THE
GODDESS
APHRODITE
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By Anastasia
Why I chose Aphrodite.
List of Gods and Goddess Greek to Roman
Timeline of Aphrodite III
Aphrodite how she is born IV
Aphrodite and Ares IV
Trojan War V-VIII
Atalanta and Hippomen VIII-IX
Psyche and Eros IX-XII
Bibliography XIII
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I chose Aphrodite because I liked the name. It sounded
cool and because I
liked the idea of there being gods and goddesses.
Itís funny how gods and
goddesses would do anything just to be the best. They
seem nice, but a lot
of them were mean and all the bad things they would
do.
I liked writing all the stories about Aphrodite and
reading them. She would
be so mean but if it had to do with love she was there.
Aphrodite is a
happy person and is very beautiful. I think I learned
a lot of stuff about her.
I hope to learn more about Greek gods and goddesses.
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When Rome conqueted Greece, they changed the names of
them
all the Greek gods.
Greek names Roman names
Zeus Jupiter
Poseidon Neptune
Hades or Pluto Dis or Orcus
Hera Juno
Athna or Pallas Minerva
Aphrodite Venus
Hestia Vesta
Ares Mars
Apollo Apollo
Artemis Diana
Demeter Ceres
Hephaestus Vulcan
Hermes Mercury
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Timeline of Aphrodite (Venus)
Born from sea foam and blood drops from Uranus.
The wind carried her in a conch shell to Cyprus
Zeus brought her to Olympus
Aphrodite had many affairs with Ares, other gods and
mortals
Paris chose Aphrodite as the fairest goddess of them
all
Aphrodite started the Trojan War by taking Helen
Aphrodite helped Hippomeneís win the love of
Atalanta
Aphrodite got jealous of Psyche
Hephaestus caught Aphrodite and Ares in bed
Aphrodite and Ares leave Mt. Olympus.
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Aphrodite (Venus)
Aphrodite is the goddess of love and beauty. She was born
from sea foam and
Uranus blood drops. The wind carried her in a conch shell
to Cyprus. Zeus
saw her and he said "She has to be a goddess because
where she stepped the
flowers became alive and had day light in them."
No one knew who here parents are. Zeus sent her shinning
robes and brought
her to Olympus. She married Zeusís son Hephaestus
(Vulcan) so she could
stay in Olympus. With all the godís and goddessís.
Hephaestus was an ugly
god but the best stone and metal worker around.
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Aphrodite and Ares
Aphrodite had many affairs. One big one was with Ares
the god of war. Ares
gave Aphrodite many gifts that she hid them from Hephaestus.
One day Ares
and Aphrodite were in bed together and the sun who can
see everything told
Hephaestus. He went to his shop and made a net that was
invisible.
Aphrodite and Ares fell in the trap. Hephaestus showed
the entire male
godís but no one cared. Eros and Aphrodite had
a son called Eros.
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The Trojan War
A golden apple fell during the wedding banquet of the
sea king of Nymph.
Carved in the apple was "For the fairest". The goddess
Eris of Discord
dropped the apple because she was not invited. Aphrodite,
Athena, and Hera
each thought that it was theirs. Athena is the goddess
of wisdom. Hera is
the goddess of marriage. Zeus, who is the chief god of
Mt. Olympus, knew
that someone should get the apple.
He asked Paris, a shepherd whose dad is King Priam of
Troy, to be the
judge. Zeus told the three goddesses to fly to Mount
Ida. Each goddess
tried to make Paris give her the golden apple. Hera said,
" I shall give
you power and wealth." Athena said
"I shall give you glory and fame in battle."
Aphrodite said " I shall give you the best gift of all
of them, the most
beautiful woman in the world?" Paris picked Aphrodite.
Then he asked, "Who is the most beautiful women?"
Then Aphrodite said "Why, Helen the daughter of Zeus and
Leda. Many people
try to win her love but I can make her fall in love with
you!" Aphrodite
had her son Eros (Cupid) shoot an arrow of love in Helenís
heart. She fell
in love with Paris. He took Helen to Troy. Troy is at
the eastern end of
the Mediterranean Sea. Helenís husband, Menelaus
is king of Sparta. He
gathered all of the men who wanted to be with Helen.
They took an oath to
protect her. So the men sailed to Troy with an army in
a thousand ships. A
big, strong, high, wall blocked off the city of Troy.
The Greeks and the
Trojans fought for 10 long years outside the walls of
Troy.
"We have not been able to break down the strong wall of
Troy by force,"
said Odysseus to the Greek soldiers. "We must trick the
Trojans into
opening their gates and destroy their city," called Odysseus.
First
Odysseus told them to make a huge wooden horse with a
trapdoor under it.
Next he told everyone to leave the campsite. He told
the soldiers to sail
away on their boats to close by islands." We need some
men to stay behind
in the horse.
Sinon was told he would stay behind in the camp. Odysseus
came up with a
story to tell the Trojans so they will take the horse
into the gates." The
bravest Greek warriors will stay in the horse. Menelaus,
husband of Helen,
was one of them. The next morning one of the Trojan guardís
came running up
he said, "The Greekís left camp and sailed away."
The Trojanís walked out
on the campgrounds happily.
" We won but what is the horse for," asked someone.
" It is a gift from Athena," said another one. "We must
bring it in to the
city."
"No" cried Laocoon. A seer (a person how can see the future).
"I fear
Greeks even with their gifts." At the exact moment a
group of Trojans
dragged Sinon over where Laocoon and the guards were
standing. Sinon told
the story that Odysseus told him to tell. The Trojans
believed him and they
believed that the huge wooden horse was made and left
by the Greeks.
" But why did they make it so big?" asked a Trojan.
"Do not believe him," cried Laocoon. But just then two
huge, ugly sea
snakes came out of the water and crawled toward Laocoon.
They coiled
themselves around him and squeezed him till he died while
the Trojans
watched helplessly.
"Laocoon has been punished by the gods," they cried. So
they dragged the
horse into the gates. After ten years they slept peacefully.
Sinon went and opened the trapdoor of the horse. All the
men came out and
Odysseus said, "Destroy the city." Then the Greeks gave
a sign to the ships
to come back to Troy. Then the Greeks won the war.
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Atalanta and Hippomenes
Atalanta, was a princess who challenged her lovers to a footrace. Her dad said, "It is time she marry."
But she replied "I donít want to marry." Until a handsome young
man called Hippomenes fell in love with Atalanta. She
hoped that he would win the race and marry her. On the starting line
Hippomenes prayed to Aphrodite. She heard his
prayer and came to the starting line so he could only see her. Aphrodite
gave him three golden apples. She told him a
plan and when to use them.
The race began Atalanta took the lead so Hippomenes threw an apple.
Atalanta stopped and picked it up; he pulled ahead.
Then Atalanta went ahead again. So Hippomenes threw another apple.
Hippomenes pulled ahead, but then she picked it
up; and went past him. So now the crowd was cheering them on. He threw
the last apple, and it rolled past her eyes.
She thought for a moment. "Should I pick it up?" She was not going
to but then Aphrodite whispered in her ear " That
golden apple is the shiniest and the most precious of them all. I picked
it from my garden this morning." Hippomenes
was close to the finish line. Atalanta picked up the apple and tried
to get to the finish line first but Hippomenes beat
her.
"You have to marry me! Keep the apples as an engagement gift?" cried Hippomenes.
Atalanta answered "Yes I will even though it was not a fair race." She
felt very happy that she was going to marry
Hippomenes.
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Psyche and Eros
Psyche was the youngest out of three sisters. She was
the most beautiful of them all. Aphrodite was very jealous
because everyone talked about Psyches beauty. Aphrodite
was so mad that she asked her son Eros, who was full grown,
to punish Psyche. When he went to punish her, Eros fell
in love with Psyche but he did not tell her because his mom
did not allow it.
Psyche grew sad and lonely, finally her father went to
visit Apollo. Eros had told Apollo earlier that he wanted to be
with Psyche. Apollo told the king his daughter must dress
for her own funeral and go to a nearby mountaintop. A
dragon would come and carry her away. She said good bye
to her family.
She walked to the mountaintop but the wind came and took
her away to a valley. It left her in a flowerbed where she
slept. In the morning when she woke up a silver and gold
palace was there. Voices called her in to it they said "This is
your new home you are married now." That morning Beautiful
robes were laid out and voices called her to a banquet.
That night her husband who she does not know came to
bed with her. This happened every day. One night her husband
said,
"Your sisterís are coming to the mountaintop you must not see them."
"I have not seen my sister for so long," said Psyche.
Finally he said they could come. When they came they asked
many questions. Then they asked what her husband looked
liked. She could not say. Her sisterís thought
she had no man.
They also said" He was a monster and that Psyche should
kill him." That night she had a lamp that she lit and she saw a
cute boy. She spilled some oil on him. Then Eros got
up and rushed to his mother Aphrodite.
Then Psyche realized that it was Eros the god of love.
Aphrodite put some medicine on the burn. Then Eros told his
mom that he married Psyche. Psyche went to Aphroditeís
temple and prayed to her. Aphrodite came and said, "you have
hurt my son." Then Psyche said, "I will do anything to
get him back."
"Ok," said Aphrodite. " You will do as I say." Aphrodite
told Psyche to sort this big pile of grain in to three piles and
put them in sacks before dawn. A thousand tiny ants came
and helped her. Then Aphrodite made her clean her temple.
Then Psyche had to go get some gold fleece from these
wild goats. Then the wind whispered "In the bush there is some
gold fleece." Next she had to get a bottle of water from
the river Styx. She was on a big cliff and had to get down to get
some water. Then an eagle came and filled the bottle
up. The next thing was that she had to go to the under world and
get some beauty from the underworld queen. A voice told
her that if she gave a coin to the ferryman heíd take her there.
So she did and he took Psyche to the underworld. There
she met the three headed dog and gave him some cake. After that
she met the under world queen. The underworld queen gave
her the box of beauty. Psyche thought, I look so ugly. If I
put some powder on I can be more beautiful. She opened
the box and fell asleep.
Now Eros had healed. His mom locked him in his room so
he flew out the window. He found Psyche and forgave her and
told Psyche to take the box to his mom. He gave her a
kiss. After that Aphrodite forgave her and Psyche became a
goddess.
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Bibliography
1."Aphrodite" The Encyclopedia America
International edition 1972 ED
2.The Macmillan book of Greek Gods and Heroes by
Alice Low Illustrated by Arvis Stewart
3.Gods, Goddess, and Monster by Sheila Keenan
4.The Random house book of Greek Myths by Joan
D. Vinge Illustrated by Oren Sherman