ARES AND APHRODITE.
The goddess Aphrodite (Venus), married to the crippled god Hephaestus (Vulcan), carried on an illicit love affair with his half-brother Ares (Mars). Hephaestus learned of his wife’s deceit from Apollo, and plotted his revenge. He forged a net of unbreakable chains and ensnared the lovers, trapping them in his own bed. He then called the other gods to observe and ridicule them in their embarrassing position. All the gods found the situation amusing except Poseidon (Neptune), who begged Hephaestus to free the lovers. They were released and fled, Ares to Thrace and Aphrodite to Paphos on Cyprus.
       Ares’ five children by Aphrodite were Deimos (Fear) and Phobos (Panic), Harmonia (also called Hermione), and, some say, Eros and Anteros.
       In postclassical representations the lovers are commonly seen as a love-pair (usually accompanied by Eros/Cupid) or ensnared in Hephaestus’s net. Renaissance artists sometimes used them in allegories of beauty and valor, or as strife overcome by love, with Venus disarming Mars.
      
      See also:
      Aphrodite
      Ares
      Hephaestus