Annaschnitfink's Fotothing

Greece, Kos City - Municipal Museum
Statue group of Aphrodite and infant Eros.
From the roman odeum.
1st century AD

Aphrodite (Greek: Ἀφροδίτη; Roman: Venus) ; is the Greek goddess of love, beauty and sexuality.
According to the Greek poet Hesiod, she was born when Cronus cut off Ouranos's genitals and threw them into the sea, and from the aphros (sea foam) arose Aphrodite.

Because of her beauty other gods feared that jealousy would interrupt the peace among them and lead to war, and so Zeus married her to Hephaestus, who was not viewed as a threat. However, Aphrodite became instrumental in the Eros and Psyche legend, and later was both Adonis' lover and his surrogate mother.

Aphrodite is also known as Kypris (Lady of Cyprus) and Cytherea after the two places, Cyprus and Kythira, which claim her birth. Her Roman equivalent is the goddess Venus. Myrtles, doves, sparrows, and swans are sacred to her. The Greeks identified the Ancient Egyptian goddess Hathor with Aphrodite.

Eros (Greek: Ἔρως), in Greek mythology, was the primordial god of lust, beauty, love, and intercourse; he was also worshipped as a fertility deity. His Roman counterpart was Cupid, "desire", also known as Amor, "love". In some myths, he was the son of the deities Aphrodite and Ares, but according to Plato's Symposium he was conceived by Poros (Plenty) and Penia (Poverty) at Aphrodite's birthday. This explains the different aspects of love. Like Dionysus, he was sometimes referred to as Eleutherios, "the liberator".

Source: Wikipedia

See also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birth_of_Venus_(Botticelli)
where you can see the world famous image of Botticelli's Birth of Venus