Seeing the girl so excited about being compared with Venus made me wonder what's so good about it. Sure, Venus is the symbol of beauty and lust, and I'm sure that's what most people know. That's all. What they don't know is the other things about Venus, which I'm sure, when they do, they would prefer to stay away from her. Or at least, their parents would like them to.
Want to know more about Venus? Here goes...
Venus, or Aphrodite (her Greek counterpart), is the daughter of one of the gods, with no mother. Or her mom is the ocean. You see, her dad's private part was cut and dropped into the ocean. From this, the ocean bubbled and she was created. Hurmm, maybe that's why people think bubble baths are sexy? Another link to Venus?
Anyways, like what everybody knows, Venus is said to be the most beautiful creature ever existed. And so, all the male gods wanted to have her. Typical men! To avoid war amongst the gods, Jupiter (or Zeus to the Greeks) married Venus to Vulcan, the God of Works. He is the blacksmith of the gods, and is the least-threatening of all the gods. Maybe because of this, Venus thinks her husband is lame and so she had an affair with Mars (Ares). Mars is the God of War, so maybe he's supposed to be the most macho guy. They have 2 children, but I don't remember their names. Venus' husband, upon finding out about her affair, locked her up. He even put a guard to make sure Venus wouldn't be able to run away and see her boyfriend. But Venus offered to sleep with the guard in exchange for her freedom. She also has affairs with other gods and men.
No you see why I said not all's is good about Venus? Sure she makes all men fall in love with her. And she can control the hearts of those who are in love. But she's not loyal. Heck, she's a slut! Believe me, I'd rather be compared to other goddesses than this one! So what other goddess are there? Let me just use their Greek name so it's easier to remember. Okay, I'll put their Roman names in bracket, if I know of any.
She was the daughter of Zeus, from no mother. It was said that she sprang out of Zeus' head - He had a terrible headache and decided to split his head in two (guess this is where 'splitting-headache' comes from). Out came Athena, full grown, and in full armour.
She was said to be one of the wisest of the gods; brave and ambitious too. Because of the knowledge, she is said to have invented the bridle, chariot, flute, trumpet, ship and many others. In war, she is very brave and fierce, but she only fights in wars to protect Greece from outside invaders.
Athena is not the original 12 Olympian Gods, but she claimed a throne for herself and got one.
Artemis has a twin brother, Apollo, and they are often related to the Sun (Apollo) and the Moon (Artemis herself). She carries a silver bow all the time. She is described to be vengeful, aloof and impulsive. She is also the protector of young girls, until when the girls get married.
The wife and sister of Zeus, God of the Heaven - tricked into marriage is more like it. Her skin has fragrant smell, and she has big eyes. Spends most of her time punishing women, goddesses and other female creatures who have affairs with her husband - often described as overly jealous because of this. Can't help to have such a miang keladi as a husband, huh? But she is such a loyal wife, and could never hurt the husband.
Wife of Cronus (Uranus) and Queen of the Titans. Titans were the original ruler of heaven (before the Olympians) until Cronos was defeated by Zeus - sad, but silly story behind this. She is gentle and loving. Her name has a meaning that makes people relate it to the menstrual blood - I don't know what the meaning is, and I don't think I want to know.
Her name is teh origin for the word 'cereal' - get the picture? Very clever! Not much I know about her, except that she saved a city from famine. She is the mother is Persephone (Porserpina), the Queen of the Underworld. She loves her daughter too much, that when Hades (Pluto) kidnapped her, Ceres cursed all plants in the Underworld to die - thus our present image of the Underworld.
She is the eldest sister to Zeus, Hera and Ceres. One of the first original Olympian, but chose to give up her throne when Athena made a claim to reside amongst them - no war or even argument for this, phew! Imagine if Athena had to fight for one! Because of her retreat, there is minimum mention of her in Greek myths and stories. However, she is worshipped at every Greek home. She is the first to get any sacrifices, and all babies are presented to her first before these babies are welcomed in the family. I have no idea how they present the babies - carry the babies around the fire, maybe? She is described to make decisions that will prevent war or argument.
You see, the funny thing about Greek gods and goddesses are, they're not perfect. At least, not as perfect as what I thought deities would be. Then again, these are creation of human themselves, and just like human, they are bound to have weaknesses. Of all the goddesses I admire Hestia the most. For willing to sacrifice her own needs and interest in order to prevent arguments. If only everyone is like this, then we'd definitely have heaven on earth!
And, despite her decision to give up her throne in Olympia, all the people of Greece still worship her. She is in fact the most worshipped in Greece! Easy to deduce this - all the gods and goddesses have their own city, where the people of these cities worship a particular god or goddesses. But, in addition to the the city's deity, they all still worship Hestia to keep their family safe. Popular without being a drama queen - my kind of hero! Urmm... heroine, I mean.
I guess there are other things that made me admire her - other similarities. She's the eldest and youngest child of Cronos - the first to be born, then Cronos swallowed all his kids (except Zeus), and was the last to be spitted back out by her father. In my case, I'm the eldest daughter to my parents, but I was treated like the youngest child when I lived with my grandparents. Then, Hestia is often pictured as overweight. No need to elaborate on this, right? Haaha.
Okay, that's enough. I'm starting to feel uncomfortable comparing myself with a goddess. Let me go wash my face or something first.
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All images downloaded from http://www.theoi.com/
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