The Esquiline Venus | |
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Artist | Anon. |
Year | c. 50 AD |
Type | White marble |
Location | Capitoline Museums[1], Rome |
The Esquiline Venus, depicting the goddess Venus (i.e. Greek Aphrodite), is a smaller-than-life-size Roman nude marble sculpture of a female in sandals and a diadem headdress. It is widely viewed as a 1st-century AD Roman copy of a Greek original from the 1st century BC. It is also a possible depiction of the Ptolemaic ruler Cleopatra VII.
The sculpture is thought to have been based on an original Hellenistic statue from the Ptolemaic Kingdom. It possibly depicts Venus-Isis, a syncretism of Venus with the Egyptian goddess Isis. The copy was likely commissioned by emperor Claudius to decorate the Horti Lamiani.[2] The vase depicted next to the female figure includes an asp or uraeus, depictions of the Egyptian cobra.[3]