Venus (goddess) - Definition and Overview

Venus is the Roman goddess of love, equivalent to Greek Aphrodite and Etruscan Turan.

Her cult began in Ardea and Lavinium, Latium. On August 18, 293 BC, her oldest temple was built. August 18 was then a festival called the Vinalia Rustica. On April 1, the Veneralia was celebrated in honor of Venus Verticordia, the protector against vice. On April 23 215 BC, a temple was built on the Capitol dedicated to Venus Erycina to commemorate the Roman defeat at Lake Trasimene.

Julius Caesar introduced Venus Genetrix as a goddess of motherhood and domesticity.

Venus in art

The Birth of Venus, by Botticelli

Venus has often been depicted in painting and in sculpture. She has become associated with depictions of attractive women, and because of this ancient mother goddess statues have been termed Venus figurines, the most famous being Venus of Willendorf.

According to German legend, the knight and poet Tannhäuser found the Venusburg, or subterranean home of Venus, and spent a year there enchanted by Venus.

Venus in other mythologies

In addition to Turan and Aphrodite, other figures possibly corresponding to Venus are:

• Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli in Aztec mythology
• Kukulcan in Maya mythology
• Frigg and Freya in the Norse mythos
• Ushas in Vedic religion. Etymologically, Venus is cognate to Sanskrit vanas- "loveliness; longing, desire", an epitheton of Ushas, suggesting a Proto-Indo-European link.

See also

• Suadela
• Venus (planet)

External link

• 'Venus Chiding Cupid for Learning to Cast Accounts' (http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/picture-of-month/displaypicture.asp?venue=7&id=86) by Sir Joshua Reynolds at the Lady Lever Art Gallery (http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/ladylever/index.asp)