Vesunna

In tracing the mortal Eve and her evolution to becoming a goddess for my book, The Goddess Aped, there had been a bit of a missing link as to how Hestia developed into Isis and Venus. One of those links is Vesunna.

In the name are remnants of Vesuvius, Vesta, and Venus.

It was Mt. Vesuvius that erupted and covered Pompeii. In Pompeiii Venus is worshiped as “Goddess of the Garden,” which is something she has in common with all of these goddesses; being gods over rather general or seemingly minor things.

Also in Pompeii, there is clearly graffiti defaming another goddess referred to only as “Blondie.”

So where is the link to Isis? In the imagery of Vesunna. She is depicted with a sistrum similar to that of Isis on her head.

There is also a connection to Artemis/Diana via Sianna. This is interesting that Artemis and her myth grow in Ancient Greece and Rome because to the Estruscans, she was a minor goddess and sometimes depicted as male. My guess is she shared the role with the twin who was to become Apollo. He may have been the Etruscan God Aplu, who was seen sitting on the sidelines and was not much more than an auxilary character.