Role Of Aphrodite In Ancient Greek Art

Discuss the depiction of Aphrodite in ancient Greek art.

The ancient Greek goddess Aphrodite was depicted in many different ways throughout ancient Greek art. “Aphrodite was the Olympian goddess of love, beauty, pleasure and procreation” (Atsma, 2016). “Aphrodite has been the inspiration of more works than any other personage in classical mythology” (Morford, Lenardon, Sham, n.d.). She was extremely important in ancient Greek mythology and for this reason was often used throughout ancient Greek artwork such as pottery, paintings, literature and sculptures. It was common to see differences in the way Aphrodite was portrayed in each individual art piece as the ancient Greeks believed she changed her appearance for every person so that she looked ideal and attractive to them. Much of this artwork displayed the goddess fully clothed until around 400 B.C when she began being illustrated naked.

Aphrodite’s depiction in paintings was similar in some aspects and extremely different in others. Many paintings of the goddess display Aphrodite as “a highly attractive

The clam is the main feature in this piece with it being much lighter than the rest of the painting, drawing attention to it. The clam is also used to conceal her genitals, maintaining her dignity. The ocean is also shown in the bottom of the piece which assists in telling the story of her birth from the sea. Another painting which contains some of the popular symbols and features of common artwork of Aphrodite is The Aphrodite shown in figure 2 below. It features a dove sitting on her knee and a pearl necklace can faintly be seen on her neck. The painting makes her appear very delicate and shows her sitting in heaven watching over couples. Aphrodite was depicted in ancient Greek paintings such as The Birth of Aphrodite and Aphrodite as an attractive young woman, often with symbols that represent beauty or