Aphrodite.

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It all started with Chaos. And Chaos begot the four elementals, one which was Gaia, our Mother Earth. Gaia bore three sons, and with one of them (Uranus), she gave life to the Titans. Oceanus took for a bride Tethys, and with her bore Iapetus. Coeus wed Phoebe, and they bore Leto. Cronus (also known as Chronos) married Rhea, and together they bore Demeter, Hades, Hera, Hestia, Poseidon, and Zeus, the first Gods of Olympus. Iapetus bore Epimetheus, Prometheus, and Atlas. Epimetheus bore Dione, and Atlas bore Maia.

Now Zeus was known for his lustful and incestuous ways. He had children with two of his sisters, three of his cousins, and many mortal women, creating Gods and Heroic Demigods alike. He took his sister, Hera, as a wife, and they gave life to Ares, Hebe, and Hephaestus. With his other sister, Demeter, Zeus bore Persephone. With his cousin, Leto, Zeus had Apollo and Artemis, the twin Gods. With his cousin, Maia, Zeus bore Hermes. Out of himself, Zeus created Athena. But most important to our story, Zeus also had a child with his cousin, Dione. This child was the most beautiful of all Gods, and thus was named Aphrodite, the Goddess of Beauty.

There was an uprising, and the Gods fought and captured the Titans, and their ancestors. This was a war of the heavens unlike any other to ever be known. The Gods of Olympus then took their places as rulers and reigned over every aspect of the world.

Atlas, for some grievance, was imprisoned by Zeus, and sentenced to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders forevermore. And, taking pity on the crippled Smith God, Hephaestus, Zeus gave to him his most beautiful daughter, Aphrodite. She abhorred the thought of marrying her half brother/cousin, who was hideous and deformed, but married him out of obedience to her father.

Meanwhile, in the Underworld, Hades became lonely. He envied the Gods, and their companionship. So, he tricked the daughter of his siblings, Zeus and Demeter. Persephone was drawn into the Underworld, and there she was forced to stay, and become her Uncle's slave bride, and made to take on the responsibilities of tending to the dead.

For thousands of years, the Gods ruled the world together on the high tops of Mount Olympus. Aphrodite was most unhappy. She would wander the mortal world quite often, and there, she fed her vanity and her sorrow by taking to bed many Demigods and mortal men. All around her, she watched the world change and grow, as nothing did on Mount Olympus. Nothing there ever changed, ever grew old, or died. Her misery grew and grew, but her beauty never faded.

Hera, mother of Hephaestus, despised the other women Zeus had taken to his bed, and the children he created that did not come from her womb. But none did she hate more than Aphrodite. She envied her beauty, and was revolted by her vanity and infidelity to Hera's own child.

Thus begins our tale of love, hate, betrayal, and the cruelty of the Fates.