{"id":725,"date":"2017-02-22T18:43:20","date_gmt":"2017-02-22T18:43:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/greekgodsandgoddesses.net\/?post_type=goddesses&p=725"},"modified":"2023-04-06T17:47:30","modified_gmt":"2023-04-06T16:47:30","slug":"venus","status":"publish","type":"goddesses","link":"https:\/\/greekgodsandgoddesses.net\/goddesses\/venus\/","title":{"rendered":"Venus"},"content":{"rendered":"

Venus is the Roman goddess of love, beauty, prosperity, fertility, and victory. She was so important to Romans that they claimed her as their ancestress. According to mythology, her son Aeneas<\/a> fled from Troy<\/a> to Italy. He became the ancestor of Remus and Romulus, who founded Rome.<\/p>\n

So, in a way, it’s accurate to say that Venus was the mother of Rome. However, Venus had strong ties to Greek mythology<\/a>, too. The Romans thought she was the same goddess as Aphrodite<\/a>, the Greek goddess<\/a> of love. They adopted many of Aphrodite’s symbols<\/a>, such as roses and myrtle, to represent Venus. Myrtle was so important to this goddess that, during her festival, worshipers and even statues<\/a> of her wore myrtle wreaths.<\/p>\n

Venus’s festival took place on April 1. It was called the Veneralia. Aside from draping Venus in flowers, followers also carefully washed her statue, and promised to fulfill the moral obligations of good Roman wives and husbands. Many men and women also asked her advice on matters of the heart.<\/p>\n

Other symbols of Venus included the scallop shell, doves, dolphins, pomegranates, pearls, mirrors, and girdles. Many of these were also adopted from Aphrodite. So was her origin story; she was said to be born of seafoam.<\/p>\n

One of the most famous works of Western art depicts this event: Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus<\/i>. It portrays her as standing on a large shell, her hair covering her, surrounded by other mythical figures. This artwork from hundreds of years after the Romans worshiped Venus shows how important her mythology continued to be even after the fall of Rome.<\/p>\n

Plenty of other artworks also depict Venus, her birth, and her other myths. In fact, painting Venus was so popular that, after the classical era, any unclothed female figure came to be called a ‘Venus’.<\/p>\n

Venus had many titles, representing her importance. These included:<\/p>\n