Venus Castina

Venus Castina was a minor epithet of the Roman goddess Venus; in this form, she was associated with "the yearnings of feminine souls locked up in male bodies." [cite book | title = Venus Castina: Famous Female Impersonators, Celestial and Human | publisher = Bonanza Books | year = 1956 | last = Bulliet | first = Clarence Joseph] [cite journal |author= Roberta Perkins |title= Geldings for the Gods |url=http://www.gendercentre.org.au/4article3.htm |accessdate=2008-08-10 |journal= Polare |date= 1994] Depictions of worshipers of Venus Castina display both men and women as devotees; some portraits include male worshipers dressed in female attire.

Herodotus wrote that Venus Castina cursed a group of Scythians who pillaged Venus' temple at Ascelon by turning them into women:

"The Scythians who plundered the temple were punished by the goddess with the female sickness, which still attaches to their posterity. They themselves confess that they are afflicted with the disease for this reason, and travelers who visit Scythia can see what sort of a disease it is. Those who suffer from it are called Enarees." — "The Histories", I, 105. Herodotus.

References

External links

* [http://pygmalionproject.tripod.com/licorice.html Licorice - the Root Of the Amazon's Power]
* [http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1015007 Venus [e-mail]]