Ok, so you remember Uranus way back when? Well, in some myths, when his blood hit the ocean, it created a new being, and she was called Aphrodite! Fun fact: Aphrodite literally means "foam-risen" because Aphros in Greek means foam.
In other myths, her father was Zeus (he really gets it on), and her mother was a Titaness named Dione. Most of Greek literature actually considers Aphrodite as a child of Zeus and Dione rather than just made of seafoam from the blood of Uranus (please don't laugh), including works from notable dudes like Homer and Pseudo-Apollodorus (SUE-doe-uh-PAUL-uh-DOOR-iss).
Remember Hephaestus? Remember Ares? Well, they're pretty important in this particular myth notable to Aphrodite. Basically, when Aphrodite was first inducted as an Olympian way up on Mt. Olympus, she had all the guys drooling over her because she had established that she would be the goddess of beauty, love, etc. Cute, literally.
Zeus, even though he loved his possible daughter (there were already too many to really remember), knew that if he wasn't careful with whom Aphrodite married, a possible war among the gods could break out. It took ten years to fight with the Titans in the Titanomachy; he wouldn't be going through that again. So, Zeus decided incest and inbreeding was the best solution. Yum.
"Yo, Hephaestus, my boy. Come here," he shouted to Hephaestus, who was calmly tinkering with something because he was chill like that. Hephaestus was, objectively speaking, the "ugliest" of all the gods. This kinda happened for two reasons.
Hephaestus, remember, was the product of Hera angrily asexually reproducing by herself to get back at Zeus without cheating so that she would never be a hypocrite. (Basically, she became the Virgin Mary, and Hephaestus became Jesus.) Well, the end result didn't come out exactly as Hera had wanted. Hephaestus, though strong and burly from birth like Ares, was a bit malformed. Not really noticeable, but compared to Apollo, Artemis, and Athena, who were all golden and radiant like their father and mothers, he was a bit...disappointing in Hera's eyes. Poor Hephaestus. So, Hera threw Hephaestus down from Mt. Olympus, and he fell into the sea, becoming a bit crippled.
Lucky for him, some sea nymph named Thetis (you will need to remember her, so take notes) rescued the poor baby Hephaestus and brought him to an underwater volcano. Here, she taught him how to make forges and work with metal. Unsurprisingly, Hephaestus did really well! He could use metal and control the fires so well that he could make anything and make it super strong! Thetis was pretty proud of him, but after a while (which could be anywhere from some couple millennia to nine days), she sent him back up to Mt. Olympus.
He brought gifts to Mt. Olympus though! Beautiful chairs Hephaestus had created out of precious metals under the sea dazzled and stunned the other Olympians! They all liked their presents so much that they completely ignored what Hera believed was the "ugliest" Olympian. However, Hephaestus held a grudge against his mom. After all, mothers are supposed to love their kids no matter what, and uh, Hera kinda threw him away (literally).
So, when Hera sat on her golden throne, Hephaestus knew it wouldn't end well. Basically, he'd created some kind of device that made the person sitting on the chair be stuck on it forever because gold wire and chains would wrap around whoever was unfortunate enough. That unfortunate person was Hera, and she was suffocating. She couldn't die because she was immortal, but Hephaestus knew that she would want to die. Torture. (Must run in the family)
Don't worry, the happy mother and son duo made up in the end. Which is why Hephaestus ended up becoming more disfigured.
At some point in time, Hera, Poseidon, and Athena (with the often inclusion of Apollo) decided to revolt against Zeus because of all his power schemes. (Make sense? It should, but it's only an allusion to a power scheme, not an actual power scheme. Sorry.) They tied him up, left him hanging (literally), and just kinda left him alone. Meanwhile, Thetis the sea nymph (Nereid) rescued Zeus, and he was kinda simping over her until he heard some prophecy that her child would be greater than his father. Zeus was not into that. (Please keep this in mind. It becomes significantly important later on.)
To get back at Hera, Zeus did the exact same thing to her, and she was pretty pissed. However, since Hephaestus was now a loving, doting son, he rescued her, and Zeus flung him off Mt. Olympus. This time, Hephaestus landed on the island of Lemnos, and his legs were permanently crippled, which is why he made golden (or bronze) automatons to help him walk because he physically couldn't. Really sad. (#JusticeforHephaestus)
Now that I've cleaned up that mess of an origin story, it's time to get back to Aphrodite! Woohoo!
"So, Aphrodite, you're gonna marry Hephaestus," Zeus said calmly. Aphrodite was not very calm, and neither was poor Hephaestus.
"What? But I wanna marry—"
"No."
And that was the end of it. Hephaestus liked Aphrodite because she was pretty, and Aphrodite hated Hephaestus because she, like Hera, thought he was ugly. She did like him for one reason though. He had made her a beautiful girdle (consider it more like a belt) and had laced it with precious stones and metals. Even though Aphrodite was already beautiful, when she wore that girdle around her waist, she could make anyone fall in love with her. (Hera will later use this girdle herself...keep that in mind.)
However, instead of paying Hephaestus back and loving him in spite of his malformations, Aphrodite decided to cheat on him with his half-brother Ares. Ares was like the opposite of Hephaestus, and he was very belligerent and pugnacious. He enjoyed carnage (not the supervillain) and was bellicose. (I just used four words that all mean the same thing.)
What can you say? Love and war go hand in hand. (Spoiler alert: that's the formation of Rome as well.)
Anyway, Aphrodite and Ares did the nasty in her and Hephaestus' home. No one could see them, and they were pretty sneaky about their infidelity. However, Helios, the sun Titan, saw them because, well, he's literally the sun. How do you hide from the sun? (Don't answer that. It's a rhetorical question.) Also, this is why I'm very reluctant to say that Apollo is the sun god. He might be the sun god, but if you want to go with Ovid's retellings of the myths, you should stick with the fact that Helios is the sun Titan and controls the sun. (It's very important later.)
Anyway, Helios narked on Aphrodite and Ares. Rightfully, Hephaestus was pissed. (Must run in the family. He is his mother's son after all.) So, he got his revenge. Remember how he trapped his mother? Well, he made another golden net and put it in his bed.
When Aphrodite and Ares did the do again, they got trapped, and Hephaestus publicized it. Everyone was laughing at the pair, and Hephaestus divorced Aphrodite and married her handmaiden. (Possibly) Yay! All's well that ends well, I guess!
