Limestone statue of Aphrodite holding winged Eros

Limestone statue of Aphrodite holding winged Eros

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

From the eighth century B.C. the Greek poets associated the goddess Aphrodite with Cyprus, but on the island itself the local Great Goddess did not become assimilated with Aphrodite until the fourth century B.C., when the worship of many Greek divinities was introduced. In this work the goddess is clearly identified as Aphrodite by the small figure of her son Eros, winged god of love, who perches on her shoulder. The Cypriots did not adopt a conventional Greek way to represent Aphrodite but transferred their own iconography for the Great Goddess of the island to their images of Aphrodite. From the ninth to the sixth century B.C. images of the Cypriot Great Goddess were inspired by Eastern art, especially that of the Syro-Phoenician goddess Astarte, who appeared nude. From the fifth century the local goddess was shown with a high round headdress decorated with vegetal and floral motifs, as befits a fertility goddess. Here Aphrodite wears such a crown decorated with palmettes alternating with nude females—recalling the figures of Astarte. She has long locks falling over her shoulders, a motif taken from early Greek sculpture, and she wears a chiton with himation (cloak) drawn up over the back of the headdress.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Limestone statue of Aphrodite holding winged ErosLimestone statue of Aphrodite holding winged ErosLimestone statue of Aphrodite holding winged ErosLimestone statue of Aphrodite holding winged ErosLimestone statue of Aphrodite holding winged Eros

The Museum's collection of Greek and Roman art comprises more than thirty thousand works ranging in date from the Neolithic period (ca. 4500 B.C.) to the time of the Roman emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity in A.D. 312. It includes the art of many cultures and is among the most comprehensive in North America. The geographic regions represented are Greece and Italy, but not as delimited by modern political frontiers: Greek colonies were established around the Mediterranean basin and on the shores of the Black Sea, and Cyprus became increasingly Hellenized. For Roman art, the geographical limits coincide with the expansion of the Roman Empire. The department also exhibits the art of prehistoric Greece (Helladic, Cycladic, and Minoan) and pre-Roman art of Italic peoples, notably the Etruscans.