History Online - Venus
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Goddess of Love
Venus's Greek name is Aphrodite. She is known as the Daughter of Heaven and Sea, the child of Uranus and Gaia. Her story tells of fertility, love and pleasure.
Venus, playing one day with her boy Cupid, wounded her bosom with
one of his arrows. She pushed him away, but the wound was deeper
than she thought. Before it healed she beheld Adonis, and was
captivated with him. She no longer took any interest in her
favorite resorts, Paphos, and Cnidos, and Amathos, rich in
metals. She absented herself even from Olympus, for Adonis was
dearer to her than heaven. Him she followed and bore him
company. She who used to love to recline in the shade, with no
care but to cultivate her charms, now rambled through the woods
and over the hills, dressed like the huntress Diana. She called
her dogs, and chased hares and stags, or other game that it is
safe to hunt, but kept clear of the wolves and bears, reeking
with the slaughter of the herd. She charged Adonis, too, to
beware of such dangerous animals. "Be brave towards the timid,"
said she; "courage against the courageous is not safe. Beware
how you expose yourself to danger, and put my happiness to risk.
Attack not the beasts that Nature has armed with weapons. I do
not value your glory so highly as to consent to purchase it by
such exposure. Your youth, and the beauty that charms Venus,
will not touch the hearts of lions and bristly boars. Think of
their terrible claws and prodigious strength! I hate the whole
race of them. Do you ask why?" Then she told him the story of
Atalanta and Hippomenes, who were changed into lions for their
ingratitude to her.
Recent reports released by scientists remind us that much of our sister planet, Venus, is still a mystery to us.
Venus was a major goddess in Roman mythology. She originally was the goddess of love and beauty. Later she also symbolized the creative force that sustains all life. Venus was also the mother of Aeneas, an ancestor of the legendary founders of Rome. The Romans worshiped her because of her association with the city's early history. They dedicated some of Rome's most important temples to her. They believed the family of Julius Caesar descended from Venus. Venus was born full-grown from the foam of the Mediterranean Sea. In spite of her beauty, Venus married the ugly, lame blacksmith god Vulcan. But Venus fell in love with the god of war, Mars. Their son Cupid was the god of love. Venus was a great friend of lovers and helped them with their problems. She even lent them her magic girdle, or sash, at times. It had the power to make its wearer loved. Venus is a planet playing important role in european and chinese astrologies.
Venus wasn't conceived out of pleasure, but she worked hard to find her own. She was born when Gaia, Goddess of Mother Earth, got so angry at her husband Uranus that she sliced off his genitals and threw them into the sea. They mixed with the foam of the ocean and formed Venus, a symbol unconcerned with maternal issues and focused on sensuality and pleasure.
Venus married and bore children but did not stay focused on her home affairs. In fact, she concentrated almost completely on her extramarital affairs. Her many lovers include Aries, the God of War, and the handsome Adonis.
The goddess loved to pamper herself and cultivate her beauty. Her symbol represents the hand-held vanity mirror that Venus used to admire her beauty. Truly, Venus has become the symbol for feminity itself.
Venus and Adonis
Having given him this warning, she mounted her chariot drawn by
swans, and drove away through the air. But Adonis was too noble
to heed such counsels. The dogs had roused a wild boar from his
lair, and the youth threw his spear and wounded the animal with a
sidelong stroke. The beast drew out the weapon with his jaws,
and rushed after Adonis, who turned and ran; but the boar
overtook him, and buried his tusks in his side, and stretched him
dying upon the plain.
Venus, in her swan-drawn chariot, had not yet reached Cyprus,
when she heard coming up through mid air the groans of her
beloved, and turned her white-winged coursers back to earth. As
she drew near and saw from on high his lifeless body bathed in
blood, she alighted, and bending over it beat her breast and tore
her hair. Reproaching the Fates, she said, "Yet theirs shall be
but a partial triumph; memorials of my grief shall endure, and
the spectacle of your death, my Adonis, and of my lamentation
shall be annually renewed. Your blood shall be changed into a
flower; that consolation none can envy me." Thus speaking, she
sprinkled nectar on the blood; and as they mingled, bubbles rose
as in a pool on which raindrops fall, and in an hour's time there
sprang up a flower of bloody hue like that of a pomegranate. But
it is short-lived. It is said the wind blows the blossoms open,
and afterwards blows the petals away; so it is called Anemone, or
wind Flower, from the cause which assists equally in its
production and its decay.
Planet Venus
Venus is the nearest planet to Earth, and the second closest planet to the Sun (Mercury is the closest). When visible to us it is the brightest planet in the night sky. Venus, named after the Greek god of beauty is a very colourful planet. However its beauty is only skin deep. It is contantly covered by poisonous clouds (mostly carbon dioxide) and if we were to visit Venus, we would have to withstand a pressure equivalent to the bottom of our deepest ocean. Venus is also very hot, about 900 deg F.
Little Known Facts: Venus' day lasts longer than its year. It takes 243 Earth days to spin once, and only 225 Earth days to circle the Sun. Venus has a vlocano called Sapas Mons, 250 miles wide and almost 1 mile high.
Venus is a popular way-point for spacecraft headed for the gas giant planets in the outer reaches of the solar system. Why visit Venus first? Using a " gravity assist " maneuver, spacecraft can swing by planets and gain energy during their brief encounter saving fuel for use at the end of their long interplanetary voyage. This colorized image of Venus was recorded by the Jupiter-bound Galileo spacecraft shortly after its gravity assist flyby of Venus in February of 1990. Galileo's glimpse of the veiled planet shows structure in swirling sulfuric acid clouds.
