Page 72 - All About History - Issue 186-19

The Venus
de Milo
Everything you need to know about the famous statue
What’s missing?
When the statue was
uncovered in the 19th
Jewels and century, it was missing
decoration its arms, and they’re still
yet to be found. There’s
Although what a considerable amount of
remains today is just debate over how the arms
plain marble, there were positioned, and some
are some holes in the have suggested that she
smooth surface that held an apple as an allusion
suggest the goddess to the Judgement of Paris,
was adorned with or that she was looking
metal jewellery like into a mirror or shield.
a bracelet, a headband
and a pair of earrings.
Is it really Venus?
While the general consensus
Unearthing is that the statue depicts
the past Venus, thanks to the lack
of clothing and feminine
Found on the small curves some argue that it
Aegean island of could actually be Artemis, a
Melos on 8 April 1820, Danaid or the sea goddess
the Venus de Milo Amphitrite, who was
was presented to the worshipped on Melos.
French king Louis XVIII
a year later, and the
monarch immediately
donated it to the
Louvre in Paris.
An issue
of timing
Not everyone
agrees on when
the statue was
made, or if it’s
an original. While
the techniques
Constructing employed and her
a goddess elongated figure
suggest that it
As was standard Greek was created in
practice, the sculpture the Hellenistic
is comprised of several period, or 3rd to
pieces of marble 1st centuries BCE,
individually sculpted Venus’ aloofness
and then fixed together and impassivity
with vertical pegs. It is are more in line
thought that the marble with 5th century
may have been painted, BCE ideals.
but the vibrant colours
have since faded.
© Getty Images
72
Image source: wiki/Dave & Margie Hill / Kleerup
Aphrodite and Zeus plot on the side
of this 3rd century BCE Greek vase
A depiction of
the Judgement
of Paris
Image source: wiki/Marie-Lan Nguyen
like a kind of guardian of Roman power, so ever-
present but arguably less potent herself and that
carries on right the way through to the Christian
period. It’s really interesting to me, because a
number of her temples are squashed under early
Christian churches, particularly those dedicated
to Mary. A very interesting thing happens: in that
moment that you’re going to try to prove that the
heavens have significant power, you’ve got a whole
world that pays attention to this idea of the female
intercessor and that loves the idea of the female
goddess being the champion of love. There’s going
to be a real gaping void if you get rid of that. I
think that’s why Mary takes on Aphrodite’s pose.
So how far did worship of her, all the forms
of her, really reach?
It depends what point of time you’re looking at.
If you’re looking at her great-grandmothers, so
Inanna, Ishtar, Sati, they were being worshipped
right the way across the Middle East in what’s now
modern-day Iraq, Syria, Palestine and Lebanon.
She was also worshipped down in Sudan. There
are even Aphrodite temples in Roman Britain, so
her territory is really, really broad.
Why do you think our view of her is so
Greco-Roman centric?
There’s this story that we’ve given ourselves,
and particularly as Europeans, that there’s this
unbroken line of civilization from the Greeks,
through the Romans and ending up in Piccadilly
Circus, but of course that’s not the case. Venus
was hugely popular in Alexandria, particularly,