If the affair was orchestrated by
Aphrodite, well, she’s mostly satisfying her own lust, and possibly just
emulating dear old (adopted) dad by chasing after mortals.
This particular mortal is Anchises,
a prince of Troy. And whether it was Aphrodite acting alone or Zeus
manipulating the chess pieces, Aphrodite eventually reveals herself to be a
goddess to Anchises. She warns him, though, that he can’t tell anyone he’s
sleeping with a goddess, or Zeus will get angry and strike him down.
Okay, we need to be realistic here.
Anchises is a guy. He has the failings of most guys. He is making love to a
goddess. Not just any goddess, either, he is making love to the goddess of
love. How can he not brag about this?
Remember, this is ancient Greece,
and we know how the Greeks are when it comes to sex. We just witnessed a public
exhibition of an affair, so a guy going down to the local tavern and bragging
about his sex life is going to be normal.
However, Zeus hears about it. Bad
things ensue.