Aphrodite: Tannhäuser and the Venusberg. Tannhäuser was a thirteenth-century lyric poet whose travels around Germany and participation in one of the Crusades became legend. He was later identified with a knight in a sixteenth-century ballad who, on passing the Venusberg (Hill of Venus), found himself enchanted by a vision of the goddess. After living a life of sensual pleasure with her, the knight was at length seized by a longing to return to his mundane existence and invoked the name of the Virgin to help him escape. Having fled the Venusberg, he asked the Pope’s absolution but received only a decree stating that his sins would be forgiven when the papal staff bore flowers. Three days later, the staff did bloom, but by that time Tannhäuser had returned to the Venusberg. The legend of Tannhäuser has no true classical source, but it is a persistent theme in the postclassical arts. It has been given rich treatment not only in German and English literature, but also in art, music, and dance, particularly of the Romantic period. The Venusberg scene in Richard Wagner’s opera Tannhäuser remains the most famous and influential version of the theme. The Swedish tale of ‘The Mines of Falun,” stemming from an actual incident, is an offshoot of the Tannhäuser subject. In 1670 a miner was killed underground; fifty years later his preserved body was discovered and identified by his still-faithful betrothed. Because this strange story was set underground and included a “Queen of the Mines,” it was identified, and eventually merged, with the Hill of Venus theme. Popularized by E. T. A. Hoffmann’s retelling, the tale still receives attention. Further Reference.
Fass, Barbara. 1974. La Belle Dame sans Merci and the Aesthetics of Romanticism. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.
Barto, Philip S. 1916. Tannhäuser and the Mountain of Venus: A Study in the Legend of the Germanic Paradise. New York: Oxford University Press.
—— 1913. “The German Venusberg,” Journal of English and German Philology 12:295—303.
Remy, Arthur F. J. 1913. "The Origin of the Tannhäuser Legend,” Journal of English and German Philology 12:32—77.