in mythology, the surname of Venus, so called from Cythere an island, where she had a temple esteemed the most ancient in Greece, and on the shores of which she was believed to be borne by the Zephyrs, surrounded by the Loves, the Tritons, and Nereides, reclining in a languishing posture in a casket. They give the name of Cytheriades to the Graces which attended her on the shore without quitting her, except on those occasions when she rather chose to be waited on by the Pleasures.