The Symbolism of Venus, Cupid and Eros

Venus [Aphrodite in Greece] represents desire - the desire for pleasure, luxuries, comfort, ease, ... and sex. The 1st-century poet Marcus Manilius described Venus as "generous and fecund". But the first impressions of a benign, beautiful love goddess may be very deceptive. She was, after all, a goddess of war. According to Dr Thomas Apel, "Venus had a fluid sexuality and embraced male and female lovers alike." She was married to the blacksmith god Vulcan, slept with Mars on a regular basis, seduced Anchises and even carried on an affair with Adonis. But she wasn't very kind to her lovers. One of the hymns dedicated to her declares: "She stirs confusion and chaos against those who are disobedient to her, it is her game to speed conflict and battle". It is worth remembering Venus was also the goddess of prostitutes. Venus is associated with myrtle (Latin myrtus), a plant now known to be effective against many sexual diseases. So she may have been the temptation, but she symbolically did at least carry the cure. So Venus symbolically represents an almost other worldly beauty, who has surrounded herself with the symbols of love, peace and purity, but is in reality the ultimate femme fatale, capable of seducing any male married or not, and a terrible danger to health, to marriages, and to peace. It is no accident that one of her epithets was Venus Libertinas. A libertine is a person devoid of most moral principles, a sense of responsibility, or sexual restraints.
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CREDITS

PAINTINGS
Sandro Botticelli - La nascita di Venere
Henri de Toulouse Lautrec – numerous
Pablo Picasso
William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) – The Birth of Venus (1879)
Jacopo Tintoretto - Venus, Mars, and Vulcan
Jacques-Louis David – Mars desarme par Venus
Tiziano – Venere di Urbino
Albert Vargas – numerous
Giorgione – Sleeping Venus
Målning. Venus. Frans Floris – Hallwylska Museet
Edouard Manet – Olympia
Sir Edward Burne-Jones - Pygmalion and Galatea
Émile Friant - Woman with a lion 1919
Lady Godiva – John Collier
Wolf hunt - Gerard Rijsbrack
Eugène Delacroix - La liberté guidant le peuple
Kali by Raja Ravi Varma
Roman Orgy in the Time of Caesars - Henryk Siemiradzki
Rubens – Venus at a Mirror c1615
Titian – Venus with a Mirror
Vénus et Cupidon - P.P. Rubens – Musée Thyssen-Bornemisza
Giovanni Baglione – Sacred love and profane love
Sculptures or friezes
Venus von Willendorf
Venus Hohlefels
Seal of Inanna, 2350-2150 BC
Vestonicka venuse
Ishtar Damascus Museum
Medallion painting of Venus Aphrodite with a golden diadem and sceptre, pearl earrings and necklace, House of Marcus Fabius Rufus, Pompeii
Venus sur un char tire par des élpéhants – Pompéi – Atelier des Feutriers
Moravianska venusa
Pompeii – Casa di Marte e Venere

VIDEO EFFECTS AND FOOTAGE

Solar System Stock Footage (Venus)
https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=5lJ_mro5zz4

FREE FOOTAGE - Venus Simulation
https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=mISDJSDqENE

Free HD Footage - Venus
https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=bRir2meaCiU

Free Stock Footage - Spinning Venus Black Background
https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=otKIfvuEcU8

Venus 101 | National Geographic
https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=BvXa1n9fjow

Rose Myrtle flowers - Free Stock Footage
https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=rS4ZWm1TrUY
https://www.youtube.com/ channel/UC7MSzHg82SWhOyMqWDK_pQA
http://stockdom. com

Venus de Milo (3D reconstruction)
https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=sT27rGkg4S0

Goddess Goes Dancing | Las Diosas Bailan
https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=JfE60T1ZecA

Royalty-Free Stock footage of woman walking on beach at sunrise
https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=zSJ_EHOQoaA

CGI Animated Short Film: "Cupid Love is Blind" / Cupidon by ESMA | CGMeetup
https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=jbjcO0-5Bw0

MUSIC

00:00 Venus - Shocking Blue - instrumental cover by Dave Monk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rzmvfeggls

01:47 In Memory of Jean Talon - Mini Vandals
03:17 Butterflies In Love - Sir Cubworth
05:46 Waking to Reality - Unicorn Heads
09:39 Wandering Soul - Asher Fulero
12:46 Sweetly My Heart - Asher Fulero

14:42 Enchanted Journey by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100799
Artist: http://incompetech.com/

19:11 Despair and Triumph by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1400012
Artist: http://incompetech.com/

23:02 Beneath the Moonlight - Aaron Kenny

24:31 Venus - Shocking Blue - instrumental cover by Dave Monk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rzmvfeggls