What are the speculations concerning the missing arms of Aphrodite of Melos and what could she be holding?

When it comes to Venus de Milo’s missing limbs, the scholars proposed that they were broken during a fight between French and Turkish sailors on the shore of Milos, before the statue was located. Today it is believed that the arms were already missing when Voutier and the farmer founded.

As for the Venus de Milo’s missing limbs, there long have been claims they were broken off in 1820 during a fight on the shore of Melos, as French and Turkish sailors vied for possession of the artwork.

Most if not all ancient Greek & Roman sculptures had arms originally. But marble & other soft stones that were typically carved were brittle and easy to damage. Thus most of the fine details of the sculptures, like limb edges, fine cloth drapes, fingers, facial features, genitalia etc, are often broken off.

The statue is generally accepted to be a representation of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty (the goddess’s Roman counterpart is Venus). … Immediately they appreciated its significance and set off for Constantinople and the French Ambassador so that they could buy the statue.

The statue originally would have had two arms, two feet, both earlobes intact and a plinth; early sketches following the statue’s rediscovery show part of the left arm and the plinth, though not the missing left foot, intact, but these were subsequently lost after the statue’s rediscovery.

Venus de Milo, ancient statue commonly thought to represent Aphrodite, now in Paris at the Louvre. It was carved from marble by Alexandros, a sculptor of Antioch on the Maeander River about 150 bce.

In Roman mythology, Venus was the goddess of love, sex, beauty, and fertility. She was the Roman counterpart to the Greek goddess Aphrodite. However, Roman Venus had many abilities beyond the Greek Aphrodite; she was a goddess of victory, fertility, and even prostitution.

Aphrodite’s major symbols include myrtles, roses, doves, sparrows, and swans.

In Reinach’s day, speculation about the statue’s original pose was a minor industry. She was imagined standing beside a warrior—Mars or Theseus—with her left hand grazing his shoulder. She was pictured holding a mirror, an apple, or laurel wreaths, sometimes with a pedestal to support her left arm.

Bust (sculpture) – Wikipedia.

Prehistoric humans may have cut off their own fingers as part of a gruesome religious ritual. Cave art discovered from all over the world features hand-prints outlined with ochre and other ancient pigments. … Scientists say the missing fingers may also be as a result of the harsh environment in prehistoric times.

The Venus de Milo is an ancient Greek statue of the goddess Aphrodite, famous both for her missing arms and as a symbol of female beauty. … The name Venus de Milo comes from Venus, the Roman name for Aphrodite, and Milos, the Greek island where the statue was discovered in 1820 and purchased for the French government.

Aphrodite of Milos, better known as the Venus de Milo, is an ancient Greek statue and one of the most famous works of ancient Greek sculpture. Created sometime between 130 and 100 BC, it is believed to depict Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty.

Venus de Milo was meant to make up for a national embarrassment. During his conquests, Napoleon Bonaparte had plundered one of the finest examples of Greek sculpture, Venus de’ Medici, from Italy.

Site of the Venus of Milo (Milos) – VacanzeGreche. Near the city of Plaka, at the foot of the ancient city walls of Melos, the famous Venus de Milo was found. Later this area became an important archaeological site, where an ancient Roman amphitheater and the early Christian catacombs were also found.

Aphrodite is the ancient Greek goddess of sexual love and beauty, identified with Venus by the Romans. She was known primarily as a goddess of love and fertility and occasionally presided over marriage.

Worship of Aphrodite continued throughout the Roman period. Known as Venus, she came to symbolize Rome’s imperial power. Like her Greek counterpart Aphrodite, Venus was intimately associated with love and beauty, yet other elements were distinctive to the Roman goddess.

Facts about Hephaestus Hephaestus was the only ugly god among perfectly beautiful immortals. Hephaestus was born deformed and was cast out of heaven by one or both of his parents when they noticed that he was imperfect. He was the workman of the immortals: he made their dwellings, furnishings, and weapons.

Aphrodite, despite being the goddess of love and sex, is demonstrated as having masculine roles or attributes. Specifically in her romantic relationships with mortals, she held the role of both a woman and a man.

Aphrodite of Knidos (Praxiteles), c. 350 BC – Ancient Greek Painting and Sculpture – WikiArt.org.

Aphrodite of KnidosYear4th century BCMovementGreek late classical periodDimensions205 cm (81 in)[edit on Wikidata]

Biographical InformationHeight5’6″Weight380 lbsPersonal InformationAlliesOlympians

Five is the symbolic number of Aphrodite/Venue representing perfection of the five senses, the nuptial number of love and union, Venus years being completed in groups of five.

HeraSymbolPomegranate, peacock feather, diadem, cow, lily, lotus, cuckoo, panther, scepter, throne, lionMountChariot drawn by peacocksPersonal informationParentsCronus and Rhea

Aphrodite’s favor requires Zagreus to illustrate his capacity for love, both platonically and passionately, by forging bonds with Dusa, Thanatos and Megaera (you will trigger 1 dialogue with the goddess for each bond you forge with them and a 4th one to actually get the favor).

On April 8, 1820, several pieces of a broken statue were found on a farmer’s land on the Aegean island of Melos. Deemed the “Venus de Milo” for the island of her origin, the statue was quickly purchased by France. … During the fight, the statue was somehow dashed against some rocks, breaking off both arms.

1690s, “sculpture of upper torso and head,” from French buste (16c.), from Italian busto “upper body,” from Latin bustum “funeral monument, tomb,” originally “funeral pyre, place where corpses are burned,” perhaps shortened from ambustum, neuter of ambustus “burned around,” past participle of amburere “burn around, …

One reason for headless statues is that during a raid, or an uprising, or hostile take-over of another territory, most statues that glorified an overthrown leader were defiled in this manner. It helped to deface the fallen leader, and show the strength and virility of the battles leader.

Definition of bust (Entry 1 of 4) 1 art : a sculptured representation of the upper part of the human figure including the head and neck and usually part of the shoulders and breast has a bust of Abraham Lincoln in his office.

“The nose is the source of breath, the breath of life—the easiest way to kill the spirit inside is to suffocate it by removing the nose,” said Bleiberg. “The statues are left in place as a demonstration of the triumph of Christianity.” See more photos from the exhibition below.

A common cultural belief in ancient Egypt was that once a body part on the monument is damaged it cannot perform its purpose anymore, therefore a broken nose causes the spirit to stop breathing, he said.

Instead, the reason for the missing nose simply has to do with the natural wear that the sculpture has suffered over time. … Parts of sculptures that stick out, such as noses, arms, heads, and other appendages are almost always the first parts to break off.

An unexpected Greco-French excavation on 8 April 1820 recovered the famous marble statue around 2,000 years after she was carved. Yorgos Kentrotas, a farmer on the Aegean island of Milos, unearthed the Venus, but even though she was in two pieces, he needed help.