The Roman myth of Venus and Mars is familiar to all of us. Venus, the Goddess of Love has an affair with Mars, the God of War, but there is more to the story than myth. Much of this story has relevance to today, and is in fact timeless.
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The Story of Venus, Mars and Vulcan
Venus (Aphrodite or Venus de Milo in Greece) is betrothed to pragmatic and hardnosed Vulcan, Roman God of Fire, but she finds him too prosaic. She has an affair with Mars (Ares in Greece), the product of which is a beautiful daughter, Harmonia. But Vulcan suspects what is going on. Being a blacksmith, he fashions a fine metallic mesh were Venus and Mars gets ensnared on a couch. They are then both humiliated in front of the other gods on Mount Olympus. I decided to use this story to say something about modern-day love and shame in one of my novels. But firstly a few facts about Venus and Mars.
Facts about Venus and Mars
Mars, son of Jupiter and Juno, was unpopular with everyone. He liked to fight, although whether he won or lost mattered little. He just liked trouble and havoc. With his companion, Discordia, they carried a band of spirits with them, pain, panic, famine and oblivion.
Venus was born of the sea. Unlike Mars, she was not into creating havoc, but caused it if someone scorned her vanity. After she heard that the prince of Troy, Paris claimed that Venus’ half sister, Helen Queen of Sparta was the fairest of the land, Venus was so angered this caused the Trojan War. However, her otherwise merciful and soft nature was perfect for absorbing Mars’ vigour.
Botticelli’s Painting Venus and Mars
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Why did Hera chase the pregnant Leto across half of Hellas? It had nothing to with Zeus and jealousy at all, no the reason was completely different.
There were more than a hundred people crowding to get off the ferry. Mortals of all sizes and looks, old and young, women and men, those who looked wealthy and those who had obviously less. Among them a sole goddess. This time it should be possible to hide, right? This time she was surrounded by so many mortals that the one chasing her shouldn't have a reasonable chance to find her again. People were pressing to her right and to her left, shuffling and trampling, handling their luggage more or less brutally, swearing and cursing, snarling at each other when becoming trampled or manhandled. The babies were moving about in her belly, it was obvious they could sense her stress. On the other hand, this last trip should have been enough to finally lose her pursuer. To finally get some respite. For what time in order, she wondered what the heck she had gotten herself into. Had it all been worth it? But she had believed herself invincible, hadn't she? She'd believe that no one would be able to catch her, that her powers prevented it. How wrong she seemed to have been.
The crowd became even more fervent when they neared the exit and the gangplank, where the way out grew narrower and the exiting people got more eager to be off the boat. What was it with people and their inability to wait just five minutes to not having to struggle with all the rest? Usually she did this herself, but this time the crowd was her friend, no matter that it reeked of unwashed human and made her warm and sweaty, the Twins unruly.
Then, to her relief, she was able to descend the gangplank and step down on the quay in the harbour, for the first time in hours able to breath in fresh air and feel the sun caress her cheeks, pushing back her dark-brown hair from her face and complaining to herself that it was sticky. No, she wasn't exactly clean now. Her other exchange of clothes, in her backpack, were dirty beyond reason and what she was wearing at this moment sure needed to be laundered too. Hopefully she could take care of that as soon as she got away from the town. But first she had to eat something. That was the problem with pregnancies, you had to eat all the time. Eat and drink, not to mention constantly bee-lining to the bathroom, especially when the babies were pressing at her bladder. However most of the time the mortal women used to let her pass the queue to the loo when they noted her state. A lot of them knew what it was like to be expecting. For them it was probably worse! She was a goddess and thus it was quite a bit easier for her to carry children.
There was a young lad selling barbeque sticks and wine at the edge of her harbour and she stopped and bought three of the sticks and then she presented her simple wooden cup and had him fill it with watered wine. After paying she went and sat down in the shade of a large oak, resting her back against the trunk as she ate and drank and watched the commotion in the harbour. The wine was sour and the meat was burned on the outside and almost raw inside, nothing that fancied her the slightest. Still she needed the sustenance and she was lucky enough to not having to worry about catching anything.
Besides, there was no trace of her pursuer anymore. Perhaps it had worked this time, perhaps she was finally rid of the woman who had chased her for so long! She dared a smile to tug at her lips before she leaned back and rested with half-closed lids, letting the drone of the mortal world fade away in her mind. She recalled how it all had begun, more than three months ago.
*o*o*
'I give up,' Poseidon was saying, holding out his hands and looking devastated.
'You mean you lost Leto?' Zeus smirked. 'Again!'
'Yeah, again.' The god of the seas tore a large, squarely hand through his bluish-black mane of wavy hair as he gazed upon the gathered deities with resigned, green eyes and sighed. 'A beautiful, pregnant goddess, she shouldn't be that hard to keep track on, one thinks. And I, who used to be one of the better trappers in the Subsea movement. But she's.. I don't know!'
'Call her back, admit your defeat, Seid!' Zeus urged him.
'But how does she do it?' Poseidon protested. She was right there and then...' he lashed out with his right hand. 'Gone! I can't frigging believe it!'
'Leto's an expert hider,' Hestia pointed out. 'She can disguise everything, even her aura. I wonder if even Zeus would be able to find her if she chooses to stay hidden.'
'I can,' Zeus said and smirked, his radiant blue eyes not betraying anything other than a deep professional respect for his best undercover agent. But it wasn't exactly a secret that he had fathered the twins she was expecting.
Yes, Leto was amazing. She could disappear even when there was no obvious hiding place. Almost as if she had merged with the ground. She could blend into nature or hide in crowds of mortals. The last stunt was probably the most impressing one, usually a divine aura was easy to spot among the much fainter mortal ones. Yet from one second to another the radiantly beautiful goddess could turn into a plain-looking mortal. Not ugly, just – anonymous. Her dark hair losing its shine, her skin becoming grey and pale and sort of saggy, her lips less rosy and her eyes losing their normal glint. She lost her stature too, and appeared shorter and less prominent. But that was far from all. Her natural charisma disappeared as the aura dulled to those grey-white rays mortals have. That way she became able to hide in the crowds even from the prying eyes of another immortal.
So Poseidon had to admit defeat, although it didn't go down that well with him. He appeared rather grouchy when he took up the com-mirror and called Leto up, telling her that she had won and could return to Olympos and collect her gold. Later, while Leto with a smug look upon her face and a cooky swag to her hips crossed the marble floor of the great hall of Olympos, Poseidon reluctantly produced his moneybag, counted up ten shining ducates and let them fall into her hand. Meanwhile there was a third person looking on with interested brown eyes. This quite a bit younger goddess had suddenly got a brilliant idea.
'Leto,' Hera said and the pregnant goddess craned her neck to face the pretty brunette who was sitting on a settee next to Zeus' sister Hestia.
'Yes, dear?' she asked as she let her earn slip down in her own moneybag with a pleassantly jangling sound.
'Ten ducates, huh,' Hera smirked. 'I'll double that amount for you, if you can escape me.'
Leto felt her brows rocket up at that challenge and Hestia let up a startled sound.
'Why do you think you could do what Poseidon just failed to acquire here?' she protested in a caring voice. Ever since her first encounter with the teenaged Hera back during the Titan wars, had Hestia felt quite protective about the younger goddess, almost as if Hera had been her younger sister. Sure, she didn't want Hera to do anything stupid. She had seen how humiliated Poseidon had just been in front of the whole pantheon, the tempered Hera would not take a defeat like that any easier.
'If I'd said that,' Hera smirked. 'I'd blow my chances. I'm not that stupid.'
'You won't stand a chance, lass,' Poseidon scoffed.
'We'll see about that,' Hera shot back. 'So are you in, Leto? Twenty ducates if you can hide for me. I'll give you two days and two nights to disappear.'
'Sure thing,' Leto smirked. What, was the young girl daft or something? Leto had a million places to hide, in the cities of the mortals for instance, if she got lost there, no one would find her. Well, perhaps Zeus, but he was not partaking in those games anyway. He was content with being the referee.
Leto and Hera agreed upon a few simple rules. Leto was to be given a 48 hours long headstart, and then Hera could come after her. Leto was allowed hide anywhere in the mortal realm, including the islands outside the Hellas mainland, but she could not descend into the underworld or any of the other realms. Poseidon's sea-world was also ruled out. However Leto was convinced that she with her powers should have no trouble disappearing in the vast world of the mortals. The game was going to last for four months, then the time would be too close to Leto's delivery, so she would have to return to Olympos anyway. If she managed to stay hidden all the time or if Hera called it off, Leto had won. On the other hand, if Hera found Leto, then the former was the winner. For Hera to prove her victory over Leto she would have to bring a sight mirror and send a signal picture of herself next to Leto back to Zeus.
Again, Zeus was called in as a referee of course and he had chuckled a bit when he heard about the latest game. So young Hera was going to try to chase down Leto. Hera was bright and clever and a really good fighter, who had annihilated more than her fair share of Titans back in the war. These days she was doing a great job working with Demeter and a few others in mending the world which had been so destroyed when the Gods had clashed with the Titans. On top of that Hera was absolutely stunningly beautiful, although she didn't really seem to be aware of it. On the flipside though, Hera was perhaps a bit too tempered and headstrong and she had hard to forgive those who crossed her. If Zeus could've given his fair advice, he'd told Hera to forget the whole thing. Finding a Leto not wanting to be found was hard, even for him.
However, if he told her that, Zeus knew that Hera would only become more stubborn about going through with it. She was going to fail this time though, Zeus knew, and he was already feeling sorry for her. Nevertheless he accepted to arbitrate the gamble and he set the start to the next day at noon. That was when Leto was let to leave Olympos and Hera should be able to follow her at the same hour two days later. In the meantime Hera was not allowed to go anywhere near a sighting pool or another device for tracking people. Zeus himself was going to keep an eye upon her, which he gladly did. Zeus had often wondered what Hera would be like to make love to. One day he was definitely going to find out, he figured, however now was not the time.
'You fine with those rules?' Zeus asked.
'Yes I am,' Hera nodded her head firmly, her dark brown eyes glittering with excitement and determination.
'So am I,' Leto confirmed, her voice a bit more laid back, less keen than the younger goddess. There was even a trace of tiredness in her voice, however she pulled out her chin and tried to look unbothered. 'I cannot wait to lay my hands on twenty more sweet little golden pieces, they'll be good to have for the kids,' she finished by striking her hand across her rounded belly and Hera's eyes darted down to the impressive orb.
'Twins,' she said with a tilted smile. 'I might buy toys to them for my gain, so don't be too sad, Leto. Bows and arrows perhaps, so they can learn some shooting.'
'Hera, the war is over,' Leto huffed. 'And I want my babies to be into music and art.'
'One thing does not exclude the other,' Zeus smiled. 'Besides we can never assume that there will be no more wars in the future, and then it's always good to know how to defend yourself. Now tomorrow at noon at South Peak. Prepare yourself well, Leto, I can tell that Hera is determined.'
'Oh, she had no chance,' Leto said with confidence in her voice, since she already now knew where she was going to hide.
*o*o*
She regretted that confidence now, when she was stirred awake by that these days very familiar and undesired awareness of Hera's sudden presence. Leto perked up and sent a watchful gaze down in the harbour, following the eight sense recollection with her eyes. Yes, there she was, young Hera, disguised as a bent, elderly mortal woman, and she was scanning the area, homing in on Leto.
'How does she do it?' Leto asked herself - or her children. 'I'm all hidden now, no different from any mortal. She should not be able to find me here!'
The next second she stood and hasted away, disappeared down the hill and behind a low stone wall, then she vanished into a narrow alley between two warehouses, dashed around the next corner, then the next while she kept her mind open for Hera's annoyingly persistent trace. Leto refused to lose against this girl, she was better than that. This was her discipline, as being the best agent the Olympians had. She couldn't lose against Hera, her whole reputation hung on that. Poseidon had been another thing, he was after all the god of the sea, second in power only to Zeus himself, if he had found her, she wouldn't have been that devastated. But this young woman, what did she have which the sea-god had lacked? She seemed annoyingly impossible to shake.
Leaving harbour town in a haste, Leto ventured south, following a mountain range with high, snow-capped peaks. She could sense Hera somewhere behind her, the young girl was still on her track. A stubborn, relentless one! Then again, so was Leto. Hera was not going to get her. That was so out of the question. She followed the mountain range for perhaps 200 miles, still with the eerie sensation of Hera in the wake, Leto she refused to despair, to give up. She still had a few cards up her sleeve. And she was about to play one of them now.
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Some ten minutes later did she reach the end of the mountainous area, where the large islet jutted out in the sea. The sun was low in the hazy sky, casting long indistinct shadows across the land and the worst heat of the day was beginning to fade. The tide was low and the edge of the beach laid far out, the sand wet and filled with sea-shells, driftwood and stranded jellyfishes drying to what was probably a painful death. Hasting across the dunes, Leto gazed south. Yes, there it was, Delos, the Mirage Island. The next to nothing low island which could only be made out when the tide was low.
During high tide it was mostly hidden by the water of the Aegean, only a small stream of rocks visible, and during night time these rocks were impossible to spot, as haze hid most of them. Many a ships had run on ground there. But among those rocks was a diminutive shrubbery. That was where Leto planned to hide and trust that Hera would miss the island completely in her hurry to catch up. Leto counted on that Hera would assume that her prey had continued south and go on down the road while Leto in fact hung back on the Mirage Island.
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Hera was still some fifteen minutes behind, so Leto would well get the time to skip across the water and sneak down among the rocks. With the tide so low, she didn't have to walk the water that much and thus she could keep her divine emittance to the minimum. She was winning this! Finally. With a smile beaming off her face, she hasted across the wet sand and out in the water, passing just above the surface, making sure to not wetting her shoes, and with a final, happy skip did she jump up on one of the cliffs that was Delos.
It was then she felt it. A profound contraction in her lower belly. The next moment she was wetting herself. No, it was the amniotic fluid, the first sign that her two babies wanted out. They were early – impatient, those little ones!
Damn! Now what?
Leto had hoped to have at least one more month before the pregnancy had run to term. But they were twins, perhaps they felt it too crowded in her womb now when just about eight months had passed.
The next contraction almost had her doubling over in surprise and pain and she sunk to her knees on the hard cliff, feeling the sea water wet her sandals and soak her dress.
Between two bulging cliffs was a small patch of grass and those weathered bushes, bent by relentless winds. Standing up, Leto was able to amble over there just before the next contracting pain hit her and she slumped down on the grass, biting her lips and squeezing her eyes against the discomfort.
Stupid! She scolded herself as the pain faded and she was able to put together a coherent thought again. Stupid, stupid Leto! Being so caught up in the game she had failed to keep track on the status of her pregnancy, forgotten to make sure that she had what she would need for a delivery - things like fresh water, towels, firewood, soap and whatever else she believed she would require later on.
As she grimaced against another profound contraction she reminded herself that she was not in any way familiar with childbirths. She had never been present for one of those, she didn't know how they worked and what was needed. Sure, she had heard other goddesses talk about these things more than once, for instance when Eurynome had her daughter Aglaia last year. However Leto had never really listened, finding these items - if not outright boring – so quite a bit unrelated to her vocation. She was a spy, not a midwife!
Now she regretted that of course, regretted that she had not paid more attention to what the other women had been discussing back then. But little had she thought it would matter – she hadn't even been pregnant back then, that embarrassingly delightful night with Zeus had not occurred yet.
The next wave of agony was even worse than the earlier ones, Leto felt as if she was going to crack up in half and she tumbled and sat down hard, then fell on her back, clasping at tufts of grass and tearing them from the ground as she stared up in the sky, finding it oddly marred by black cracks. It almost seemed as if it was breaking apart, showing the space of night behind the blue! Until Leto realized it was the naked branches of the bushes growing around here. The winds had forced all the leaves off those branches, only a few of them grew near the ground, and Leto felt sorry for the poor vegetables – until she forgot all about it to instead feel sorry for herself when a new gush of pain ran through her!
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Was it always this hard? And if so, how came women still had babies? More than once, mind you!
Leto cursed at herself, she really could need some help now, she didn't even know how long it would take to force out a baby – let along two! Then what was she going to do with the first while she birthed the second one? Perhaps she should swallow her pride and give in – call on Olympos for help. Her only consolidation now was that young Hera...
'Leto?' the gentle voice cut through the next wave of pain, and in response, Leto managed to turn her face at the dark form who was standing there, silhouetted against the scarlet of the setting sun. 'How's it going? Are you all right?'
'Do I look all right to you?' Leto snarled, instantly regretting her harsh words.
'Under the circumstances you don't look that bad. Then again, you are a goddess, and a strong one at that.'
Now, as the pain faded, the timbre and cadence of the warm soprano cut through Leto's mind for real.
'Hera?'
'Yes. Now, let me help you! I know a bit of these things, I've been around for a few deliveries, both mortals and goddess.'
'You have? How...' then the subsequent pain shot through Leto with merciless force, as she felt a heavy pressure downwards. Without asking, Hera sat down and took her left hand, held it hard and somehow helping Leto through the ordeal.
'Now listen,' Hera's voice was firm when Leto was able to focus again. 'Obviously nobody taught you how to breathe.'
'I can breathe all right!'
'Not the way an expectant mother is supposed to do it, so now do as I do!' the younger goddess told before she started to present fast and shallow breaths, almost like a mortal who had been running hard. As Leto followed through, she oddly found the next pain easier to ride. Then came another one, almost instantly and then Hera let go of Leto's hand to help her off with her pantyhoses. Darn, Leto had almost forgotten such a basic thing.
'You're quite open now,' Hera informed. 'I can see a tiny head. Dark wisps of hair.'
'My baby!' Leto felt oddly moved, tears coming to her eyes before she submitted to another wave of pain.
'Yes, can you push? Almost like when doing number two. Help the little one along. And don't forget to breath! Come on and do it now!'
By some strange instinct Leto understood what it was Hera was trying to communicate and she pushed hard. Then a little harder and then one more time. Incessantly and with the younger woman urging her on. Then Leto suddenly felt a strange surge of relief as something big forced itself through her opening. Yes! She sensed more than saw Hera bending down and grabbing at that little body who came through, helping it out.
The next moment there was a small squealing sound, almost like a cat, if cats could be husky.
'There you are, sweetie!' Hera was saying. 'A little girl she is!' To that Leto felt how she was crying for real and then Hera was lowering something warm, wet and heavy upon her chest. 'Your daughter, Leto!'
'That's...' Leto lost her voice as she looked down in profound dark eyes – eyes of an infant who was looking back with an unexpected wisdom in her round eyes – facing Leto as if measuring her up, trying to understand the concept of another face – the concept of a mother. 'That's my Artemis!' She didn't know where the name came from however, it just felt right.
The moment she said it, there was something more in those young eyes. Something gleaning, which made Leto craning her head, look out over the sea again. There, above the mists a yellow waxing moon was rising. Almost like a sign.
'Artemis?' Heras was asking, where she sat across from Leto. 'That's her name? That little moon goddess?'
'Yes I – I just came up with it. Right now.'
'Then it was her telling you that,' Hera said matter of factly. 'She had already made up her name in the belly.'
'You think so?'
'You have another explanation?' Hera's smile was tilted, knowing.
'No but... moon goddess – I kinda like that.'
'I can sense she does too,' Hera said and glanced down at the babe upon Leto's chest. Then she held out her hands. 'I've got a tray with heated water here, let me wash her off and wrap her in a blanket and you'll get her back.'
'I... sure!' Almost hesitantly and with a meek smile pulling at her lips Leto handed over the girl. She wanted to keep holding on to the little one forever, but she knew Hera was right. Artemis was gory and sticky with blood and other fluids. In return, Leto got a skin with water and Hera told her to drink it all, or she'd get dehydrated and week.
Hera worked with knowing hands as Leto looked on in surprise, she had no idea the young woman was so skilled with these things. But the moment Hera was going to hand back the baby, Leto felt another surge of pain racket through her body. Twin number two wanted out! Once again, Hera sat down and while cradling Artemis in her right arm, she reached out with her left hand, taking Leto's.
'Here we go again, dear! Remember how to breathe now!' she said, voice gentle but firm.
It began again. This child was somewhat larger and the delivery took quite a bit longer, feeling both harder and easier at the same time. Harder because Leto was tired in her body and the child larger, easier because now she knew how it worked, she felt the familiarity of every push and every part of the body being pressed out of her. Not until the first rays of sunlight cut through the air did Leto deliver her second child, her son.
This boy was different from his sister, his hair was thinner and held a blond colour, almost like the sunlight itself and those eyes were blue like a summer sky. This boy sure had the colours of his father – Zeus! But one thing similar to the sister - the way he told Leto his name. Apollo.
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Holding on to her wonderful, dear children, Leto could think of nothing else, but Hera cut through her thoughts again.
'When was the last time you ate?'
'Oh I don't remember...' the reply vague. 'Yes,' she then recalled. 'In the harbour. Yesterday afternoon. About an hour before sunset. Shitty souvlaki and sour wine!'
'Then you need to eat again.'
'I'm not really hungry.'
'But your children are soon going to be, and they'll want to suckle. Now, they'll eat you inside and out if you don't do some inputting on your own. Look, I brought fruit and bread and milk and some juice and even eggs.'
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'You sure thought of everything,' Leto breathed out, at the moment she hardly cared about not liking egg that particularly much.
'I've been there done that before with baby deliveries, thought I told you that,' Hera chuckled and then she helped Leto sit up against a rock, a folded textile between her back and the hard surface, dampening its roughness somehow. When Leto was comfortable Hera held out another skin, filled with milk this time. While uncorking it, Leto actually felt that she was starving, so she reached out and drank greedily. Then she was gorging an apple, a large chunk of bread with cheese, another apple, an orange and then even one of those eggs, washing it all down with more milk and some juice. Meanwhile Hera was content with an orange and a smaller piece of bread. When they had eaten, it was the twin's turn, and Hera showed Leto how to manage this too.
While trying to get used to the odd sensation of suckling babies, Leto recalled something else.
'The competition,' she sighed, facing Hera. 'I guess I lost it. Since you found me.'
'Oh, don't worry about that. I don't really care about those ducats. All I wanted to do was prove that I could do this. Do buy bows and arrows for the money, Leto. I have a certain feeling the kids will love those.'
'Hera, I have to ask – how did you really do it? I've never encountered anyone who could see me when I wanted to not be seen. Who could trace me like that? Tell me, am I losing my skill?'
'No, don't worry about that!' Hera laughed gently and to that Apollo let go of the breast to see where the sound was coming from. 'In the future I won't be able to find you when you do your thing for real.'
'But how?'
'As a matter of fact, I didn't follow you, Leto. I didn't need to follow you, as I followed the twins. The auras of your babies stood out against everything else. The glorious son and daughter of Great Zeus – they were like shiny beacons blazing in the air, quite easy to keep tab upon!'