| Description |
xiii, 241 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, portraits ; 23 cm |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Contents |
A birth -- Fornicating & fighting -- Party queen -- A working goddess & working girls -- Ta Aphrodisia -- the things of sex -- Manikos Eros -- Venus & Empire without limits -- Eastern queen -- Venus in middle age -- A humanist muse -- Venus at the box office -- A very modern goddess -- Conclusion. |
| Summary |
Through ancient art, evocative myth, exciting archaeological revelations and philosophical explorations Bettany Hughes shows why this immortal goddess endures through to the twenty-first century, and what her journey through time reveals about what matters to us as humans. Charting Venus's origins in powerful ancient deities, Bettany demonstrates that Venus is far more complex than first meets the eye. Beginning in Cyprus, the goddess's mythical birthplace, Bettany decodes Venus's relationship to the Greek goddess Aphrodite, and, in turn, Aphrodite's mixed-up origins both as a Cypriot spirit of fertility and procreation - but also, as a descendant of the prehistoric war goddesses of the Near and Middle East, Ishtar, Inanna and Astarte. On a voyage of discovery to reveal the truth behind Venus, Hughes reveals how this mythological figure is so much more than nudity, romance and sex. It is the both the remarkable story of one of antiquity's most potent forces, and the story of human desire - how it transforms who we are and how we behave. |
| Subject |
Venus (Roman deity)
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Aphrodite (Greek deity)
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Goddesses, Greek -- History.
|
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Goddesses, Roman -- History.
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| Added Title |
Venus and Aphrodite |
| ISBN |
9781474610360 hardback |
|
1474610366 hardback |
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