The New Student's Reference Work/Aphrodite

Aphrodite (af-rō-dī′tē), the Greek goddess of love, the counterpart of Venus in Roman mythology. Both, probably, are of Asiatic origin; though it is to the Greeks that we owe the pretty story of her birth from the sea foam and of her subsequently becoming the wife of Hephæstos and the mother of Cupid. By another account, Aphrodite is said to be the daughter of Jupiter and Dione. Beautiful herself, she was endowed with the power of conferring beauty; and as the queen of beauty she was awarded the golden apple of Paris.