Aphrodite's Personal Vendettas
Lemnian women: the women of Lemnos failed to give due honour to Aphrodite, and were infused with a terrible stench by the goddess as punishment. Their husbands ended up abandoning them for Thrakian brides. Aphrodite then drove Lemnian women to murder their fathers and husbands.
Hippolytos: the son of Theseus insulted Aphrodite by rejecting love. He was very austere and had an unbending nature. The goddess punished him by having his stepmother Phaidra fall in love with him, a curse that ultimately led to the boy's death through his own father.
Brothers of Halia: six princes of the island of Rhodes, sons of Halia and Poseidon, who drove Aphrodite away when she tried to land on their island. The goddess was wrath and inflamed them with unnatural passions. They then committed various sexual crimes, including the rape of their own mother. Poseidon, ashamed of his sons, buried them beneath the island.
Hippomenes: the prince asked for Aphrodite’s assistance to win Atalanta in a race and so win her hand in marriage. After winning, he didn’t even thank the goddess. When he is his wife went to a Zeus temple, Aphrodite inflamed both with desire, and so they had sex in the shrine. Zeus saw it and transformed them into lion and lioness, as greeks believed that lions mated only with leopards and never amongst themselves.
Kerastai: a group of men native to the Island of Kypros. They murdered foreigns who were visiting Aphrodite’s temple and offered their blood as sacrifice to Zeus. Aphrodite was outraged by these wicked rites and transformed the kerastai into savage bulls.
Kinyras' daughters: three princesses of the Island of Kypros. As punishment for scorning Aphrodite’s divinity, the goddess drove them to sleep with foreigners, and they ended up their lives in Egypt.
Menelaos: one of the princes who sought the hand of Helene in marriage. He promised to sacrifice to Aphrodite a hundred heads of cattle should he win the contest, but after the wedding failed to honour his pledge. The goddess was wrathful and so designed that Helene should elope with Paris to Troy.
Kenkhreis: the queen of Kypros boasted that her daughter Myrrha was more beautiful than Aphrodite herself. The goddess cursed the girl to fall in love with and consummate a union with her own father.
Nisos: the king of Megara must have offended Aphrodite in some manner, because when king Minos came to conquer his city, Aphrodite was instrumental in Nisos’ defeat. It is said that Nisos had a purple lock of hair on his head, and an oracle told him that he would rule as long as he preserved that lock. Aphrodite made Nisos’ daughter, Scylla, fall in love with Minos. To make her lover the victor, Scylla cut the fatal lock from her sleeping father.
Pasiphae: daughter of Apollo and wife of Minos, for several years did not make offerings to Aphrodite. Because of this, Aphrodite inspired in her an unnatural desire for a bull. From this intercourse, Pasiphae bore the Minotaur, with bull's head but human body.
Propoitides: women of the Island of Kypros who dared to deny Aphrodite’s divinity. As punishment, the goddess cursed them with a passion to prostitute their bodies (it is said that they were the first women to do so). Their hearts were dulled to the hardness of flint (a stone), and eventually they became the stone itself.
Tyndareus: while sacrificing to the gods, Tyndareus forgot Aphrodite. As punishment, his three daughters Helene, Klytaimnestra, and Timandra were all cursed with the notoriety of betraying their husbands. Timandra deserted Ekhemos for Phyleus, Klytaimnestra deserted Agamemnon for Aigisthos and Helene dishonoured Menelaos and eloped with Paris.
Diomedes: the king of Argos wounded Aphrodite during the Trojan War. As punishment, the goddess drove his wife Aigialeia to betray him. She and her new lover drove Diomedes from his homeland upon returning from the war.
Akmon: Akmon was a companion of Diomedes and vociferously criticised the punishments meted out by Aphrodite upon his lord. For the lack of respect shown her divinity, the goddess transformed him into a shearwater (seabird).
Eos: the goddess of the dawn was cursed by Aphrodite with an unquenchable desire for young men, as punishment for lying with Aphrodite's lover, Ares.
Apollo: Aphrodite was always hostile to Apollo since the episode in which he told Hephaistos about her adultery with Ares. As punishment, she cursed Apollo to fall in love the Persian princess Leukothea and unwittingly bring about the princess’ demise.
Herakles: the greatest of the greek heroes incurred Aphrodite's wrath when he seduced her mortal lover, Adonis. The goddess retaliated by instructing the dying kentauros Nessos to have Deianeira, the wife of Herakles, soak a robe in his poisoned blood, and present it to Herakles as a love-charm, should he ever prove unfaithful. She did so, and the poisoned robe brought about the hero's death.
Kalliope: Kalliope was one of the mousai (muses) appointed by Zeus to help him decide the fate of Adonis, a mortal man loved by Aphrodite and Persephone. She then suggested Zeus to divide Adonis’s year between both goddesses. Aphrodite was angry because she had not been granted what she thought was her right. The goddess made women in Thrace fall in love with Orpheus, Kalliope’s son. Inflamed with desire, the Thrakian women tore him limb from limb.
Kleio: one of the nine mousai (muses), she criticised Aphrodite’s love for Adonis. The goddess cursed her to fall in love with a mortal man as well, Pieros.
Nerites: a young sea-god who was loved by Aphrodite during the time she spent in the sea. When he refused to accompany her to Olympos, she transformed him into a shellfish.
Pan: the god of shepherds was once called upon to judge a beauty contest between Aphrodite and a prideful youth named Akhilleus. When Pan awarded the prize to Akhilleus, she cursed him with his doomed love for the Nymphe Ekho. The goddess also transformed Akhilleus into an ugly shark.
Psykhe: the princess was so beautiful, men came to worship her in place of Aphrodite, abandoning the shrines of the goddess. Aphrodite was wrath and demanded Eros make her fall in love with a monster. Instead, the god fell in love with her himself and took her to live in her palace. When she betrayed her lover's trust, she sought Aphrodite's help, and the goddess imposed upon her many cruel labours.
Anaxarete: Anaxarete, a lady of the island of Kypros, was loved by Iphis, a man of humble origin. He was constantly showering her with attention and romantic gests, only to be cruelly mocked, despised and rejected. Iphis couldn’t bear that agony any longer, and driven by his love for the lady, committed suicide in front of her. Anaxarete proved to be totally heartless in the event of his funeral. Aphrodite was not impressed and turned the cold woman into stone.
Glaukos: the king of Korinthos prevented the mares of his herds from mating. Aphrodite drove the mares into a frenzy and they tore the king to pieces.
Narkissos: Narkissos was a handsome young man who mocked all those who sought his love. As punishment for his arrogance, Aphrodite made him fall in love with his own reflection. The boy perished in unfulfilled yearning.
Seirenes: the seirenes were three naiad-nymphs who spurned love and as a result had their loveless bodies transformed into those of birds by a wrathful Aphrodite.
Polyphonte: the princess scorned the activities of Aphrodite and went to the mountains as a companion of Artemis. Aphrodite, whose activities Polyphonte failed to honour, made her fall in love with a bear and drove her mad. In her bear form, Polyphonte coupled with another bear. Artemis, seeing her companion like that, was utterly disgusted and turned all beasts against her.
Source: The Theoi Project ♡
