Details of Venus personified on coins
Venus was the goddess of beauty and love. She is sometimes shown only partially clothed and holding an apple (the prize awarded to her by the Trojan prince Paris). On other coins she holds a helmet, a sceptre or is accompanied by a cupid.
Venus appears on coins from Republican times until the early 4th century AD and most commonly on those struck in the name of the 2nd century empresses. She is often given the titles Caelestis (‘Heavenly’), Felix (‘The Fortunate’), Genetrix (‘Mother or Ancestress of the Romans’) and Victrix (‘The Victorious’).
Attributes
- Holding an apple
- Accompanied by Cupid
- Holds helmet and sceptre
Greek counterpart
Venus can be identified with the Greek deity Aphrodite
Wikipedia derived information
Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love, beauty, and sexuality.
Her Roman equivalent is the goddess Venus. Historically, her cult in Greece was imported from, or influenced by, the cult of Astarte in Phoenicia. According to Hesiod's Theogony, she was born when Cronus cut off Uranus' genitals and threw them into the sea, and from the sea foam (aphros) arose Aphrodite.
Because of her beauty other gods feared that jealousy would interrupt the peace among them and lead to war, and so Zeus married her to Hephaestus, who was not viewed as a threat. Aphrodite had many lovers, both gods like Ares, and men like Anchises. Aphrodite also became instrumental in the Eros and Psyche legend, and later was both Adonis' lover and his surrogate mother.
Many lesser beings were said to be children of Aphrodite. Aphrodite is also known as Cytherea (Lady of Cythera) and Cypris (Lady of Cyprus) after the two cult-sites, Cythera and Cyprus, which claimed her birth. Myrtles, doves, sparrows, horses, and swans are sacred to her.
The Greeks further identified the Ancient Egyptian goddess Hathor with Aphrodite. Aphrodite also has many other local names, such as Acidalia, Cytherea and Cerigo, used in specific areas of Greece. Each goddess demanded a slightly different cult but Greeks recognized in their overall similarities the one Aphrodite.
Attic philosophers of the fourth century separated a celestial Aphrodite (Aprodite Urania) of transcendent principles with the common Aphrodite of the people (Aphrodite Pandemos)..
God of: Goddess of love, beauty and sexuality
Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphrodite
This data is sourced from dbpedia, and as such should be treated with caution.
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