A cultural history of the goddess of love, from a New York Times bestselling and award-winning historian. Aphrodite was said to have been born from the sea, rising out of a froth of white foam. But long before the Ancient Greeks conceived of this voluptuous blonde, she existed as an early spirit of fertility on the shores of Cyprus -- and thousands of years before that, as a ferocious warrior-goddess in the Middle East. Proving that this fabled figure is so much more than an avatar of commercialized romance, historian Bettany Hughes reveals the remarkable lifestory of one of antiquity's most potent myths. Venus and Aphrodite brings together ancient art, mythology, and archaeological revelations to tell the story of human desire. From Mesopotamia to modern-day London, from Botticelli to Beyoncé, Hughes explains why this immortal goddess continues to entrance us today -- and how we trivialize her power at our peril.

Published in conjunction with the exhibition organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and held at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Oct. 26, 2011-Feb. 20, 2012, J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Villa, Malibu, Mar. 28-July 9, 212, and San Antonio Museum of Art, Sept. 15, 2012-Feb. 17, 2013.

Take a journey to ancient Rome and learn about some of the most exciting figures in Roman mythology. Full-color illustrations bring each god or goddess to life while readers discover their characteristics, responsibilities, and tales of triumph and defeat. A detailed family tree at the back of the book helps young readers see the connections and relationships Roman gods and goddesses have with each other, while an introductory chart with phonetic spellings helps readers learn to pronounce the characters’ names. The Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Rome series is sure to inspire both an interest in mythology and a love of reading. Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Rome is a series of AV2 media enhanced books. Each title in the series features easy-to-read text, stunning visuals, and a challenging educational activity. A unique book code printed on page 2 unlocks multimedia content. These books come alive with video, audio, weblinks, slide shows, activities, hands-on experiments, and much more.

The Mythology of Venus is a collection of essays that summarizes the archaeoastronomy, calendar associations, religious and cultural icons, and myths identified with the planet Venus. The book concentrates on Western Europe, the Mediterranean, the Near East, and the East from the Paleolithic Age to the Iron Age. It reveals the archetype of a goddess associated with the planet Venus who is identified with transformation, spiritual resurrection, and enlightenment. The characteristics of the goddess are steeped in sexual metaphors which contain images of birth and re-birth, and they reveal a pattern of symbols that follows the journey of the planet Venus through its cycles in the night sky. Moreover, the journey of Venus and the corresponding icons associated with the goddess are part of an intricate pattern of symbolic language that is seen on ancient monuments and on the ancient calendars of several cultures. Temples from France and Ireland to Greece and Malta trace the journey of the planet Venus and the story of the goddess of Venus.

The Goddess Venus has long been an inspiration to artists, writers and composers, while the word 'Venus' itself conjures up images of the perfect woman - an ideal of feminine beauty. This image works not only to dictate a certain aesthetic ideal, but also distorts the original goddesses of love and fertility from whom Venus and Aphrodite are descended.

"Introduces the Roman goddess Venus and explains her importance; features well-known Roman myths about this goddess; and includes map of ancient Rome and family tree of the Roman gods."--Internet

Aphrodite and Venus in Myth and Mimesis is a broad, flexible source book of comparative literature and cultural studies. It promotes the wide-ranging presence and impact of prominent idiosyncratic personalities in fabled goddess mythology and its emphatic notions of endearment and allure. The book brings together seven hundred acknowledged sources drawn from successive historical, global and literary eras, including principal commentaries, along with factual information and important renditions in art, prose and verse, within and beyond mainstream western culture. A lengthy, detailed introduction presents a copious documented preview of the viable adaptation and mimesis of ‘divine’ characterization and its respective centrality from the long distant past to the present day. Myth, rarely latent, demonstrates varied modes of expression and open-ended flexibility throughout the six comprehensive chapters which illuminate and probe, in turn, aspects of the ideological presence, sensibilities, trials and triumphs and interventions of the goddess, whether sacred or profane. Particular literary extracts and episodes range across ancient cultures alongside quite recent expressions of hermeneutics, blending myth with the contemporary in the multi-layered reception or admonishment of the goddess, whether by one designation or the other. As such, this book is wholly relevant to all stages of the evolution and expansion of a dynamic European literary culture and its leading authors and personalities.