阿佛洛狄忒(APHRODITE)，古希腊神话人物，爱与美的女神。罗马神话中称为维纳斯。她生于海中，以美丽著称。被认为是锻冶工匠之神赫准斯托斯的妻子，有关她的恋爱传说很多。在古希腊、罗马艺术作品中被塑造成绝色美女，最的雕像是在米洛斯岛出土的“米洛斯的阿佛洛狄忒”。 她是宙斯和大洋女神狄俄涅的女儿。又说她从浪花中出生，故称阿佛洛狄忒(出水之意)。

　　Aphrodite (/æfrəˈdaɪti/ af-rə-dy-tee; Greek Ἀφροδίτη) is the Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation. Her Roman equivalent is the goddess Venus.

　　Historically, her cult in Greece was imported from, or influenced by, the cult of Astarte in Phoenicia.

　　According to Hesiod's Theogony, she was born when Cronus cut off Uranus' genitals and threw them into the sea, and from the sea foam (aphros) arose Aphrodite. Thus, Aphrodite is of an older generation than Zeus.

　　Because of her beauty, other gods feared jealousy would interrupt the peace among them and lead to war, soZeus married her to Hephaestus, who was not viewed as a threat. Aphrodite had many lovers, both gods such asAres, and men such as Anchises. Aphrodite also became instrumental in the Eros and Psyche legend, and later was both Adonis' lover and his surrogate mother. Many lesser beings were said to be children of Aphrodite.

　　Aphrodite is also known as Cytherea (Lady of Cythera) and Cypris (Lady of Cyprus) after the two cult-sites,Cythera and Cyprus, which claimed her birth. Myrtles, doves, sparrows, horses, and swans are sacred to her. The Greeks further identified the Ancient Egyptian goddess Hathor with Aphrodite. Aphrodite also has many other local names, such as Acidalia, Cytherea and Cerigo, used in specific areas of Greece. Each goddess demanded a slightly different cult, but Greeks recognized in their overall similarities the one Aphrodite. Attic philosophers of the fourth century separated a celestial Aphrodite (Aprodite Urania) of transcendent principles with the common Aphrodite of the people (Aphrodite Pandemos).