Venus (mythology)

Venus in Roman religion and mythology, goddess of vegetation. Later, she became identified (3d cent. BC) with the Greek Aphrodite . In imperial times she was worshiped as Venus Genetrix, mother of Aeneas; Venus Felix, the bringer of good fortune; Venus Victrix, bringer of victory; and Venus Verticordia, protector of feminine chastity. The most famous representations of Aphrodite or Venus in sculpture are the Venus of Milo or Melos (Louvre); the Venus of Medici or Medicean Aphrodite (Uffizi); the Venus of Capua (national museum, Naples); and the Capitoline Venus (Capitoline Mus., Rome). The Venus of Milo is a Greek statue in marble, generally dated to the 2d or 1st cent. BC Found (1820) on the island of Melos, it was taken by the French ambassador to Turkey and was eventually presented by Louis XVIII to the Louvre. The Venus of Medici belongs to the 3d cent. BC It is probably derived from Praxiteles' Aphrodite of Cnidus, which was destroyed.

Venus in Roman mythology, a goddess, worshipped as the goddess of love in classical Rome though apparently a spirit of kitchen gardens in earlier times. She is the mother of Cupid and (though wife of Hephaestus), lover of Mars. Her Greek equivalent is Aphrodite.
Venus Anadyomene Venus portrayed rising from the sea, according to Pliny's Natural History in a picture by the Greek artist Apelles, and represented in Botticelli's The Birth of Venus.
Venus de Medici a classical sculpture in the Uffizi Gallery at Florence.
Venus de Milo a classical sculpture of Aphrodite dated to c.100 bc. It was discovered on the Greek island of Melos in 1820 and is now in the Louvre in Paris, having formed part of the war loot acquired by Napoleon on his campaigns.

Venus Roman goddess originally associated with gardens and cultivation, but also with the ideas of charm, grace, and beauty. She became identified with the Greek goddess Aphrodite, and hence also personified love and fertility.