Venus
Known to the Greeks as Aphrodite.
One of the most celebrated deities of the ancients; the goddess of beauty, and mother of Love. She sprang from the foam of the sea, and was carried to heaven, where all the gods admired her beauty. Jupiter gave her in marriage to Vulcan, but she intrigued with some of the gods. and notably with Mars, their offspring being Hermione, Cupid, and Anteros. She became enamored of Adonis, which caused her to abandon Olympus. Her contest for the golden apple, which she gained against her opponents Juno and Minerva, is a prominent episode in mythology. She had numerous names applied to her, conspicuous among which may be named Anadyomene, under which cognomen she is distinguished in the picture by Apelles representing her as rising from the ocean. She was known under the Grecian name of Aphrodite.
Venusia (Venosa). An ancient town of Apulia, south of the river Aufidus, and near Mount Vultur, situated in a romantic country, and memorable as the birthplace of the poet Horace.