CYRA | percy jackson

Prologue

"VENUS.

The Roman Goddess of love, beauty, desire, sex, fertility, prosperity, and victory.

The famous Julius Caesar, who'd established the Twelfth Legion Fulminata and extended Rome's territory, descended from Venus.

Venus was worshipped by everyone- burn offerings for her and you'll earn a successful love life. Wives prayed to her for a child; Women asked for beauty; Men requested for a pretty wife; warriors begged for success; mothers pleaded for their sons to return from battle; emperors and politicians of Rome embraced the Goddess as a symbol of political and military power.

In Rome, Venus was a strong motherly figure, often seen as the mother of Rome. She was also linked to many successes of Rome. Venus was powerful.

Aphrodite- the Greek counterpart of Venus- however, was seen as a more 'I love love! Love is great! Everybody MUST love love! You love her! And you love her! You get a makeover! And you're too pretty, so DIE!' kind of a Goddess.

Homer never portrayed Aphrodite as a Goddess to be actively involved in battle. In fact, he wrote that she went back to Olympus when Diomedes cut her wrists, saying that Zeus warned her not to join a war ever again.

However, in Sparta, and Kythera- Aphrodite's birthplace, there are statues of Aphrodite in war armor. Pausanias suggested that the statues were of a genderbent Ares and some say that all Gods wore armor in Sparta.

In actual fact, Aphrodite donning on armor was simply seen as controversial.

The Greeks thought that the idea of Aphrodite being a war Goddess was contradictory to their idea of her (that is that she was purely the Goddess of love). So, they split Aphrodite into three.

Aphrodite Urania and Aphrodite Pandemos to signify her status as the Goddess of love and lust, and Aphrodite Areia, the warlike version of Aphrodite.

Going further back in time, there were some Goddesses who were the older, more militaristic equivalents of Aphrodite. They were Astarte, the Phoenician Goddess of war, fertility and sex, and Ishtar, the Mesopotamian Goddess of love, sex, fertility, beauty, justice, war, political power, etc.

You see, there is way more to Aphrodite than just sex and love. She is, or at least, at some point of her life, was a war Goddess.

The Ancient Greeks may not have seen that, but the Romans did.

In New Rome, Venus is a legend. Many of her children were valued warriors and those who weren't were great leaders. Aphrodite Pandemos had the ability to bring large groups of people together, and many of Venus' legacies inherited that.

We weren't just pretty faces, we were fighters and rulers.

So shut your misogynistic mouth up and tell me where Jason Grace is, Boread."

"We should've destroyed her!" Calais sobbed.

"Shut up, Cal!" Zethes yelled.

"You're right. She's too pretty to destroy." Calais said.

"You aren't," Cyra threatened. "I will destroy you if you don't tell me where Jason Grace is!" She pointed her spear at Calais' throat while he sobbed about missing hockey and pizza.

Zethes smiled as if he came up with a good idea. "We will tell you if you let us go."

Cyra scoffed and stomped her foot, which probably looked silly. But the whole situation was ridiculous. She was threatening two six-foot tall, winged demigods, who had horrible fashion sense and were tied to a tree. Luckily, the Mist shielded them from the mortals- they didn't even bat an eyelid at the scene. "Weren't you listening to the whole speech I just made about Venus and how legacies of Venus aren't dumb?"