Venus (Greek Aphrodite)
The Roman goddess of beauty, sensual love and fertility, identified with the Greek Aphrodite (which was less directly sexual) and the Babylonian goddess Ishtar.
Venus is in some accounts said to have sprung from the foam of the sea, in others to have been the daughter of Jupiter and the nymph Dione; for the Greeks, Zeus and a Titan. Some scholars view her as a manifestation of the Phoenician goddess Astarte.
Venus was married to Vulcan (Hephaestus), but had affairs with Mars (Ares) and many other gods and demigods. Cupid (Eros or Amor) was the product of one of these affairs, this time with Mercury (Hermes).
Venus surpassed all the other goddesses in beauty, and therefore received the prize of beauty from Paris. In return she promised Paris, son of Priam, the king of Troy, the hand of the most beautiful woman in the world. This fatefully turned out to be Helen, wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta.
Venus had the power of granting beauty and unbeatable charm to others. In the vegetable kingdom the myrtle, rose, apple, and poppy, among others, were sacred to Venus, as, in the animal world, were the sparrow, dove, swan, and swallow.
See Troy, Zeus, Apollo, Delphi, Olympians, Greeks, Hermes, Hera, Hades, Bacchus, Centaurs, Cerberus, Daedalus, Dionysus, Vulcan, Mars, Oracle, Tarpeian Rock, Tartarus, Telegonus, Telemachus, Mystic Gifts and Charms - New Age Gift Shop & Wicca and Pagan Supplies, Love Spells -- Use these powerful love spells to help you find and keep your true love, The Chakra Store, The Tarot Store, Divination & Scrying Tools and Supplies, Unique Amulets, Talismans, Good Luck Charms, and Love Tokens, Powerful Witch Doctor Spell Kits, Powerful Spells - Cast by Andreika the Witch, Webmasters Make $$$, AzureGreen - Celebrating All Paths to the Divine, ISIS - Tools for Your Soul's Journey, and The Pyramid Collection - Myth, Magick, Fantasy and Romance.
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Sources: (1) Cooper, J.C. (Editor), Brewer's Book of Myth and Legend, Cassell Academic Publishing; (2) Evans, Bergen, Dictionary of Mythology, Dell Publishing Co., Inc.; (3) Dixon-Kennedy, Mike, Encyclopedia of Greco-Roman Mythology, ABC-Clio Inc. Publishers; (4) Ayto, John, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable, Collins Reference Publishing.
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