Venus

Biographical

Goddess of love, fertility and gardens

Venus was the Roman goddess of love, especially of sensual love. Before she became identified with the Greek Aphrodite, she was a minor deity in Roman religion, connected to vegetation. The ancients themselves noted that her name does not appear in any records from the period of the Roman kings. This is also shown by the fact that no festival was originally held in her honour. The Vinalia, celebrated on 23 April and 19 August, were entirely different festivals, and any connection to Venus arose from a misunderstanding of the name. This led courtesans to treat 23 April as their own holiday, worshipping the goddess at a temple outside the city in their own way. Later, several festivals for Venus were held in April, partly because the month marked the start of spring and was thought to be especially sacred to the goddess of love, and partly because the belief developed that Venus, as the lover of Mars, played a role in the origin of the Roman people. This idea was reinforced by the legend of Aeneas, whose long journeys and eventual settlement in Italy held great significance for the Romans. Aeneas was the son of Anchises and Aphrodite (whom the Romans identified with Venus), and the Romans believed that the Julian line, into which Augustus and his heirs were adopted, traced its ancestry back to Aeneas’ son Iulus, and therefore to the goddess Venus herself. Venus played a vital role in protecting Aeneas: she guided him out of the flames of Troy, shielded him from Juno’s hostility, and even prompted Queen Dido of Carthage to fall in love with him, offering sanctuary during his trials. In his final confrontation with Turnus, Venus intervened once more, restoring the spear that had become lodged in a tree trunk. At Lavinium there was a sanctuary of Venus that served all of Latium, with ceremonies performed by the people of Ardea, though its age cannot be determined. In Rome, several details indicate that Venus was worshipped from an early period. A stone chapel with an image of Venus Murtea or Murcia stood in the Circus, near the site of the concealed altar of Census. The surname Murtea or Murcia shows that the myrtle tree was associated with the goddess, and it is said that in ancient times a myrtle grove stood in front of her sanctuary below the Aventine. Some ecclesiastical writers, however, interpreted Murcia as meaning ‘stupid’ or ‘dull’ (from murcus). Another ancient surname of Venus was Cloacina, which, according to Lactantius, came from her image being found in the great sewer (cloaca) and set up by the Sabine king Titus Tatius in a temple near the forum. Since Venus was not a goddess of the underworld, this story seems to be an etymological inference from the name. Cloaca is linked with cluere, Cluilia, Cloelia, and luere (to purify), and there is a tradition that after the war caused by the rape of the Sabine women, Titus Tatius and Romulus ordered their people to purify themselves before the image of Venus Cluacina. This fits the ancient belief that Titus Tatius founded marriage; Venus Cloacina therefore presided over and purified sexual relations within marriage. A third ancient surname was Calva, under which she had two temples near the Capitol. Some thought one had been built by Ancus Marcius because his wife risked losing her hair; others believed it commemorated Roman women who, during the Gallic siege, cut their hair to make bowstrings for the men; others linked it to the whims of lovers, as calvere means ‘to bare the head’. It most likely refers to the bride cutting a lock of hair, either literally or symbolically, to dedicate it to Venus on her wedding day. In these oldest surnames of Venus, we can see her original nature and attributes. Over time, her worship expanded considerably, and her identification with the Greek Aphrodite brought new qualities to her character. At the start of the Second Punic War, the worship of Venus Erycina or Erucina was introduced from Sicily, and a temple was built on the Capitol, later joined by another outside the Colline Gate. In 114 BC, a Vestal virgin was struck by lightning, and her body was found naked. The disaster was attributed to widespread moral corruption, especially among the Vestals, so the Sibylline books were consulted, which instructed the construction of a temple to Venus Verticordia—the goddess who turns the hearts of men—on the Via Salaria. After the Samnite War, Fabius Gurges established the worship of Venus Obsequens and Postvota, while Scipio Africanus the Younger founded that of Venus Genitrix, later followed by Caesar, who added Venus Victrix. The origins of Venus Militaris, Barbata, and Equestris are unknown, but the sanctuaries of Venus Rhamnusia, Placida, and Alma are all comparatively recent. Venus was also believed to preside over gardens.

Daughter of Jupiter and Dione, she was sometimes said to be the wife of Vulcan, with issue, and also had issue by Mars.