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Love deity

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The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli (1485), depicting , the Roman goddess of sex and beauty.

The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli (1485), depicting Venus, the Roman goddess of sex and beauty.

A love deity is a deity in mythology associated with romance, sex, lust, or sexuality. Love deities are common in mythology and may be found in many polytheistic religions. Female sex goddesses are often associated with beauty and other traditionally feminine attributes.

List of love deities[]

Africa[]

Egyptian mythology[]

  • Bastet, goddess of felines, love, protection, perfume, beauty, and dance
  • Bes, god of music, love, and dance
  • Hathor, goddess of love, beauty, and music; originally a sky goddess
  • Min, god of reproduction, love, and sexual pleasure
  • Qetesh, goddess of love, beauty, and sex; apparently borrowed by the Egyptians from the Canaanites

Vodun[]

  • Baron La Croix, loa of the dead and sexuality
  • Baron Samedi, loa of the dead, sex, and resurrection
  • Erzulie Freda Dahomey, loa of love, beauty, jewelry, dancing, luxury, and flowers

Yoruba mythology[]

Efik mythology[]

  • Anansa, goddess of the Sea, allure and beauty

Hausa[]

  • Zamani, god of sex and beauty

Moroccan[]

  • Aisha Qandicha

Americas[]

Aztec mythology[]

  • Ixcuiname, goddess of carnality
  • Teicu, goddess of sexual appetite
  • Tiacapan, goddess of sexual hunger
  • Tlaco, goddess of sexual longing
  • Tlazolteotl, goddess of lust, carnality, sexual misdeeds
  • Xocotzin, goddess of sexual desire
  • Xochiquetzal, goddess of sex and beauty
  • Xochipilli, god of love, art, games, beauty, dance, flowers, maize, fertility, and song

Tupi-Guaraní mythology[]

  • Kurupi, god of sexuality and fertility
  • Rudá, god of love.

Haitian Vodou[]

  • Guede Nibo

Asia[]

Buddhism[]

  • Aizen Myō-ō or Rāgarāja, a deity who transforms worldly lust into spiritual awakening; his red-skinned appearance represents suppressed lust and passion
  • Kuni, god of love
  • Kurukulla, Tibetan goddess particularly associated with rites of magnetization or enchantment.

Hinduism[]

  • Kamadeva Hindu god of human love or desire.
  • Rati, consort of Kama, goddess of love, carnal desire, lust, passion and sexual pleasure.
  • Ushas, Hindu reflex of Hausos so she was likely the lust goddess before Rati appeared
  • Parvati, a goddess of love and devotion

Chinese mythology[]

  • Jiutian Xuannü, a goddess of war, sex, and longevity[3]
  • Yue-Lao, a god of love, who binds two people together with an invisible red string
  • Tu Er Shen, a deity who oversees love between (effeminate) homosexual men
  • White Peony (Bai Mudan or Pai Mu-Tan), a goddess who tempts men, especially ascetics
  • Wutong Shen, a group of five wanton deities from Southern China. They ravished and possessed beautiful women.
  • Baimei Shen, Chinese prostitution god. On her first assignment with a client, a prostitute was supposed to make a sacrifice to him.
  • Qian Keng (Peng Zu), a god of health-focused sex
  • Chuangmu, goddess of the bedchamber. She and her husband Chuanggong look after everything that may happen in the bed room, including sex, sleep, and childbirth.
  • King Zhou, one of worst tyrants in Chinese history. He is known as the god of sodomy.

Japanese[]

  • Daikokuten, one of the Seven Lucky Gods. He is a god of prosperity, often portrayed with a huge phallus.

Vietnamese[]

  • Ông Tơ and Bà Nguyệt are the two gods of love and marriage. Bà Nguyệt is depicted as someone holding a fan to bring harmony to love and Ông Tơ is depicted as holding a red thread, which he uses to tie a couple together.

Filipino[]

Main article: List of Philippine mythological figures


  • Bangan: the Kankanaey goddess of romance; a daughter of Bugan and Lumawig.[4]
  • Obban: the Kankanaey goddess of reproduction; a daughter of Bugan and Lumawig.[4]
  • Amas: the Aeta deity who moves to pity, love, unity, and peace of heart.[5]
  • Dian Masalanta: the Tagalog goddess of lovers, daughter of Anagolay and Dumakulem;[4] a patron of lovers and of generation; the Spanish called the deity Alpriapo, as compared with the Western deity Priapus.[6]
  • Mangagayuma: the Tagalog deity specializing in charms, especially those which infuse the heart with love; one of the five agent brothers.[4]
  • Agkui: the Manobo divinities who have purview over sexual excess.[4]
  • Tagbayaw: the Manobo goddess that incites incest and adultery in mortals.[4]

Mesopotamian mythology[]

Canaanite mythology[]

  • Astarte, goddess of sex and war, Canaanite version of Inanna
  • Qetesh, goddess of love, beauty, and sex; "Qetesh" is her Egyptian name

Persian mythology[]

  • Anahita, seems to have gained an association with fertility and sex due to being influenced by the Mesopotamian Inanna; originally appears to have been a water goddess

Turkic-Altai[]

  • Aisyt, love and beauty goddess.

Europe[]

Albanian folklore[]

  • Prende, goddess of love, beauty and fertility

Armenian mythology[]

  • Astghik, goddess of fertility and love

Celtic mythology[]

  • Áine, Irish goddess of love, summer, wealth, and sovereignty; possibly originally a sun goddess
  • Branwen, Welsh goddess of love and beauty
  • Cliodhna, Irish goddess, sometimes identified as a goddess of love and beauty[8]

Etruscan mythology[]

  • Albina, goddess of the dawn and protector of ill-fated lovers
  • Turan, goddess of love and vitality

Germanic mythology[]

  • Eostre, Germanic reflex of Hausos and thus Frigg/Frijjo's predecessor; she was apparently transformed into a spring/fertility goddess by the Anglo-Saxons and Continental Germanic tribes and thus kept her relevancy in these traditions. She does not appear to have survived in the Norse tradition, probably being replaced by Freyja.
  • Freyja, goddess of love/sex, beauty, seiðr, war, and death; often thought of as the Norse equivalent of Aphrodite
  • Freyr, phallic god of lust, marriages, peace, and pleasure
  • Frigg, goddess of marriage and women. Has numerous similarities with Freyja and in the Gesta Danorum acts more like her. This, combined with the fact that only cognates of her name, and not Freyja's, appear outside of Scandinavia has led to the theory that Freyja is just a hypostasis of Frigg and Frigg was the Common Germanic love and sex goddess.
  • Lofn, goddess who has permission from Frigg to arrange forbidden marriages
  • Sjofn, goddess associated with love
Eros Farnese MAN Napoli 6353

Eros Farnese MAN Napoli 6353

Greek mythology[]

  • Hedone, goddess of pleasure
  • Dionysus, god of wine and pleasure
  • Aphrodite, goddess of sex and beauty, Greek version of Astarte and ultimately Inanna
  • Eos, Greek reflex of Hausos, who may have been the PIE lust/sex goddess
  • The Erotes
    • Anteros, god of requited love
    • Eros, god of love and procreation; originally a primordial deity unconnected to Aphrodite, he was later made into her son, possibly with Ares as his father; this version of him was imported to Rome where he came known as Cupid
    • Himeros, god of sexual desire and unrequited love
    • Hedylogos, god of sweet talk and flattery
    • Hermaphroditus, god of hermaphrodites and effeminate men
    • Hymen, god of marriage, weddings, and the bridal hymn
    • Pothos, god of sexual longing, yearning, and desire
  • Pan, god of the wild, shepherds, flocks, rustic music, and fertility of the wild/flocks. Is portrayed as very lustful and often depicted with an erect phallus. He lusted after several nymphs, most importantly Echo and Syrinx. Diogenes of Sinope, speaking in jest, related a myth of Pan learning masturbation from his father, Hermes, and teaching the habit to shepherds. Pan's greatest conquest was that of the moon goddess Selene. He accomplished this by wrapping himself in a sheepskin to hide his hairy black goat form, and drew her down from the sky into the forest where he seduced her.[9][10]
  • Peitho, personification of persuasion and seduction
  • Philotes, either a goddess of affection or a daimon of intercourse
  • Priapus, god of sexual intercouse, genitalia, nature, fertility, and lust
  • Helios and Selene, deities of the sun and moon respectively, they played a role in love-magic, and according to Pindar, lovesick men and women would pray to them respecively

Roman mythology[]

  • Voluptas, Roman equivalent of the Greek Hedone
  • Aurora, Roman reflex of Hausos and thus likely to originally have had characteristics of a lust/sex goddess
  • Cupid, Roman equivalent of the Greek Eros, also called Amor
  • Suadela, Roman equivalent of the Greek Peitho
  • Venus, Roman equivalent of the Greek Aphrodite
  • Inuus, god of sexual intercourse

Slavic mythology[]

  • Dogoda, Polish spirit of the west wind, associated with love and gentleness
  • Dzydzilelya, Polish goddess of love and marriage and of sexuality and fertility
  • Siebog, god of love and marriage
  • Živa, goddess of love and fertility
  • Lada, goddess of beauty and fertility
  • Jarilo, god of fertility and springtime, sometimes regarded as god of lust and passion.

Lithuanian mythology[]

  • Milda, goddess of love and freedom

Fakelore[]

  • Lada, fakelore goddess of sex and beauty, a made up Slavic version of Aphrodite almost certainly influenced by Greek mythology.
  • Astrild, fakelore deity of love and beauty, a made up Norse version of Amor or Cupid almost certainly influenced by Roman mythology.

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. ↑ Murrell, Nathaniel Samuel (2009). Afro-Caribbean Religions: An Introduction to Their Historical, Cultural, and Sacred Traditions. Temple University Press. ISBN 9781439901755. https://books.google.com/books?id=9h5KDRfZ-JgC&pg=PA35. 
  2. ↑ Coleman, Monica A. (2006). "African American Religion and Gender". In Pinn, Anthony B.. African American Religious Cultures. p. 501. ISBN 9781576074701. https://books.google.com/books?id=xEEIY4Q1ZAIC&pg=PA133. 
  3. ↑ Cahill, Suzanne E. (18 July 2013). "Sublimation in Medieval China: The Case of the Mysterious Woman of the Nine Heavens". Journal of Chinese Religions 20 (1): 91–102. doi:10.1179/073776992805307692. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Jocano, F. L. (1969). Philippine Mythology. Quezon City: Capitol Publishing House Inc.
  5. ↑ Arbues, L. R. (1960). Philippine Sociological Review Vol. 8, No. 1/2: The Negritos as a Minority Group in the Philippines. Philippine Sociological Society.
  6. ↑ Plasencia, J. (1589). Relacion de las Costumbres de Los Tagalos.
  7. ↑ Leick, Gwendolyn (1994). Sex and Eroticism in Mesopotamian Literature. Routledge. p. 320. ISBN 0-415-06534-8. https://books.google.com/books?id=Os4YT9UU_GoC. 
  8. ↑ Evans-Wentz, W. Y. (1998). The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries. Citadel. p. 572. ISBN 0-8065-1160-5. https://books.google.com/books?id=mNmAftbV_8AC. 
  9. ↑ Virgil, Georgics 3.391–93
  10. ↑ Hard, p. 46; Gantz, p. 36; Kerenyi, p. 175, 196; Grimal, "Selene", p. 415.
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