beloved

Venus the Myth

In Roman Mythology, Venus is the Goddess of Love, Beauty and Fertility. As Roman Mythology is heavily influenced by Greek Mythology, the Roman goddess Venus is considered the equivalent of the Greek goddess of Love, Beauty, and Sexuality, Aphrodite. According to certain sources, Aphrodite was born when Cronus cut off Uranus' gentials and threw them into the sea. Aphrodite arose from the resulting sea foam, naked and fully grown. Her beauty was so great that Zeus, fearing jealously would cause discord and war among the gods, married her to lame, unfaltering Hephaestus, the god of technology, blacksmiths, volcanoes and artisans. Overjoyed to be marrying such a beauty, Hephaestus made her a beautiful magic girdle as a wedding present. The girdle is said to have the power to inspire great passion and desire which made Aphrodite even more beautiful and irresistible. However, Aphrodite resents her arranged marriage to the unslightly Hephaestus and this results in Aphrodite's many famous affairs with mortals and gods. The character of Sailor Venus has some obvious roots in Roman and Greek Mythology. Sailor Venus often introduces herself as the Soldier of Love and Beauty and most of her attack phases are somehow related to Love or Beauty. Sailor Venus's Love-Me Chain, which she often wears around her hips, is clearly Takeuchi Naoko's salute to the Venus Girdle. Also Aino Minako's fickleness, her many "first loves", and her love for beautiful people (ie. idol chasing) is an obvious reflection of the Goddess Aphrodite's promiscuity and superficiality.

Venus the Planet Venus is the second planet from the sun and the brightest natural object in the night sky after the moon. Venus shines brightest during sunset and sunrise which is why it is also known as the Morning Star or Evening Star. The brightness of Venus could be the reason for Sailor Venus's light-based attacks in the anime. In terms of mass and size, Venus is known to be Earth's "sister" or "twin" as its mass and size is very similar to Earth's. The astronomical symbol of Venus is ♀ which is why Sailor Venus's gems and sometimes her forehead glows with this symbol. Like the moon, Venus waxes and wanes depending on its position with the sun. Galileo Galilei was the first to disover this and would later write in a letter to a comrade that "The Love Goddess imitates Diana." 1 This might be the reason why Sailor Venus is designed to have the ability to disguise herself and play decoy as the Moon Princess. In addition, the fact that the planet Venus also goes through phases explains the use of the word "crescent" in both Sailor V's and Sailor Venus's attacks and Sailor V's transformation.

Venus the Metal/Gold Star In Japanese, the planet Venus is called 金星 (Kinsei), with meaning 金 "metal" or "gold" and 星 meaning "star." In Asia, metal is considered one of the 5 essential elements of nature and therefore Sailor Venus's element is in actuality, metal. Sailor Venus's attacks do consist strongly of metal as her Love-Me Chain is often the nucleus of most of her attacks, particularly in the manga. Takeuchi Naoko's choice to make Sailor Venus's image color yellow can also be traced to the Japanese word for Venus as gold and yellow are similar in color. Further proof of this can be seen in Takeuchi Naoko's original notes where she writes that Venus's eyes and nails would turn gold and yellow in color, respectively, after transformation.