Venus Coin Pendant

Description

The Roman goddess of love and beauty, Venus was originally a vegetation goddess and patroness of gardens and vineyards. Her personal and power attributes are identical to those of the Greek goddess, Aphrodite. Like Aphrodite, her father was a god of major importance and she had a number of powerful lovers.

The oldest known Temple of Venus dates back to 293 BC, her importance rose, and that of her cult, through affiliation with several prominent Roman political leaders. The dictator Sulla, Julius Caesar, and Emperor Augustus, all declared her their patroness, with Caesar and Augustus naming her as ancestress.

Julius Caesar introduced a “sub-cult” which brought motherhood and marriage into the areas of influence attributed to Venus, and built a temple to her in 46 BC.

Aeneas was the son of Venus and the mortal Anchises, and a great warrior. He was involved in many great battles, survived the Trojan War, journied to Carthage where he fell in love with, then, left Dido, before going on to Italy, where his adventures caused him to be known as the founder of the Roman people. As described by the great writer, Virgil, Aeneas was the exemplar of the Roman virtues of devotion to duty and reverence for the gods.