Editing Venus (mythology) (section)

== Cult history and temples ==
The first known temple to Venus was [[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#votum|vowed]] to ''Venus Obsequens'' by [[Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges (consul 292 BC)|Q. Fabius Gurges]] in the heat of a battle against the [[Samnite Wars#Third Samnite War (298 to 290 BC)|Samnites]]. It was dedicated in 295 BC, at a site near the [[Aventine Hill]], and was supposedly funded by fines imposed on Roman women for sexual misdemeanours. Its rites and character were probably influenced by or based on Greek [[Aphrodite]]'s cults, which were already diffused in various forms throughout Italian [[Magna Graeca]]. Its dedication date connects ''Venus Obsequens'' to the ''[[Vinalia]] rustica'' festival.<ref name=Eden-1963 />{{rp|page=456}}{{efn|Schilling (1954)<ref name=Schilling-1954 />{{rp|pages=87}} suggests that Venus began as an abstraction of personal qualities, later assuming Aphrodite's attributes.}}
[[File:The Forum of Caesar (built near the Forum Romanum in Rome in 46 BC) and the Temple of Venus Genetrix, Imperial Forums, Rome (21101482544).jpg|thumb|left|Remains of the [[Temple of Venus Genetrix]] in the [[Imperial forums|Forum of Caesar]], Rome]]
In 217 BC, in the early stages of the [[Second Punic War]] with [[Carthage]], Rome suffered a disastrous defeat at the [[battle of Lake Trasimene]]. The [[Sibylline books|Sibylline oracle]] suggested that Carthage might be defeated if the Venus of [[Eryx (Sicily)|Eryx]] ({{lang|la|Venus Erycina}}), patron goddess of Carthage's Sicilian allies, could be persuaded to change her allegiance. Rome laid siege to Eryx and promised its goddess a magnificent temple as reward for her defection. They [[Evocatio|captured]] her image, brought it to Rome and installed it in a temple on the [[Capitoline Hill]], as one of Rome's twelve ''{{lang|la|[[dii consentes]]}}''. Shorn of her more overtly Carthaginian characteristics,{{efn|Her Sicillian form probably combined elements of Aphrodite and a more warlike Carthaginian-Phoenician Astarte}} this "foreign Venus" became Rome's ''Venus Genetrix'' ("Venus the Mother"),<ref name=Beard-etal-1998 />{{rp|pages=80, 83}}<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Livy]] |title=Ab Urbe Condita |at=23.31}}</ref><ref>Orlin, Eric (2007), in Rüpke, J, ed. ''A Companion to Roman Religion'', Blackwell publishing, p. 62.</ref> Roman tradition made Venus the mother and protector of the Trojan prince [[Aeneas]], ancestor of the Romans, so as far as the Romans were concerned, this was the homecoming of an ancestral goddess to her people. Soon after, Rome's defeat of Carthage confirmed Venus's goodwill to Rome, her links to its mythical Trojan past, and her support of its political and military hegemony.{{efn|Venus' links with Troy can be traced to the epic, mythic history of the [[Trojan War]], and the [[Judgement of Paris]], in which the Trojan prince [[Paris (mythology)|Paris]] chose Aphrodite over [[Hera]] and [[Athena]], setting off a train of events that led to war between the Greeks and Trojans, and eventually to Troy's destruction. In [[Founding of Rome|Rome's foundation myth]], Venus was the divine mother of the Trojan prince Aeneas, and thus a divine ancestor of the Roman people as a whole.<ref name=Beard-2007>{{cite book |author-link=Mary Beard (classicist) |first=Mary |last=Beard |year=2007 |title=The Roman Triumph |publisher=The Belknap Press}}</ref>{{rp|page=23}} The Punic Wars saw many similar introductions of foreign cult, including the Phrygian cult to [[Magna Mater]], who also had mythical links to Troy. See also<ref name=Beard-etal-1998 />{{rp|page=80.}} }}

The Capitoline cult to Venus seems to have been reserved to higher status Romans. A separate cult to ''Venus Erycina'' as a fertility deity,<ref name=Lipka-2009-foundation /> was established in 181 BC, in a traditionally plebeian district just outside [[pomerium|Rome's sacred boundary]], near the [[Colline Gate]]. The temple, cult and goddess probably retained much of the original's character and rites.{{refn|name=Lipka-2009-foundation| Lipka gives a foundation date of 181 BC for Venus' Colline temple.<ref name=Lipka-2009>{{cite book |last=Lipka |first=Michael |year=2009 |title=Roman Gods: A conceptual approach |publisher=Brill}}</ref>{{rp|pages=72–73}} }}<ref name=Orlin-2002>{{cite journal |last=Orlin |first=Eric M. |year=2002 |title=Foreign cults in republican Rome: Rethinking the pomerial rule |journal=Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome |volume=47 |pages=1–18 |publisher=University of Michigan Press|doi=10.2307/4238789 |jstor=4238789 }}</ref>{{rp|pages=4, 8, 14}} Likewise, a shrine to Venus Verticordia ("Venus the changer of hearts"), established in 114 BC but with links to an ancient cult of Venus-Fortuna, was "bound to the peculiar milieu of the Aventine and the Circus Maximus" – a strongly plebeian context for Venus's cult, in contrast to her aristocratic cultivation as a [[Stoicism|Stoic]] and [[Epicurian]] "all-goddess".{{efn|The aristocratic ideology of an increasingly Hellenised Venus is "summarized by the famous invocation to ''Venus Physica'' in [[Lucretius]]' poem."<ref>{{cite book |first=Mario |last=Torelli |year=1992 |title=Typology and Structure of Roman Historical Reliefs |publisher=University of Michigan Press |pages=8–9}}</ref>}}

Towards the end of the [[Roman Republic]], some leading Romans laid personal claims to Venus' favour. The general and [[Roman dictator|dictator]] [[Sulla]] adopted ''Felix'' ("Lucky") as a surname, acknowledging his debt to heaven-sent good fortune and his particular debt to ''Venus Felix'', for his extraordinarily fortunate political and military career.{{efn|Plutarch's original Greek translates this adopted surname, Felix, as Epaphroditus (Aphrodite's beloved); see<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Plutarch]] |title=Life of Sulla |at=19.9}}</ref>}} His protégé [[Pompey]] competed for Venus' support, dedicating (in 55 BC) a large temple to ''Venus Victrix'' as part of his lavishly appointed new [[Theatre of Pompey|theatre]], and celebrating his triumph of 54 BC with coins that showed her crowned with triumphal laurels.<ref name=Beard-2007 />{{rp|pages=22–23}}

Pompey's erstwhile friend, ally, and later opponent [[Julius Caesar]] went still further. He claimed the favours of ''Venus Victrix'' in his military success and ''Venus Genetrix'' as a personal, divine ancestress – apparently a long-standing family tradition among the [[Julia (gens)|Julii]]. When Caesar was assassinated, his heir, [[Augustus]], adopted both claims as evidence of his inherent fitness for office, and divine approval of his rule.{{efn|"At the battle of Pharsalus, Caesar also vowed a temple, in best republican fashion, to Venus Victrix, almost as if he were summoning Pompey's protectress to his side in the manner of an ''[[evocatio]]''. Three years after Pompey's defeat at the battle of Actium, Caesar dedicated his new Roman Forum, complete with a temple to his ancestor ''Venus Genetrix'', "apparently in fulfillment of the vow". The goddess helped provide a divine aura for her descendant, preparing the way for Caesar's own cult as a [[divus]] and the formal institution of the [[Imperial cult (ancient Rome)|Roman Imperial cult]].<ref>Orlin, in Rüpke (ed), pp. 67–69</ref>}} Augustus' new temple to [[Mars Ultor]], divine father of Rome's legendary founder [[Romulus]], would have underlined the point, with the image of avenging Mars "almost certainly" accompanied by that of his divine consort Venus, and possibly a statue of the [[Imperial cult (ancient Rome)#Caesar's heir|deceased and deified Caesar]].<ref name=Beard-etal-1998 />{{rp|pages=199–200}}

[[Vitruvius]] recommends that any new temple to Venus be sited according to rules laid down by the [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscan]] [[Haruspex|haruspices]], and built "near to the gate" of the city, where it would be less likely to contaminate "the matrons and youth with the influence of lust". He finds the Corinthian style, slender, elegant, enriched with ornamental leaves and surmounted by [[volute]]s, appropriate to Venus' character and disposition.{{efn|Immediately after these remarks, Vitruvius prescribes the best positioning for temples to Venus' two divine consorts, Vulcan and Mars. Vulcan's should be outside the city, to reduce the dangers of fire, which is his element; Mars' too should be outside the city, so that "no armed frays may disturb the peace of the citizens, and that this divinity may, moreover, be ready to preserve them from their enemies and the perils of war."<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Vitruvius]] |title=[[De architectura]] |chapter-url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Vitruvius/1*.html#7.1 |chapter=Book 1 |at=7.1 |via=Penelope, [[University of Chicago|U. Chicago]]}}</ref>}} Vitruvius recommends the widest possible spacing between the temple columns, producing a light and airy space, and he offers Venus's temple in Caesar's forum as an example of how not to do it; the densely spaced, thickset columns darken the interior, hide the temple doors and crowd the walkways, so that matrons who wish to honour the goddess must enter her temple in single file, rather than arm-in arm.{{efn|The widely spaced, open style preferred by Vitruvius is ''eustylos''. The densely pillared style he criticises is ''pycnostylos''.<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Vitruvius]] |title=[[De architectura]] |chapter-url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Vitruvius/3*.html#1.5  |chapter=Book 3 |at=1.5 |via=Penelope, [[University of Chicago|U. Chicago]]}}</ref>}}

In 135 AD the Emperor [[Hadrian]] inaugurated [[Temple of Venus and Roma|a temple]] to Venus and ''[[Roma (mythology)|Roma Aeterna]]'' (Eternal Rome) on Rome's [[Velian Hill]], underlining the Imperial unity of Rome and its provinces, and making Venus the protective ''genetrix'' of the entire Roman state, its people and fortunes. It was the largest temple in Ancient Rome.<ref name=Grout-Venus-temple-Rome>{{cite book |first=James |last=Grout |title=Encyclopedia Romana |article=Temple of Venus and Rome |article-url=http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/romanurbs/venusrome.html |via=Penelope, [[University of Chicago|U. Chicago]] }}</ref><ref name=Beard-etal-1998 />{{rp|pages=257–58, 260}}

=== Festivals ===
{{See also|Roman festivals}}
[[File:Dea Barberini Massimo.jpg|thumb|Fresco with a seated Venus, restored as a personification of Rome in the so-called "Dea Barberini" ("Barberini goddess"); Roman artwork, dated first half of the 4th century AD, from a room near the Baptistery of San Giovanni in Laterano]]
Venus was offered [[Religion in ancient Rome#Religio and the state|official (state-sponsored) cult]] in certain [[Roman festivals|festivals of the Roman calendar]]. Her sacred month was April (Latin ''Mensis Aprilis'') which Roman etymologists understood to derive from ''aperire'', "to open", with reference to the springtime blossoming of trees and flowers.{{efn|The origin is unknown, but it might derive from ''Apru'', an Etruscan form of Greek Aphrodite's name.<ref>{{cite dictionary |title=April |dictionary=Etymology Online |url=http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=April}}</ref> <!-- Big OED or Etymological Dict., anyone? --> }} In the {{lang|la|[[interpretatio romana]]}} of the [[Germanic pantheon]] during the early centuries AD, Venus became identified with the Germanic goddess ''[[Frijjo]]'', giving rise to the loan translation "[[Friday]]" for ''dies Veneris''.

'''[[Veneralia]]''' (April 1) was held in honour of [[Venus Verticordia]] ("Venus the Changer of Hearts"), and [[Fortuna Virilis]] (Virile or strong Good Fortune{{cn|date=August 2024}})), whose cult was probably by far the older of the two. Venus Verticordia was invented in 220 BC, in response to advice from a Sibylline oracle during Rome's [[Punic Wars]],{{efn| Either the [[Sibylline Books]], per {{cite book |author=[[Valerius Maximus]] |title=Factorum ac dictorum memorabilium libri IX |trans-title=Nine books of memborable deeds and sayings |at=8.15.12 |postscript=;}} or the [[Cumaean Sibyl]], per {{cite book |author=[[Ovid]] |title=[[Fasti (poem)|Fasti]] |at=4.155–62}} }} when a series of [[Prodigium|prodigies]] was taken to signify divine displeasure at sexual offenses among Romans of every category and class, including several men and three [[Vestal Virgins]].<ref name=Staples-1998 />{{rp|pages=105–09}} The statue of Venus Verticordia was dedicated by a young woman, chosen as the most ''[[Pudicitia|pudica]]'' (sexually pure) in Rome by a committee of Roman matrons. At first, this statue was probably housed in the temple of ''[[Fortuna]] Virilis'', perhaps as divine reinforcement against the perceived moral and religious failings of its cult. In 114 BC ''Venus Verticordia'' was given her own temple.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Carter |first=Jesse Benedict |year=1900 |title=The cognomina of the goddess 'Fortuna' |journal=Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association |volume=31 |page=66 |doi=10.2307/282639 |jstor=282639 }}</ref> She was meant to persuade Romans of both sexes and every class, whether married or unmarried, to cherish the traditional sexual proprieties and [[Mos maiorum|morality]] known to please the gods and benefit the State. During her rites, her image was taken from her temple to the men's baths, where it was undressed and washed in warm water by her female attendants, then garlanded with myrtle. Women and men asked Venus Verticordia's help in affairs of the heart, sex, betrothal and marriage. For [[Ovid]], Venus's acceptance of the epithet and its attendant responsibilities represented a change of heart in the goddess herself.{{efn|Romans considered personal ethics or mentality to be functions of the heart.}}<ref>Langlands, p. 59, citing {{cite book |author=Ovid |title=[[Fasti (poem)|Fasti]] |at=4. 155–62}}</ref>

'''[[Vinalia#Vinalia Urbana|Vinalia urbana]]''' (April 23), a wine festival shared by Venus and [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]], king of the gods. It offered opportunity to supplicants to ask Venus' intercession with Jupiter, who was thought to be susceptible to her charms, and amenable to the effects of her wine. Venus was patron of "[[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#profanum|profane]]" wine, for everyday human use. Jupiter was patron of the strongest, purest, sacrificial grade wine, and controlled the weather on which the autumn grape-harvest would depend. At this festival, men and women alike drank the new vintage of ordinary, non-sacral wine (pressed at the previous year's ''vinalia rustica'') in honour of Venus, whose powers had provided humankind with this gift. Upper-class women gathered at Venus's Capitoline temple, where a libation of the previous year's vintage, sacred to Jupiter, was poured into a nearby ditch.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=de Cazanove |first1=Olivier |title=Jupiter, Liber et le vin latin |journal=Revue de l'histoire des religions |date=1988 |volume=205 |issue=3 |pages=245–265 |doi=10.3406/rhr.1988.1888 }}</ref> Common girls (''vulgares puellae'') and prostitutes gathered at Venus' temple just outside the Colline gate, where they offered her myrtle, mint, and rushes concealed in rose-bunches and asked her for "beauty and popular favour", and to be made "charming and witty".{{refn|Staples<ref name=Staples-1998 />{{rp|page=122}} citing {{cite book |author=[[Ovid]] |title=[[Fasti (poem)|Fasti]] |at=4.863–72}} }}

'''[[Vinalia Rustica]]''' (August 19), originally a rustic [[Latium|Latin]] festival of wine, vegetable growth and fertility. This was almost certainly Venus' oldest festival and was associated with her earliest known form, ''Venus Obsequens''. Kitchen gardens and market-gardens, and presumably vineyards were dedicated to her.{{efn|Vegetable-growers may have been involved in the dedications as a corporate guild.<ref name=Eden-1963 />{{rp|page=451}} }} Roman opinions differed on whose festival it was. Varro insists that the day was sacred to Jupiter, whose control of the weather governed the ripening of the grapes; but the sacrificial victim, a female lamb (''agna''), may be evidence that it once belonged to Venus alone.{{efn|For associations of kind between Roman deities and their sacrificial victims, see [[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#victima|Victima]].}}{{efn| [[Varro]] explicitly denies that the festival belongs to Venus;<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Varro]] |title=Lingua Latina |at=6.16}}</ref> that implies he was aware of opposite scholarly and / or commonplace opinion. Lipka (2009) offers this apparent contradiction as an example of two Roman cults that offer "complementary functional foci".<ref name=Lipka-2009 />{{rp|page=42}} }}

A festival of '''Venus Genetrix''' (September 26) was held under state auspices from 46 BC at [[Temple of Venus Genetrix|her Temple]] in the [[Forum of Caesar]], in fulfillment of a vow by [[Julius Caesar]], who claimed her personal favour as his divine patron, and ancestral goddess of the [[Julia (gens)|Julian clan]]. Caesar dedicated the temple during his extraordinarily lavish quadruple triumph. At the same time, he was [[pontifex maximus]] and Rome's senior magistrate; the festival is thought to mark the unprecedented promotion of a personal, family cult to one of the Roman state. Caesar's heir, Augustus, made much of these personal and family associations with Venus as an Imperial deity.<ref>Grossi, Olindo. "The Forum of Julius Caesar and the Temple of Venus Genetrix." Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome 13 (1936): 215–2. https://doi.org/10.2307/4238590.</ref>{{efn|Sulla may have set some form of precedent, but there is no evidence that he built her a Temple. Caesar's associations with Venus as both a personal and state goddess may also have been propagated in the Roman provinces.<ref name=Rives1994/>}} The festival's rites are not known.