Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, played an important role in Roman mythology. She began as a minor agricultural deitygod or goddess of ancient Italy associated with gardens and fields. Temples to Venus were built in several early Latin cities.

As Romans became familiar with the Greek myths of AphroditeGreek goddess of love and beauty (identified with the Roman goddess Venus), they increasingly identified Venus with that goddess. They also linked Venus with other foreign goddesses, such as the Babylonian Ishtar. One result of this connection was the naming of the planet Venus, which Babylonian astronomers had earlier associated with Ishtar.

The first temples dedicated to Venus appeared in Rome in the 200s B.C. Others followed, and in 46 B.C., Julius Caesar dedicated a new temple to Venus...