What Was the Venus de Milo Doing with Her Arms?

ubasu 11 years ago |

According to the Wikipedia entry [1] and other pages mentioned in another comment [2], the statue was found with a fragment of a left hand holding an apple, and a right hand with a draped sash. This was taken to understand that the statue represented the Judgement of Paris [3].

So apparently it is known what the hands held, which seems to make this speculation unnecessary.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_de_Milo [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9474238 [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judgement_of_Paris

Eleutheria 11 years ago |

I'd like to know about the Winged Victory of Samothrace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winged_Victory_of_Samothrace

gweinberg 11 years ago |

I like the Spinal Tap answer. She was shooting up. Intravenous de Milo.

bovermyer 11 years ago |

Until we discover time travel, learn to understand alien cultures, and universally mesh with the minds of artists, we'll never really know what the Venus statue was intended to be.

Which is not to say that this scenario is impossible. Just that we are not there yet.

cortesoft 11 years ago |

How is her spinning thread a 'provocative' theory?

seszett 11 years ago | |

Presumably, because that was the occupation of prostitutes.

Crito 11 years ago | | |

Isn't prostitution the occupation of prostitutes?

return0 11 years ago | | |

Isn't that a nonsensical theory too? Why would a godess who was also married work as a prostitute?

coldtea 11 years ago | | |

She was goddess of love (in the sexual aspect of it) -- including having TONS of extra-marital affairs in the mythology.

And it's not about what she would really do as an occupation in order to make a buck, as if she was an actual person!

It's about the connection in people's minds that the goddess-of-(making)-love is also a kind of "patron saint" of prostitution, and perhaps the artist wanted to play with that image (if the theory in TFA holds).

Also have to know that prostitution itself wasn't a dirty, destitute, "crack-whore" style affair at the time, but something seen as a service to society, with some prostitutes more like columbines and geishas. Heck, they also had a kind of prostitution in the temples, as a sacred thing.

dTal 11 years ago | | |

You probably mean "concubines".

coldtea 11 years ago | | |

Yeah.

tcfunk 11 years ago | | |

Because Templars.

pcardh0 11 years ago |

Pleasuring Jupiter.

simonebrunozzi 11 years ago |

You either say "the Venus of Milo" (English), or you say "Venere di Milo" (Italian). "De" is Spanish and has nothing to do with its name.

bane 11 years ago | |

No you don't and it's a Greek statue. The English name it's known by is "Aphrodite of Milos" but almost nobody uses that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_de_Milo

http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/aphrodite-known-venus...

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/mis...

http://www.venusdemilo.gr/

http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/why-aphrodite-milos-bett...

seszett 11 years ago | |

"De" is also French, the language of the place where this Venus is, and "Venus de Milo" is simply the most common name used in English for referring to it.

If you really have to be pedantic, say the Aphrodite of Milos, since this is a Greek statue.

matthewowen 11 years ago | |

This makes no sense.

I assume the name is probably French, because it was discovered by a French archaeologist. I think it could also be Latin, since I think "Milo" would be the dative case of "Milos", but I'm not 100% sure (I haven't read much Latin since leaving university).

In either case, Spanish has nothing to do with the matter, the name is perfectly valid, and more generally "Venus de Milo" is the canonical name. I'm sorry if you don't like that, but there's no way in which it is is less valid than using an Italian name in English conversation.

Also, you probably wouldn't say "Venus of Milo", because that's a really awkward way to refer to the geographical origin of something in English.

existencebox 11 years ago | |

It is also latin, happening to mean "concerning" "of" or "about", which in this context seems appropriate. (I'm only mildly a latin type, not an art historian, so I'm not sure this is in fact the intended meaning, but it fits, and given the statues classical (albeit greek) history...)

Edit: As sister posts point out, the french meaning is far more appropriate, but the latin is valid as a root.

defective 11 years ago | |

The common name of this statue (Aphrodite of Milos) is Venus de Milo.

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/mis...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_de_Milo

http://www.milos-island.gr/venusdemilo.htm

splawn 11 years ago | |

"De" is also French, and I'm guessing it's the word they use on the sign in front of the statue...

raldi 11 years ago | |

I'm going to yield to France on this one: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vénus_de_Milo