Aphrodite of Knidos

The piece that I have chosen is Praxiteles, Aphrodite of Knidos. Aphrodite of Knidos was made between 350 and 340 during the Late Classical Period. This period stretched between 480 BC and 323 BC. The Peloponnesian War left Greece defeated by Sparta. Later, in 323 BCE, Alexander led a powerful army on an extraordinary campaign that overthrew the Persian Empire recovering control and getting revenge.

Aphrodite of Knidos is 6'8" high and carved from a marble block. Some of the most prized sculptures from the ancient Greek period were made of marble, since it is not only beautiful but extremely durable as well. The sculpture itself was carved all the way around so you were able to view the goddess 360 degrees. The subject of this piece of art is Aphrodite. Aphrodite is the goddess of beauty, love, and sexuality. "Some traditions stated that she had sprung from the foam of the sea, which had gathered around the mutilated parts of Uranus, that had been thrown into the sea by Kronos after he had unmanned his father."3 She has been called the daughter of Zeus and Dione, Kronos and Euonyme, or of Uranus and Hemera. "According to the cosmogonic views of the nature of Aphrodite, she was the personification of the generative powers of nature, and the mother of all living beings."3 " A trace of this notion seems to be contained in the tradition that in the contest of Typhon with the gods, Aphrodite metamorphosed herself into a fish, which animal was considered to possess the greatest generative powers."4 "But according to the popular belief of the Greeks and their poetical descriptions, she was the goddess of love, who excited this passion in the hearts of gods and men, and by this power ruled over all the living creation."4

The statue was created for the temple of Aphrodite Euploia at Knidos and shows a naked Aphrodite as she is surprised while bathing. Making a covering motion with her right hand, Aphrodite seems to be comfortable, yet modest about her sexuality. This is one of the first known sculptures of the human flesh done in marble. This statue is not one of total reality, as in the everyday women of ancient Greece, but instead is a made of Praxiteles' imagination of a goddess he has obviously not seen so he sculpted it as he imaged she would be; humanlike but with flaws. Starting at the top of the sculpture the woman in this piece of art has thick shoulders and wide hips. I loved this