Origin
According to Hesiod, Aphrodite is born from the sea foam after Cronus has mutilated Ouranos. She reaches the shore of Cyprus on a shell, and grass grows beneath her feet. Homer gives her another origin: she would be the daughter of Zeus and Dione.
The story
At the wedding of Thetis, the goddess of Discord throws a golden apple inscribed “for the fairest”. Hera, Athena and Aphrodite all claim it, and the shepherd Paris must decide. Aphrodite promises him the love of the most beautiful mortal woman, Helen. Paris chooses her, carries off Helen, and the Trojan War begins.
Married to Hephaestus, the smith god, she prefers Ares. The Romans worshipped her as Venus and saw her as their ancestor: her son Aeneas, who escaped from Troy, was said to be the forefather of Rome’s founders.
The symbol
Venus is the brightest body in the sky after the Sun and the Moon. It is called the evening star, visible at dusk or dawn. It spins in the opposite direction to the other planets, so slowly that its day lasts longer than its year.
In astrology, Venus stands for love, pleasure, your tastes and what matters to you. It rules Taurus and Libra, and it is at the heart of compatibility between two charts.