Veneralia

The month of April honored the foam-born goddess Venus, just as March honored the war god Mars, even if the etymology is less clear in April's case. Rome's legendary first king, Romulus, is said to have counted Mars as his father and Venus as his ancestor, so the first two months of his year featured his family. It wasn't until later (mid-second century B.C.) that the year began in January [see: Roman Calendar and Roman Calendar Terminology.] The first day of the month on the Roman calendar was the Kalends. On the kalends of April, they celebrated a festival to honor Venus, known as the Veneralia.

PD Courtesy of Early Church Fathers: The Chronography of 354 AD. The calendar of Philocalus. Inscriptiones Latinae Antiquissimae, Berlin (1893)

After the Roman defeat by Hannibal at Cannae in 215 B.C. two Vestal Virgins were executed for unchastity, and the temple of VenusVerticordia 'changer of hearts,' near the Circus Maximus, was dedicated [Parker]. Venus Verticordia was the aspect of Venus honored at the Veneralia. While Venus/Aphrodite is often associated with lust, as Verticordia, she was in charge of chastity, according to Ovid [Richardson].

The accompanying image shows a picture of a 16th century copy (Vindobonensis) of an illustration that was used to represent the month of April on a pagan calendar from A.D. 354 [Salzman]. Veneralia honored Venus with ritual bathing of the cult statue of Venus (note the little statue in the corner) by female worshipers, after which the goddess and her female worshipers were covered with myrtle, Venus' traditional plant [see Bona Dea for references to myrtle]. Salzman thinks the man in the picture may actually come from a festival a few days later in the month, since the attendants of Venus at the Veneralia were all women.

Ovid describes the Veneralia ritual in the fourth book of his Fasti. John F. Miller says Ovid addresses the women who will attend to Venus Verticordia's statue, telling them they must wear myrtle and make a sacrifice to a goddess of fortune associated with Venus, and also supplicate Venus Verticordia because of her connection with beauty, morality, and reputation.

"Why Were the Vestals Virgins? Or the Chastity of Women and the Safety of the RomanState," by Holt N. Parker. The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 125, No. 4 (Winter, 2004), pp. 563-601

"The Approach to the Temple of Saturn in Rome," by L. Richardson, Jr. American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 84, No. 1 (Jan., 1980), pp. 51-62

"The Representation of April in the Calendar of 354," by Michele Renee Salzman. American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 88, No. 1 (Jan., 1984), pp. 43-50

"Ritual Directions in Ovid's Fasti: Dramatic Hymns and Didactic Poetry," by John F. Miller. The Classical Journal, Vol. 75, No. 3 (Feb. - Mar., 1980), pp. 204-214.

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