Venus

Also known as: Aphrodite / Cyprian goddess / Jove’s daughter / Jove’s daughter Venus · Family: Olympians · Role: goddess · First appears: BOOK II

🌐 Also appears in: Greek Mythology — A Family Orrery (as Aphrodite) · The Odyssey (as Venus) · The Aeneid (as Venus) · The Metamorphoses of Ovid (as Venus) · Greek Tragedy — The Same Myth, Three Voices (as Aphrodite) · The Divine Comedy (as Venus)

In Book II, Venus is named as the mother of Aeneas, whom she bore to Anchises; in Book III, she is called the daughter of Jove. That book also tells how she rescued Paris, carrying him to his bedchamber, then frightened Helen into following her there. In Book IV, she is said to stay beside Paris to defend him.

In Book V, after Diomed wounded Aeneas, Venus shielded her son and carried him from the battlefield. As she fled, Diomed caught her and wounded her hand. She sought refuge in her mother Dione’s lap, and called on her brother Mars for help. In Book XXI, Minerva struck Venus on the bosom, and Venus later led Mars away as he groaned. In Book XXIII, she protected Hector and anointed him with ambrosial oil of roses.