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Psyche et L'Amour, by William-Adolphe Bouguereau
Voluptas is pictured with her parents, Cupid and Psyche, at far right in Banquet of Amor and Psyche by Giulio Romano.

In Roman mythology, Voluptas or Volupta, according to Apuleius, is the daughter born from the union of Cupid and Psyche. [1] She is often found in the company of the Gratiae, or Three Graces, and she is known as the goddess of "sensual pleasures", "voluptas" [2] meaning "pleasure" or "delight". [3] [4] [5]

Some Roman authors[6][7][8][9] mention a goddess named Volupia, who had a temple, the Sacellum Volupiae on the Via Nova by the Porta Romana, where sacrifices were offered to the Diva Angerona. The name appears to signify "willingness".[10]

The corresponding goddess In Greek Mythology is Hedone.

See also[edit]


  1. ^ Apuleius, The Golden Ass, 6. 24 ff
  2. ^ “huic verbo (voluptatis) omnes qui Latine sciunt, duas res subiciunt, laetitiam in animo, commotionem suavem iucunditatis in corpore: Cic. Fin. 1, 11, 37
  3. ^ Lewis & Short, "voluptas"
  4. ^ Cicero, De natura deorum, II. 23
  5. ^ Statius, Silvae 1. 3. 8
  6. ^ Pliny the Elder, Letters, VII. 20
  7. ^ Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, III. 5
  8. ^ Varro, De lingua Latina, V. 164
  9. ^ Macrobius, Saturnalia, I. 10
  10. ^ Robert E. A. Palmer, The Archaic Community of the Romans, Cambridge University Press 1970 pp.171ff.

External links[edit]