In Roman mythology, Venus was the goddess of love, sex, beauty, and fertility. She was the Roman counterpart to the Greek goddess Aphrodite. However, Roman Venus had many abilities beyond the Greek Aphrodite; she was a goddess of victory, fertility, and even prostitution. According to Greek mythology, as presented in Hesiod's Theogony, Aphrodite was born of the foam from the sea after Saturn (Cronus) castrated his father Uranus (Ouranos) and his blood fell to the sea. This latter explanation appears to be more a popular theory due to the countless artworks depicting Venus rising from the sea in a clam.
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Timeline
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c. 700 BCEGreek poet Hesiod writes his Theogony and Works and Days.
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295 BCEThe first temple to Venus is dedicated on Rome's Aventine Hill.
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140 BCEVenus of Milo is completed.
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14 Dec 1962 CEThe USA robotic space probe *Mariner 2* becomes the first spacecraft in history to successfully pass by another planet as it draws near Venus after 110 days in flight. The probe scanned Venus, establishing its surface temperature and other details.
