Oh, this is just nifty. Three figurines of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, have been discovered in Hippos. The statues, which measure about 10 inches tall, are believed to be around 1500 years old, and from the time in which the Roman era was dwindling down and Christianity taking over.
The statuettes were found in the forum district of Sussita, which is the modern name of Hippos. The city was built around the second century b.c.e., and survived both the Roman and Byzantine periods before being leveled by an earthquake around 1300 years ago.
Excavations at the site have been going on for about ten years, sponsored by the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at the University of Haifa, and headed by Prof. Arthur Segal and Dr. Michael Eisenberg.
The statues were found intact, which leads researchers to believe they were deliberately hidden. They are of the image of Aphrodite known as Venus pudica, "the modest Venus." In this version of the goddess, her genitalia are covered with the palm of her hand, rather than being visible, as is common in many other classical statues.
Segal said, "It is possible that during the fourth century A.D., when Christianity was gradually becoming the governing religion in the Roman Empire, there were still a number of inhabitants in Sussita who remained loyal to the goddess of love and therefore wished to hide and preserve these items."
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The statuettes were found in the forum district of Sussita, which is the modern name of Hippos. The city was built around the second century b.c.e., and survived both the Roman and Byzantine periods before being leveled by an earthquake around 1300 years ago.
Excavations at the site have been going on for about ten years, sponsored by the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at the University of Haifa, and headed by Prof. Arthur Segal and Dr. Michael Eisenberg.
The statues were found intact, which leads researchers to believe they were deliberately hidden. They are of the image of Aphrodite known as Venus pudica, "the modest Venus." In this version of the goddess, her genitalia are covered with the palm of her hand, rather than being visible, as is common in many other classical statues.
Segal said, "It is possible that during the fourth century A.D., when Christianity was gradually becoming the governing religion in the Roman Empire, there were still a number of inhabitants in Sussita who remained loyal to the goddess of love and therefore wished to hide and preserve these items."
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This is a great find! Any chance down the road we can buy reproductions of them?
They did it with the “Wilendorf”(?) statue, and old Norse chess pieces, why not these?
Rafe
Oh, my…. When I read the title, I thought the article was going to be about finding the statue(s) in the bellies of hippopotomi! That somebody had ditched them (perhaps stolen goods) and the hippos swallowed them….
Kaytee – honestly, I’m glad to hear you fess up to that, because it was the first thing I thought too! When I read the original article, I was a good two paragraphs into it before I thought, “Oh, duh, it’s the CITY of Hippos!”
patti
who collects hippos anyway
Make that three of us who thought that…but I was wondering two things:
a) how they *knew* the statues were inside the hippos and…
b)is there anyone following the hippos wearing big plastic gloves?
lol, glad that’s straightened out.