This beautiful goddess, who could cause any man to fall in love with her at first sight, is the Greek goddess of love, beauty and raw sexuality. While in the Illiad she is said to have been born of the union between Zeus and Dione, the more common belief is that she rose from sea foam after Cronus cut off Ouranos`s genitals and cast them into the sea. From this foam she emerged, and floated to the shore on a scallop shell. Much as two origins were debated and spoken of, she was widely worshipped from two points of view. The first belief held that she was the goddess of the love for mind and soul, while in the second belief she was more held in esteem in a goddess of the love of the flesh alone. In this statue, she could easily be a goddess of either quality, seeming to possess a serenity that one might find with the love of the spirit as well as a beauty and grace equal to the love of the flesh. Standing just under 12" tall and 4" wide at the widest point, she is shown clad in a loose robe that slips free of her shoulders and a beaded loin cloth that leaves little to the imagination. A picture of feminine beauty, she carries a open-winged dove in her hands, close others flutter about her feet, in and out of the train of her robes. Sculpted of cold-cast resin and hand painted so as to appear crafted of bronze, this is a wonderful piece for anyone who adores the Greek pantheon of Gods and Goddesses, as well as any other who might revere the love and desire that the famed Aphrodite might offer.
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