AphroditeBirth. According to Homer, Aphrodite was the fruit of a union between Zeus (Jupiter) and Dione. But in Hesiod’s far more popular version, Aphrodite sprang from the foam (Greek, aphros) of the sea that gathered around the severed genitals of the Titan Uranus when he was castrated by his son Cronus. Borne by the sea on a scallop shell, the goddess landed either at Cythera or at Paphos in Cyprus (hence her epithets “Cytherea” and Paphian or Cyprian Aphrodite). A painting by Apelles of Cos (fl. c. 332-329 bce), described by Pliny but now lost, depicts the goddess rising from the sea. This theme, commonly called Venus Anadyomene, is a favorite subject in post-classical art. She is also commonly depicted wringing out her hair on the beach. Aphrodite’s marine origin is evoked in sea-triumphs in which she is pulled by dolphins and accompanied by Eros (Cupid) and Nereids (sea nymphs) and sometimes by Poseidon (Neptune). These triumphs are similar to, and sometimes interchangeably identified as, triumphs of the Nereids Amphitrite or Galatea. Classical Sources. Hesiod, Theogony 188—206. Homeric Hymns, second hymn ‘To Aphrodite.” Pliny, Naturalis historia 35.91. See also Amphitrite; Galatea.