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The Gods Who Gave The Planets Their Names: Venus
Ever wondered about the names of the planets in our solar system? What do they mean? Here's some information about them. This series is not about why the planets were given the names they have. It's about the characters whose names they bear. This article is about Venus, also known as Aphrodite. The planets of the solar system, starting from nearest the Sun, and excluding Earth, are Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto. (There is some debate as to whether Pluto is really a planet, but we'll include it!) All these planets' names are the Roman names for gods and goddesses of Greek mythology. I think the Greek names are nicer, so I'm going to talk about the Greek version of each one! Venus: Greek name, Aphrodite.
Aphrodite was the goddess of love, sexual desire, and procreation. She sprang into existence from the seed of Uranus, rising naked from the sea at Paphos on the island of Cyprus. There is a very famous painting of this event by Botticelli. Uranus was the personification of the sky, and he was father of the Titans. The youngest of these was Cronos, who overthrew his father, and castrated him. Some of the blood fell to Earth and some into the sea. It was this blood that fell to the sea that produced Aphrodite. That is one story, but Homer believed that Aphrodite was the daughter of Zeus, the king of the gods, by Dione. She was married to Hephaestus, the lame god of fire and metalwork. She was not a faithful wife, by all accounts, having affairs with other gods, including Ares, Poseidon, Dionysus, and Hermes. Hephaestus caught her with Ares once, and he fashioned a metal net to throw over them, and then invited all the other gods and goddesses to view Aphrodite's embarrassment. Another time, she tempted the mortal Paris to desert Oenone, and Paris gave her the so-called Apple of Discord, because she was of all the goddesses the most fair in form. In return she promised to give him the most beautiful woman in the world. This led to him seducing Helen and kidnapping her, the event which set in motion the Trojan War. Aphrodite wore a magic girdle around her waist, which made her irresistibly desirable. |
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