The Venus (mythology) reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Venus (mythology)

Venus is the Roman goddess of love, equivalent to Greek Aphrodite and Etruscan Turan. Other figures possibly corresponding to Venus are:

• Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli in Aztec mythology
• Kukulcan in Maya mythology
• Vanadis in the Norse mythos

The Birth of Venus, by Botticelli
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 Trasum.

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

Venus was often depicted in painting and in sculpture.

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

See also: Aphrodite, Freya, Frigg, Suadela, Venus (planet), The birth of Venus

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