Greece Trip #18: Milos Island, Greece: The Discovery Site of the Venus de Milo!

 Today's blog is about something that took me completely by surprise. I've known about the famous Venus de Milo statue since I was a kid because my parents had a 3-foot tall replica in our living room growing up. When I was a kid, I was fascinated with the Roman and Greek Gods, so I knew that Venus was the Roman Goddess of Love (in Greek, she's Aphrodite). What I didn't know was that the original statue was discovered in Greece!  You'll learn all about it in today's blog.

CLIMBING DOWN!  - We noticed the sign along the road to the amphitheatre (in yesterday's blog), and had to see where the statue was discovered.  To get to the site, you have to leave the road and descend down a 30 or so foot 45-degree rocky slope. At the grotto today, on the exact site the statue was excavated (apparently in 2 pieces), there's a white marble carved plaque identifying the location it was extricated from the rocky wall. 

WHY IS VENUS DE MILO FAMOUS? Venus de Milo is immediately recognizable by its missing arms and is believed to represent Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty, who was known to the Romans as Venus.

IS THERE A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE ROMAN AND GREEK GODDESS? In Roman mythology, Venus was the goddess of love, sex, beauty, and fertility, like the Greek Goddard Aphrodite. But, Venus had many abilities beyond Aphrodite; she was a goddess of victory, fertility, and even prostitution.

(Photos: a look at the rocky grotto we climbed down to see and the plaque identifying where the statue was found in 1820. Credit: TW).

HOW NAMED? Since the statue was found in a grotto on the Greek Island of Milos, it was named "Venus de Milo" or "Venus of Milo(s)." 

WHO CARVED IT & WHEN? A sculptor named Alexandros of Antioch on the Maeander River carved it between 150 and 125 BC.

WHEN WAS IT DISCOVERED? It is generally asserted that the Venus de Milo was discovered on 8 April 1820 by a peasant named Yorgos Kentrotas, inside a buried niche within the ancient city ruins of Milos. The consensus is that the statue was found in two large pieces (the upper torso and the lower draped legs) along with several herms (pillars topped with heads), fragments of the upper left arm and left hand holding an apple, and an inscribed plinth (a heavy base supporting a statue or vase). 

AND HOW BIG IS IT?   Made of Parian marble, the statue is slightly larger than life-size, standing 204 cm (6 ft 8 in) high. The statue is missing both arms, with part of one arm, as well as the original plinth, being lost after the statue's rediscovery.

WHERE IS THE STATUE TODAY? It is now in Paris at the Louvre. 

Photo:  Venus de Milo
Greek: Αφροδίτη της Μήλου

NEXT: A Look at a Famous Milos Fishing Village