Venus
(Encyclopaedia Britannica)
ancient Italian goddess associated with cultivated fields and gardens
and later identified by the Romans with the Greek goddess of love,
Aphrodite.
Venus had no worship in Rome in early
times, as the scholar Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 bc) shows,
attesting that he could find no mention of her name in old records. This
is corroborated by the absence of any festival for her in the oldest
Roman calendar and by her lack of a flamen (special priest). Her cult
among the Latins, however, seems to be immemorial, for she had
apparently at least two ancient temples, one at Lavinium, the other at
Ardea, at which festivals of the Latin cities were held. Hence, it was
no long step to bring her to Rome, apparently from Ardea itself. But how
she came to be identified with so important a deity as Aphrodite remains
a puzzle.
That Venus’ identification with
Aphrodite took place fairly early is certain. A contributory reason for
it is perhaps the date (August 19) of the foundation of one of her Roman
temples. August 19 is the Vinalia Rustica, a festival of Jupiter; hence,
he and Venus came to be associated, and this facilitated their equation,
as father and daughter, with the Greek deities Zeus and Aphrodite. She
was, therefore, also a daughter of Dione, was the wife of Vulcan, and
was the mother of Cupid. In myth and legend she was famous for her
romantic intrigues and affairs with both gods and mortals, and she
became associated with many aspects, both positive and negative, of
femininity. As Venus Verticordia, she was charged with the protection of
chastity in women and girls. But the most important cause of the
identification was the reception into Rome of the famous cult of Venus
Erycina—i.e., of Aphrodite of Eryx (Erice) in Sicily—this cult itself
resulting from the identification of an Oriental mother-goddess with the
Greek deity. This reception took place during and shortly after the
Second Punic War. A temple was dedicated to Venus Erycina on the Capitol
in 215 bc and a second outside the Colline gate in 181 bc. The latter
developed in a way reminiscent of the temple at Eryx with its harlots,
becoming the place of worship of Roman courtesans, hence the title of
dies meretricum (“prostitutes’ day”) attached to April 23, the day of
its foundation.
The importance of the worship of
Venus-Aphrodite was increased by the political ambitions of the gens
Iulia, the clan of Julius Caesar and, by adoption, of Augustus. They
claimed descent from Iulus, the son of Aeneas; Aeneas was the alleged
founder of the temple of Eryx and, in some legends, of the city of Rome
also. From the time of Homer onward, he was made the son of Aphrodite,
so that his descent gave the Iulii divine origin. Others than the Iulii
sought to connect themselves with a deity grown so popular and
important, notably Gnaeus Pompeius, the triumvir. He dedicated a temple
to Venus as Victrix (“Bringer of Victory”) in 55 bc. Julius Caesar’s own
temple (46 bc), however, was dedicated to Venus Genetrix, and as
Genetrix (“Begetting Mother”) she was best known until the death of Nero
in ad 68. But despite the extinction of the Julio-Claudian line, she
remained popular, even with the emperors; Hadrian completed a temple of
Venus at Rome in ad 135.
As a native Italian deity, Venus had no
myths of her own. She therefore took over those of Aphrodite and,
through her, became identified with various foreign goddesses. The most
noteworthy result of this development is perhaps the acquisition by the
planet Venus of that name. The planet was at first the star of the
Babylonian goddess Ishtar and thence of Aphrodite. Because of her
association with love and with feminine beauty, the goddess Venus has
been a favourite subject in art since ancient times; notable
representations include the statue known as the “Venus de Milo” (c. 150
bc) and the painting “The Birth of Venus” (c. 1485) by Sandro Botticelli.
