Venus

Venus
The debate over the original nature of this goddess, who does not belong to Rome's oldest pantheon but is attested fairly early at Lavinium, has been partly resolved (Schilling, La Religion romaine de Vénus (1954)). It is now accepted that the neuter venus, ‘charm’, cannot be separated from the terms venia, venerari, venenum (‘gracefulness’, ‘to exercise a persuasive charm’, ‘poison’, against Radke, Götter 311ff.). How this neuter was transformed into a feminine, a process attested for the Osco-Umbrian goddess Herentas, is ill-understood in the absence of evidence. Schilling thinks that it took place at the federal sanctuary of Lavinium, a city with old and well-attested links with the Greek world and the legend of Troy. Whatever the case, from the 3rd cent. bc, Venus was the patron of all persuasive seductions, between gods and mortals, and between men and women (Venus...

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