The birth of Venus

There are two versions of her birth. In the first version told by Hesiod, she was older than the Olympians. When the Titan Cronus severed his father’s (Uranus) genitals and flung them into the sea, the blood and semen caused foam to gather and float across the sea to the island of Cyprus. There Aphrodite rose out of the sea from the foam (hence her name came from the word aphros, which means foam). She had experienced no infancy or childhood; she came into existence as a fully grown, young woman. The Clam Shell Version.
In the second version told by Homer, she was known as the daughter of Zeus and the ocean nymph Dione. The Cherubs Version. She was married to Hephaestus (Vulcan) and bore children but she did not attend to her domestic duties. In fact, she concentrated almost completely on extramarital affairs with gods and mortals. Her many lovers include Aries, the God of War - this affair was the most notorious of all and the longest - and the handsome Adonis. She was the mother of Eros (Cupid), Deimos (Fair), Phobos (Panic) and Harmonia, wife of Cadmus. One of her mortal sons was Aeneas, by her lover Anchises, King of Dardania. Anchises was crippled by a thunderbolt from Zeus, when he revealed that he had made love to the goddess.
Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli (1485-86) (credit: Uffizi Gallery, Florence)