His friend asked,"Would you rather sleep with the daughter of so-and-so than with Aphrodite herself?"12 Anchises' reply was, "No, having slept with both of them, I find the question inept."13Zeus overheard Anchises boasting, so he threw a thunderbolt at him that wouldhave killed him immediately, but Aphrodite put her magic girdle in front of him, so the boltdropped down at his feet. The shock of the bolt was so strong though, he could neverwalk upright again. Aphrodite, soon after bearing his son, lost all interest in Anchises.AdonisOne day, the wife of King Cinyrus was foolishly boasting that her daughter Smyrnawas more beautiful than Aphrodite. She heard this insult and got revenge by Smyrna fallin love with her father and sleep with him. Smyrna got pregnant, and the baby she wascarrying was actually the King's son and his grandson. When the King learned this, hechased his daughter out of the palace with a sword. Aphrodite saw this and, before hecould do anything, changed her into a tree. When he swung the sword at her, the swordbroke in half, and the infant Adonis came tumbling out.14Aphrodite, already regretting the trouble she had caused, took Adonis, and put himin a chest. She gave the chest to Persephone, asking her to hide it in a dark place. Persephone couldn't stand not knowing what was inside the chest, so she opened the chestand found Adonis.15Persephone found Adonis to be a very cute baby, so she took hi into her ownpalace to raise him. Aphrodite did not find out about this until Adonis was a grown man. When she did find out about this though, she immediately went to Persephone's palace toclaim Adonis. Persephone would not give him back to Aphrodite though, because she hadmade him her lover. Persephone appealed to Zeus, but Zeus knew that Aphrodite wantedto have him as her own lover. He refused to settle this case and transferred it to a lowercourt.16The court's verdict was that Persephone and Aphrodite shou...
