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Goddess myths, indeed, most ancient myths continue to enthrall readers today because the stories are juicy, scandalous, heartbreaking, funny, strange, and scary. The gods and goddesses of the good ol' days acted out melodramas that were, in essence, primitive soap operas.

Most goddesses linked with love also seem to get lust, sex, fertility, and childbirth as part and parcel of their duties. They're usually associated with beauty, healing, herbs, crops, and, big surprise, are connected with water. Water gives life, woman gives lifeit's not a leap that requires Freudian interpretation.

Aphrodite is the most well known. However, she is not the only mythological character in charge of love and lust in the human world. In fact, she is not even the oldest reference to a female deity controlling the mortal pleasures of the heart and the flesh. Other goddesses from different cultures and religions also rule the joyous, and sometimes cruel, emotion called love.

APHRODITE: Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, beauty, and fertility, is one of the most recognized figures in history. She was really hot for Ares, god of war, (love and war, get it?) and was always giving in to carnal delights with the guy. For someone who ruled love, she never really got to enjoy it that often. The one time she walked down the aisle, it was shotgun wedding: Zeus forced her to marry Hephaestus. The groom was the least handsome guy on Olympus and, as the god of metallurgy, probably the only one who ever got his hands dirty. But ol' Aphrodite didn't let a little thing like marriage get in the way of her fun. She was the Mae West of her time: When she was good, she was very good, but when she was bad, she was even better.

VENUS: Venus is considered the Romanized version of Aphrodite. The mindset of Romans was usually, dude, that's so awesome, we'll steal it followed by party on, oh conquered peoples. The Romans, once they subjugated the country du jour, often absorbed into their own beliefs anything tres chic from the conquerees. Thus, it's no surprise Venus eventually took on some of Aphrodite's qualitiesand most of her myths. Venus liked to play lover merry-go-round almost as much as her Greek counterpart, but she was also known as the goddess of chastity (snicker). She brought good fortune and joy to humans and was also a nature goddess, associated closely with spring. Wow, fertility correlation strikes again.

ISIS AND BAST: The earliest recorded references to a goddess belong to

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