Volupta (Latin: Volupia, Voluptas) is the personification of sensual pleasures in Roman mythology. According to Apuleius, Voluptas was born from the union of Cupid and Psyche. As Varro mentions, near the Via Nova road, close to the Romanulos gates, stood the temple of Voluptas, Sacellum Volupiae.
Myth
It is said that during the Divalia, a festival dedicated to the goddess Angerona, the pontiffs would offer sacrifices to Voluptas, the goddess of joy and pleasure, in the temple. Some believed that the goddess Voluptas was the same as Angerona and could alleviate all the unpleasantness and pains of life.
Macrobius indicates that the statue of Angerona stood in the Sacellum Volupiae.
Voluptas was represented as a young person with a pale complexion seated on a throne and holding Virtue under her feet. She had a small sanctuary in Rome on the Palatine Hill.
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Hedone (Ηδονή)
It is claimed that the divine name Voluptas can be understood as an adjective-derived noun. In Greek mythology, there is a goddess named Hedone who corresponds to Voluptas in Roman mythology.
Etymology
In Roman mythology, the term “voluptas,” derived from Latin meaning “lust,” “pleasure,” and “delight,” represents the personification of the desire for life’s pleasures and sexual gratification. It is best known from the story of Cupid and Psyche, which Apuleius embedded in his novel Metamorphoses.
Volupia
Associated with Voluptas was Volupia, the goddess of well-being, whose temple was located near the Porta Romanula. It is not clear whether the two are synonymous, or whether they are different concepts. In any case, the cult of Volupia was ancient, since in its temple there was the statue of Angerona, which Pliny the Elder relates to the secret name of Rome.
Therefore, Voluptas has sometimes been confused, probably too quickly, with Volupia, whose name is etymologically similar.
Hedonism
Hedonism is a philosophical doctrine based on the pursuit of pleasure and the suppression of pain as the purpose or reason for existence in life.
