Background on Aphrodite/Venus

• Entry for Aphrodite from Encyclopedia Mythica
• Images of Aphrodite, both Greek and Roman (Classical Myth: The Ancient Sources); image of Aphrodite Genetrix (Getty); more images, scroll down to Venus (Worlds of Roman Women)
• Texts about Aphrodite (Classical Myth: The Ancient Sources)
• images, stories, family tree, and additional background material on Aphrodite (theoi.com)
• Aphrodite: Her Power and her Art, by student Anne Lombardi for the course Images of Women in the ancient World (Sweet Briar College)

Possible Connection with Faustina the Younger

• portraits of Faustina the Younger, scroll down to Faustina II (Worlds of Roman Women); more portraits of Faustina the Younger (Faustina Minor), wife of Marcus Aurelius (Erlangen)
• gold aurei with portraits of the young Faustina II (British Museum)
• Coin of Faustina the Younger, wife of Marcus Aurelius (from the Lawrence University catalogue, Bearers of Meaning); more coins of Faustina the Younger (Virtual Catalog of Roman Coins): click on Faustina the Younger on the left sidebar

Portraits of Roman Women as Gods

• Head of a Woman in the Guise of a Goddess (North Carolina Museum of Art)
• Portrait of the Empress Sabina as Venus Genetrix (Vatican)
• Portrait of Agrippina the Elder as Venus (Hermitage Museum)
• Portrait of Cornelia Salonina, wife the Emperor Gallienus, as Venus Primogenitor (Hermitage)

Related Resources

• Faustina the Younger's father, Antoninus Pius (Riley Collection)
• Faustina's husband, Marcus Aurelius (Riley Collection)
• more information on Roman women