Urania (ū-rā´ni-a).—The muse of astronomy. See “[Musæ].”
Uranus (ū´ra-nus), or Heaven.—Husband of Gæa (Earth), and father of Oceanus, Hyperion, Rhea, Themis, Cronos, and other children. At the instigation of Gæa he was dethroned by Cronos.
Utgard-Loki.—The chief of the giants, in Norse mythology.
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Varuna, or Vrauna.—In Hindu mythology, the deity who presides over the waters of the ocean, corresponding with Neptune of classic mythology.
Valhalla.—In Scandinavian mythology the palace of immortality wherein are received the souls of heroes slain in battle.
Valkyrs.—The battle-maidens of Scandinavian mythology. They were mounted on swift horses and held drawn swords. They rushed into battle and selected those destined to death and conducted them to Valhalla. The number of Valkyrs differs greatly according to the various mythologists and ranges from three to sixteen, the greater part of them, however, naming only nine.
Venus (vē´nus); called by the Greeks Aphrodite (af-ro-dī´tē)—i. e. “sea-foam.”—The goddess of love and beauty. She was supposed to have sprung from the foam of the sea: hence her Greek name. She was the wife of Vulcan, but was very unfaithful to him. She loved the gods Mars, Bacchus, Neptune and Mercury, and the mortals Adonis and Anchises. She was considered by [Paris] (q.v.) the most beautiful of the goddesses and had awarded to her the celebrated Golden Apple. Anyone who wore her magic girdle immediately became beautiful and the object of love and desire. She is generally accompanied by her son Cupid. The month of April, as the commencement of spring, was considered peculiarly sacred to the goddess of love. The myrtle, rose, apple and poppy, and the sparrow, dove, swan and swallow, were all sacred to her. She was probably originally identical with Astarte, a Syrian goddess, called by the Hebrews Ashtoreth. As might have been anticipated, the representation of the Queen of Beauty on canvas and in marble has resulted in some of the finest works of the most celebrated painters and sculptors of antiquity. Among the former, Apelles’ masterpiece of Venus rising from the sea deserves special mention; and among the latter the “Cnidian Venus” (so called because it stood in her temple at Cnidus), by Praxiteles, is unquestionably the most famous. Phryne (q.v.) sat as model for both of these noble works of art. The fame of the “Cnidian Venus” was so great that travelers from all parts of the civilized world resorted to Cnidus in order to see it. In fact, Pliny and others declared it to be the finest statue in the world. The “Venus of Milo” is, however, the noblest extant representation of Venus. It was found, in 1820, in the island of Melos, the modern Milo (hence the epithet), which is one of the group of islands named the Cyclades, in the Ægean Sea. It now forms one of the treasures of the Louvre, Paris.
Vertumnus (ver-tum´nus).—The god of the changing year—that is, of the seasons and their productions. His festival was celebrated by the whole Roman people on the 23rd of August.
Vesta (ves´ta); called by the Greeks Hestia (hes´ti-a)—i. e. “the hearth.”—One of the twelve great Roman deities, the goddess and guardian of the hearth and home. She was the daughter of Saturn and Rhea. In her temple in the Forum at Rome stood no statue, the goddess being represented by the eternal fire burning on her altar as her abiding symbol. This fire was kept up and attended to by a number of virgin priestesses, called Vestals, who were chaste and pure like the goddess herself. On March 1 in every year the sacred fire was renewed, and on June 15 her temple was cleaned and purified.