top of page
Venus
This portal was curated by:
​

VENUS

In Roman mythology, Venus was the goddess of love, sex, beauty, and fertility. She was the Roman counterpart to the Greek goddess Aphrodite. However, Roman Venus had many abilities beyond the Greek Aphrodite; she was a goddess of victory, fertility, and even prostitution. According to Greek mythology, as presented in Hesiod's Theogony, Aphrodite was born of the foam from the sea after Saturn (Cronus) castrated his father Uranus (Ouranos) and his blood fell to the sea. This latter explanation appears to be more a popular theory due to the countless artworks depicting Venus rising from the sea in a clam.
DATABASES
In Roman mythology, Venus was the goddess of love, sex, beauty, and fertility. She was the Roman counterpart to the Greek goddess Aphrodite. However, Roman Venus had many abilities beyond the Greek Aphrodite; she was a goddess of victory, fertility, and even prostitution. According to Greek mythology, as presented in Hesiod's Theogony, Aphrodite was born of the foam from the sea after Saturn (Cronus) castrated his father Uranus (Ouranos) and his blood fell to the sea. This latter explanation appears to be more a popular theory due to the countless artworks depicting Venus rising from the sea in a clam.
APHRODITE was the Olympian goddess of love, beauty, pleasure and procreation. She was depicted as a beautiful woman often accompanied by the winged godling Eros (Love). Her attributes included a dove, apple, scallop shell and mirror. In classical sculpture and fresco she was usually depicted nude. MYTHS Some of the more famous myths featuring the goddess include:-- Her birth from the sea foam. <<More>> Her adulterous affair with the god Ares. <<More>> Her love for Adonis, a handsome Cypriot youth who was tragically killed by a boar. <<More>> Her love for Ankhises (Anchises), a shepherd-prince. <<More>> The judgement of Paris in which the goddess was awarded the prize of the golden apple in return for promising Paris Helene in marriage. <<More>> The Trojan War in which she supported her favourites Paris and Aeneas and was wounded in the fighting. <<More>> The race of Hippomenes for Atalanta, which was won with the help of the goddess and her golden apples. <<More>> The death of Hippolytos, who was destroyed by the goddess for scorning her worship. <<More>> The statue of Pygmalion which was brought to life by Aphrodite in answer to his prayers. <<More>> The persecution of Psykhe (Psyche), the maiden loved by the goddess' son Eros. <<More>>
The sun and the moon were not the only celestial bodies of importance to the ancient Maya. The movements of the planet Venus also held special meaning for them. Tables that mark Venus’ position throughout the year are recorded in ancient Maya books called codices and on monuments throughout the Maya kingdoms. Venus also seems to have influenced the architecture of the city Uxmal in the northwestern part of Yucatán, Mexico. Anthony Aveni, an archaeoastronomer at Colgate University, believes that the royal residence named the “House of the Governor” was designed with the observation of Venus in mind. Venus symbols decorate its façade and from its central doorway an observer can still see the planet align with monuments across the site that mark the northern and southern extremes of Venus’ migration along the horizon throughout the year. Venus orbits the sun approximately every 225 days, but as it is seen from Earth, the planet appears to move back and forth relative to the sun in a cycle that lasts 584 days. Five of these oscillations—2,920 days—are almost exactly as long as eight solar years. Aveni believes that Maya priests saw significance in this astronomical coincidence. “For the Maya, everything has to be brought together in terms of whole multiples and that’s where Venus comes in. It has a five-to-eight rhythm with the sun,” says Aveni. Venus also appears to go through four phases. For 250 days the planet is known in Western cultures as the “Evening Star” as it follows the setting sun. After the Evening Star phase, Venus disappears for eight days before returning as the “Morning Star”—the 236-day-long phase when it rises just before dawn. After the Morning Star phase, Venus disappears for 90 days before returning again as the Evening Star. A document from Central Mexico written in the late 1500s called the Annals of Cuauhtitlan associates the eight-day period between the Evening and Morning Star phases with the death and resurrection of Quetzalcoatl, a deity known as Kukulcan to the ancient Maya. Kukulcan was the sky god and the most powerful of the ancient Maya deities. According to Aveni, rituals celebrating the appearance of the Morning Star may have been held on the large plaza in front of the House of the Governor, providing the rulers of Uxmal with a way to commemorate their ties to the sky god.
Inanna is the ancient Sumerian goddess of love, sensuality, fertility, procreation, and also of war. She later became identified by the Akkadians and Assyrians as the goddess Ishtar, and further with the Hittite Sauska, the Phoenician Astarte and the Greek Aphrodite, among many others. She was also seen as the bright star of the morning and evening, Venus, and identified with the Roman goddess. Inanna is one of the candidates cited as the subject of the Burney Relief (better known as The Queen of the Night), a terracotta relief dating from the reign of Hammurabi of Babylon (r. 1792-1750 BCE) although her sister Ereshkigal is the goddess most likely depicted.
Great mother Isis, the goddess of healing and magic, was crucial to ancient Egyptian religious beliefs. She is known today by her Greek name Isis; however, the ancient Egyptians called her Aset. Her name translates to “Queen of the Throne” which is reflected in her headdress, which is typically a throne. Sometimes she is also depicted with the vulture headdress of the goddess Mut, and other times with a disk with horns on the sides, attributed to the goddess Hathor. She took on their headdresses as she assimilated their traits. Isis can also be seen as a winged goddess who brought fresh air to the underworld when she went to meet her husband. Isis was the sister and wife of the god Osiris, ruler of the underworld. It is said that she and Osiris were in love with each other even in the womb. Isis was also the mother of Horus, the protector of the pharaoh. The most famous story of Isis begins when Seth, the jealous brother of Osiris, dismembered him and scattered the parts of his body throughout Egypt. The ancient sacred stories say that the other deities were so impressed with Isis’s dedication to finding her beloved husband, that they helped her revive him.
Visit our special guest curator
"Open Database..."
Related Portals:
 
Related Portals:
 
bottom of page