Who Is Venus (Aphrodite)?
The goddess of beauty who envies Psyche
Venus is the Roman goddess of love and beauty, the equivalent of Aphrodite in Greek mythology. She is the mother of Eros (Cupid), the god of love.
In the story, she flies into a rage when people begin worshipping the mortal girl Psyche as "the new Venus" and her own temples fall empty. She calls her son and orders him to make the girl fall in love with the lowest man on earth, then departs to the sea attended by sea deities such as singing Nereids and Tritons blowing conch shells. She is the goddess who sets Psyche's misfortunes in motion.
Apuleius names famous places sacred to Venus, such as Paphos, Cnidus, and Cythera, to show how her temples were abandoned. In the original story, she becomes even angrier when she learns about her son and Psyche, and she puts Psyche through harsh trials.
