Ancient Roman Marble Statue of Aphrodite / Venus with Eros - (1)

ITEM: Statue of Aphrodite / Venus with Eros MATERIAL: Marble CULTURE: Roman PERIOD: 2nd - 3rd Century A. D DIMENSIONS: 215 mm x 77 mm x 50 mm CONDITION: Good condition, some parts restored by professionals. PROVENANCE: Ex Private collection, acquired in European market prior to 1990's Venus, ancient Italian goddess associated with cultivated fields and gardens and later identified by the Romans with the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite. Venus had no worship in Rome in early times, as the scholar Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 BCE) shows, attesting that he could find no mention of her name in old records. This is corroborated by the absence of any festival for her in the oldest Roman calendar and by her lack of a flamen (special priest) . Her cult among the Latins, however, seems to be immemorial, for she had apparently at least two ancient temples, one at Lavinium, the other at Ardea, at which festivals of the Latin cities were held. Hence, it was no long step to bring her to Rome, apparently from Ardea itself. But how she came to be identified with so important a deity as Aphrodite remains a puzzle. That Venus’s identification with Aphrodite took place fairly early is certain. A contributory reason for it is perhaps the date (August 19) of the foundation of one of her Roman temples. August 19 is the Vinalia Rustica, a festival of Jupiter. Hence, he and Venus came to be associated, and this facilitated their equation, as father and daughter, with the Greek deities Zeus and Aphrodite. She was, therefore, also a daughter of Dione, was the wife of Vulcan, and was the mother of Cupid. The importance of the worship of Venus-Aphrodite was increased by the political ambitions of the gens Iulia, the clan of Julius Caesar and, by adoption, of Augustus. They claimed descent from Iulus, the son of Aeneas; Aeneas was the alleged founder of the temple of Eryx and, in some legends, of the city of Rome also. From the time of Homer onward, he was made the son of Aphrodite, so that his descent gave the Iulii divine origin. Eros, in Greek religion, god of love. In the Theogony of Hesiod (fl. 700 BCE) , Eros was a primeval god, son of Chaos, the original primeval emptiness of the universe, but later tradition made him the son of Aphrodite, goddess of sexual love and beauty, by either Zeus (the king of the gods) , Ares (god of war and of battle) , or Hermes (divine messenger of the gods) . Eros was a god not simply of passion but also of fertility. His brother was Anteros, the god of mutual love, who was sometimes described as his opponent. The chief associates of Eros were Pothos and Himeros (Longing and Desire) . Later writers assumed the existence of a number of Erotes (like the several versions of the Roman Amor) . In Alexandrian poetry he degenerated into a mischievous child. In Archaic art he was represented as a beautiful winged youth but tended to be made younger and younger until, by the Hellenistic period, he was an infant. His chief cult centre was at Thespiae in Boeotia, where the Erotidia were celebrated. He also shared a sanctuary with Aphrodite on the north wall of the Acropolis at Athens. Comes with Certificate of Authenticity and Export license If you bid outside the European Union and win the item, we will have to apply for an export licence for your country and shipping will take 3 to 5 weeks. The Seller can prove that the lot was obtained legally , provenance statement seen by Catawiki.