Now that we've talked about Athena/Minerva, why don't we move onto someone I would consider to be a near opposite of her; Aphrodite/Venus. The renowned and widely known goddess of beauty and love with a really violent creation. Like, jeez her creation was more violent than you would expect. You'd think that her birth would be more like Semiramis, but no. It features castrastion, hooray. Now you're probably a mix of confused, horrified, or maybe grossed out, but you know what? I'll explain it, so you don't go through the day wondering how Aphrodites/Venus' birth has to do with the removal of genitalia.
It all started when Uranus, Chronos/Saturn's dad and Zeus/Jupiter's grandfather, decided that he two youngest children should never be looked upon and locked them up in Tartarus (Which is basically purgatory). Gaia, being rightfully angry about that but being way too violent, asked Chronos/Saturn to chop off his genitals with a sickle. Why? No idea, Greek mythology is pretty freakin' weird. Anyway, Chronos/Saturn did the deed and the cut-off bits fell into the sea. It turned into sea foam and from the foam rose Aphrodite/Venus. So really, one could say that Aphrodite/Venus is the oldest of the gods and none of the other Olympians had been born yet.
Now, for such a weird backstory, what would you expect her domain to be? If you guessed physical pleasure, love, and beauty you'd be partially right. The Romans decided that Venus deserved more, so they also gave more domains to the Roman goddess. Venus is also the goddess of sexuality, spiritual love, victory, and prosperity. Aphrodite has less domains than Venus, but part of me thinks that some of that is to blame on Emperor Nero absolutely adoring Venus.
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