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The cult image of Aphrodite of Aphrodisias is our pick for #ReliefWednesday on account of the gorgeous relief that reflects aspects of her divinity including: the Three Graces, Selene and Helios, Aphrodite as a sea-goat with Tritons, and three winged Erotes.

#AncientBluesky🏺
Description from the Aphrodisias Excavations website: “The statue stands stiffly and frontally, like an old Anatolian goddess, and was designed to recall that earlier identity, now subsumed in Aphrodite. The figure wears a tall headdress and veil and a thin dress covered by thick, hard cladding. The cladding is divided into a chest area and four lower zones. Each of the four zones contains figured decoration that concerns different aspects of Aphrodite: (1) the Three Graces, her handmaids; (2) Selene (Moon) and Helios (Sun), the permanent temporal extent of her realm; (3) Aphrodite in classical form on a sea-goat with tritons; and (4) three winged Erotes, her children and agents, engaged in sacrifice. The iconography of the statue was designed to combine the archaic aspects of the old local goddess with ideas of the classical and hellenistic Aphrodite.” Photo credit to wneuheisel via Flickr
April 23, 2025 at 7:10 AM