Venus's Mountain: the Hörselberg
German legend says a knight found his way into a mountain where the goddess Venus kept court, and couldn't find his way out.
What was reported
In German legend, the knight and singer Tannhäuser discovered the Venusberg, a hidden realm inside a mountain where the goddess Venus held a court of pleasure. He stayed there for a year, then, repenting, went to Rome to beg the Pope's forgiveness.
The Pope told him he could no more be forgiven than his staff could blossom. Tannhäuser returned to the mountain in despair, and three days later the staff burst into flower. In Thuringia, the Hörselberg was said to be the place, and strange sounds from its cave were the howling of lost souls.
Explanations offered
Tannhäuser was a real 13th-century poet, but the legend attached to him came later. The story inspired Wagner's opera Tannhäuser. The Hörselberg has a real cave, the Venus cave, and the wind blowing through its openings may have given rise to the tales of voices.
- When
- Legend from the 1400s
- Where
- Hörselberg, near Eisenach, Thuringia, Germany
- Witnesses
- German tradition
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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