As Goddess of Death-in-Life, Aphrodite earned many titles which seem inconsistent with her beauty and complaisance or inclination to comply willingly with the wishes of others.

At Athens, she was called the eldest of the Fates and sister of the Erinnyes: and in other places Melaenis (black one), a name meaning that most love-making takes place at night; Scotia (dark one); Androphonos (man-slayer), and, according to Plutarch, Epitymbria (of the tombs).