University Press of America
Pages: 136
•
Trim: 6 x 9
978-0-7618-6062-4 • Paperback • June 2013 • $43.99 • (£35.00)
978-0-7618-6063-1 • eBook • June 2013 • $41.50 • (£35.00)
Helen Benigni graduated with a Ph.D. in English from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1989. She is a professor at Davis and Elkins College in Elkins, West Virginia, where she teaches comparative mythology, composition, and literature. Her other works include The Myth of the Year: Returning to the Origin of the Druid Calendar (2003) and The Goddess and the Bull: A Study in Minoan-Mycenaean Mythology (2007).
Foreword
Morgan Llywelyn
Preface
Helen Benigni
Acknowledgements
1. The Emergence of the Goddess: A Study of Venus in the Paleolithic and Neolithic Era
Helen Benigni
2. The Epiphany of the Goddess: A Study of Venus in the Bronze and Iron Age
Helen Benigni
3. Love Goddesses of the Early Historic Age
Miriam Robbins Dexter
4. Venus, The Caillichín na Mochóirighe of Newgrange, Ireland
Anthony Murphy
Appendix I: The Astronomy of the Nights of Venus
Barbara Carter
Appendix II: The Eight Year Cycle of Venus
Barbara Carter
Appendix III: Of K’uk’ulcán and Quetazlcóatl, Venus in Mesoamerica
R.P. Hale
Index
Plates
About the Authors
The Mythology of Venus admirably succeeds in presenting a complex yet stimulating overview of Venus as primordial archetype, complete with astronomical signposts and well-justified water associations. The female principal which has played a central role in human development is traced from its earliest recognition offering students of history, mythology or psychology much to think about.
— Morgan Llywelyn