
She is described as the most beautiful woman. Percy said she had a perfect hair, perfect smile, perfect clothes. When he met her, he said she was wearing a sleek red dress and beautiful through and through. If a man were look at her, he'd forget his name and what he was doing. Percy described her as looking like every girl he had ever liked. It is unknown if she consciously adjust her shape based on who is looking or if it occurs automatically. She carries around a giant mirror the size of a dinner plate. She always finds microscopic problems with her looks, and tends to fix them whenever she has a chance. She used to wear a scarf, filled with her treacherous love magic until Annabeth recovered it when Percy and her were out to return Ares his sacred shield.

Personality
Aphrodite had no childhood; in every image and each reference she is born adult and near-infinitely desirable. Aphrodite, in many of the stories involving her, is characterized as vain, ill-tempered, and easily offended. She is the seductress of all, and is shown to be crafty, passionate, but quite cowardly in the Iliad.

Relationships
She is married to Hephaestus, but her lover is Ares. Many mortal men and demigods alike fall for the love magic that the goddess has. In The Titan's Curse, Aphrodite expressed her interest in Percy's love life, saying that his desire to save Annabeth was very cute. She also said that she wasn't going to make Percy's love life easy. And she meant it, because later in The Titan's Curse, Percy met Rachel Elizabeth Dare.

Children
Some of her most famous children are: With Ares Her demigod children are usually quite beautiful and always worry about their appearance and are generally non violent. Most of her children are girls and some boys. Her boys are said to be neat and irresistible. It is revealed in The Titan's Curse, that when it comes to playing Capture the Flag against the Hunters, they are focused, and say that they "will show them love isn't worthless". This reflects the almost polar opposite state of Aphrodite and Artemis.
 * Silena Beauregard (deceased)
 * Marilyn Monroe
 * Aeneas
 * Eros
 * Deimos
 * Phobos
 * Harmonia

Powers
Aphrodite controls who falls in love and who doesn't. Percy notes that she believes in love so much that it is hard not to be giddy about it when she's around. To add, she can make her appearance change to make her irresistable to men, even appearing like those a person likes. Aphrodite is also the goddess of beauty, so she controls one's beauty too. She can also control hair, makeup, clothes, ect. Presumably possesses the standard powers of a God. Because of her love power, she is sometimes considered the most powerful of the Olympians, as love is immensely powerful and is a huge factor to the lives of most of Olympus.

Aphrodite also possesses the powers of:
 * Enchanting
 * Luring
 * Empathy
 * Teleportation
 * Immortality
 * Immunity
 * Invincibility

Film
In the film adaptation of The Lightning Thief. In the film, she was seen only once, at Mount Olympus during the summer solstice. In the film, she is played by Serinda Swan.