Aphrodite Genetrix Musei Capitolini MC1078

The Venus Genetrix (also spelled ) is a sculptural type which shows the Roman goddess

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...

in her aspect of ''Genetrix'' ("foundress of the family"), as she was honoured by the

Julio-Claudian , native_name_lang=Latin, coat of arms=Great_Cameo_of_France-removebg.png, image_size=260px, caption= The Great Cameo of France depicting emperors Augustus, Tiberius, Claudius and Nero, type=Ancient Roman dynasty, country= Roman Empire, estates=* ...

dynasty of Rome, which claimed her as their ancestor. Contemporary references identify the sculptor as a Greek named

Arcesilaus Arcesilaus (; grc-gre, Ἀρκεσίλαος; 316/5–241/0 BC) was a Greek Hellenistic philosopher. He was the founder of Academic Skepticism and what is variously called the Second or Middle or New Academy – the phase of the Platonic Acad ...

. The statue was set up in

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, ...

new forum New Forum (german: Neues Forum) was a political movement in East Germany formed in the months leading up to the collapse of the East German state. It was founded on 9 September 1989 and was the first independent (non- National Front) political ...

, probably as the

cult statue In the practice of religion, a cult image is a human-made object that is venerated or worshipped for the deity, spirit or daemon that it embodies or represents. In several traditions, including the ancient religions of Egypt, Greece and Rom ...

in the

cella A cella (from Latin for small chamber) or naos (from the Greek ναός, "temple") is the inner chamber of an ancient Greek or Roman temple in classical antiquity. Its enclosure within walls has given rise to extended meanings, of a hermit's or ...

of his

temple of Venus Genetrix The Temple of Venus Genetrix (Latin: ''Templum Veneris Genetricis'') is a ruined temple in the Forum of Caesar, Rome, dedicated to the Roman goddess '' Venus Genetrix'', the founding goddess of the Julian gens. It was dedicated to the goddess on ...

. Through this historical chance, a Roman designation is applied to an iconological type of

Aphrodite Aphrodite ( ; grc-gre, Ἀφροδίτη, Aphrodítē; , , ) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman goddess . Aphrodite's major symbols inclu ...

that originated among the

Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...

History

On the night before the decisive

battle of Pharsalus The Battle of Pharsalus was the decisive battle of Caesar's Civil War fought on 9 August 48 BC near Pharsalus in central Greece. Julius Caesar and his allies formed up opposite the army of the Roman Republic under the command of Pompey. P ...

(48 BC), Julius Caesar vowed to dedicate a temple at Rome to Venus, supposed ancestor of his '' gens''. In fulfilment of his vow he erected a temple of Venus Genetrix in the new forum he constructed. In establishing this new cult of Venus, Caesar was affirming the claim of his own ''gens'' to descent from the goddess, through

Iulus Ascanius (; Ancient Greek: Ἀσκάνιος) (said to have reigned 1176-1138 BC) was a legendary king of Alba Longa and is the son of the Trojan hero Aeneas and Creusa, daughter of Priam. He is a character in Roman mythology, and has a divine ...

, the son of

Aeneas In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas (, ; from ) was a Trojan hero, the son of the Trojan prince Anchises and the Greek goddess Aphrodite (equivalent to the Roman Venus). His father was a first cousin of King Priam of Troy (both being grandsons ...

. It was in part to flatter this connection that

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: th ...

wrote the ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who fled the fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of th ...

''. His public cult expressed the unique standing of Caesar at the end of the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...

and, in that sense, of a personal association expressed as public cult was the innovation in Roman religion. Two types, represented in many Roman examples in marble, bronze, and terra cotta, contend among scholars for identification as representing the type of this draped ''Venus Genetrix''. Besides the type described further below, is another, in which Venus carries an infant

Eros In Greek mythology, Eros (, ; grc, Ἔρως, Érōs, Love, Desire) is the Greek god of love and sex. His Roman counterpart was Cupid ("desire").''Larousse Desk Reference Encyclopedia'', The Book People, Haydock, 1995, p. 215. In the ear ...

on her shoulder.

Original

In 420 - 410 BC, the Athenian sculptor

Callimachus Callimachus (; ) was an ancient Greek poet, scholar and librarian who was active in Alexandria during the 3rd century BC. A representative of Ancient Greek literature of the Hellenistic period, he wrote over 800 literary works in a wide varie ...

created a bronze sculpture of Aphrodite (now lost). According to Pliny's '' Natural History'', it showed her dressed in a light but clinging chiton or

peplos A peplos ( el, ὁ πέπλος) is a body-length garment established as typical attire for women in ancient Greece by circa 500 BC, during the late Archaic and Classical period. It was a long, rectangular cloth with the top edge folded down a ...

, which was lowered on the left shoulder to reveal her left breast and hung down in a sheer face and decoratively carved so as not to hide the outlines of the woman's body. Venus was depicted holding the apple won in the

Judgement of Paris Judgement (or US spelling judgment) is also known as ''adjudication'', which means the evaluation of evidence to make a decision. Judgement is also the ability to make considered decisions. The term has at least five distinct uses. Aristotle ...

in her left hand, whilst her right hand moved to cover her head. From the lost bronze original are derived all surviving copies. The composition was frontal, the body's form monumental, and in the surviving Roman replicas its proportions are close to the Polyclitean canon.

Caesar's Venus Genetrix

The now-lost original statue, or Sabina in the same pose, is represented on the reverse of a

denarius The denarius (, dēnāriī ) was the standard Roman silver coin from its introduction in the Second Punic War to the reign of Gordian III (AD 238–244), when it was gradually replaced by the antoninianus. It continued to be minted in very ...

above the legend (‘to Venus Genetrix’), with

Vibia Sabina Vibia Sabina (13 August 83–136/137) was a Roman Empress, wife and second cousin once removed to the Roman Emperor Hadrian. She was the daughter of Matidia (niece of Roman Emperor Trajan) and suffect consul Lucius Vibius Sabinus. Early li ...

on the obverse. The iconological type of the statue, of which there are numerous Roman marble copies and bronze reductions at every level of skill, was identified as ''Venus Genetrix'' (Venus Universal Mother) by

Ennio Quirino Visconti Ennio Quirino Visconti (November 1, 1751 – February 7, 1818) was an Italian antiquarian and art historian, papal Prefect of Antiquities, and the leading expert of his day in the field of ancient Roman sculpture. His son, Pietro Ercole Visconti, ...

in his catalogue of the papal collections in the Pio-Clementino Museum by comparison with this denarius. "From the inscription on the coins, from the similarity between the figure on the coins and the statue in the Louvre Venus_of_Fréjus.html"_;"title="#Venus_of_Fréjus.html"_;"title="he_#Venus_of_Fréjus">Venus_of_Fréjus">#Venus_of_Fréjus.html"_;"title="he_#Venus_of_Fréjus">Venus_of_Fréjusand_from_the_fact_that_

Venus_of_Fréjus.html"_;"title="#Venus_of_Fréjus.html"_;"title="he_#Venus_of_Fréjus">Venus_of_Fréjus">#Venus_of_Fréjus.html"_;"title="he_#Venus_of_Fréjus">Venus_of_Fréjusand_from_the_fact_that_Arcesilaus_(sculptor)">Arkesilaos_established_the_type_of_Venus_Genetrix_as_patron_goddess_of_Rome,_and_ancestress_of_the_Julian_race,_the_identification_was_a_very_natural_one."_A_''Venus_Genetrix''_in_the_Pio-Clementino_Museum_has_been_completed_with_a_Roman_portrait_head_of_Sabina,_on_this_basis.

_Other_copies

A_number_of_the_

_Other_copies

A_number_of_the_Ancient_Rome">Roman_ Roman_or_Romans_most_often_refers_to: *Rome,_the_capital_city_of_Italy_ *Ancient_Rome,_Roman_civilization_from_8th_century_BC_to_5th_century_AD *Roman_people,_the_people_of_ancient_Rome *''_Epistle_to_the_Romans'',_shortened_to_''Romans'',_a_lette_...

_examples_are_in_major_collections,_including_the_Capitoline_Museums#Centrale_Montemartini.html" "title="Ancient_Rome.html" "title="Arcesilaus_(sculptor).html" ;"title="Venus_of_Fréjus">Venus_of_Fréjus.html" ;"title="#Venus_of_Fréjus.html" ;"title="he #Venus of Fréjus">Venus of Fréjus">#Venus_of_Fréjus.html" ;"title="he #Venus of Fréjus">Venus of Fréjusand from the fact that Arcesilaus (sculptor)">Arkesilaos established the type of Venus Genetrix as patron goddess of Rome, and ancestress of the Julian race, the identification was a very natural one." A ''Venus Genetrix'' in the Pio-Clementino Museum has been completed with a Roman portrait head of Sabina, on this basis.

Other copies

A number of the Ancient Rome">Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

examples are in major collections, including the Capitoline Museums#Centrale Montemartini">Centrale Montemartini The Capitoline Museums (Italian: ''Musei Capitolini'') are a group of art and archaeological museums in Piazza del Campidoglio, on top of the Capitoline Hill in Rome, Italy. The historic seats of the museums are Palazzo dei Conservatori and Pal ...

History

Original

Caesar's Venus Genetrix

_Other_copies

_Other_copies

Other copies

Aphrodite of Fréjus

Hermitage Museum

Notes

External links

General

Aphrodite of Fréjus

Hermitage