Aphrodite (Venus) Sightings
- The Odyssey 800BC - 600BC
The story of Aphrodite's scandalous love affair with Ares is found in Homer's ancient Greek epic poem.
- The Iliad 800BC - 600BC
Aphrodite might only have a small side story in The Odyssey, but she plays a big role in Homer's Iliad. It's here that you'll find the story of Aphrodite helping Paris steal the beautiful Helen and start the Trojan War.
- The Aeneid 30BC - 19BC
In the Roman poet Virgil's epic poem, Venus (a.k.a. Aphrodite) looks after her son Aeneas.
- The Metamorphoses 2
The Roman poet Ovid collected all kinds of wild stories about the gods in The Metamorphoses. Here you'll find myths about Venus, including the stories of her affair with Mars (Ares), her involvement with Atalanta, her love of Adonis, and much more.
- The Canterbury Tales: The Knight's Tale 1387
Part of Chaucer's story takes place on Mount Olympus. Here we see Mars (Ares) and Venus (Aphrodite) bickering about which knight should win a joust and get the girl, Jupiter (Zeus) feeling totally fed up with the argument, and Saturn (Cronus) stepping in to save the day.
- Venus and Adonis 1593
William Shakespeare didn't only write long plays and short sonnets, he also wrote a couple of long poems, including one about Venus and Adonis. Venus and Adonis, which is based off of Book 10 of Ovid's Metamorphoses, is actually the piece that launched Shakespeare's career.
- "Venus" 1959
"Venus, if you will/ Please send a little girl for me to thrill/ A girl who wants my kisses and my arms/ A girl with all the charms of you…" In this old Frankie Avalon song, the singer begs Venus to help him out with his love life. Listen to the song here.
- "Venus" 1969
"I'm your Venus, I'm your fire/ at your desire." Another song about the goddess of love, this time from Shocking Blue. Bananarama did a cover of it in 1986. Watch the deliciously '80s music video here.
- Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series 2005
Percy Jackson has run-ins with all of the gods of Olympus, including Aphrodite. We don't meet her in the first book, The Lightning Thief, but we meet many of her mortal children (they fill a whole cabin at Camp Half-Blood). Her first appearance is in the third book, The Titan's Curse.
- God of War and God of War III 2005 - 2010
The Greek gods make it onto the PlayStation in the God of War video game trilogy. The mortal hero of the games, Kratos, butts heads with the gods of Olympus. In the end, Aphrodite is the only god who survives his wrath. Maybe it's because she seduces him in God of War III?