The Cult of Aphrodite

 

     The Cult of Aphrodite was the most important cult of Aphrodisias. The sanctuary at Aphrodisias had a distinctive cult statue of Aphrodite which defined the city’s identity. The Aphrodite of Aphrodisias combined aspects of a local Anatolian, archaic fertility goddess with those of the Hellenic Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty. This identifying image has been found from Anatolia across the Mediterranean, from the city of Rome to the Levant.

     The importance of the Aphrodite of Aphrodisias continued well beyond official imperial acceptance of Christianity; the Temple did not become a church until c. AD 500.

The Marble Capital of Antiquity

     Aphrodisias was a Greek city established in the second century BC in Caria (SW Turkey). The city received special status from Octavian, and later the emperor Augustus.

 

     Aphrodisias was famous in antiquity for its expert sculptors, fine marble sculptures, and an important sculpture workshop (also uncovered during excavations). The marble quarries near the city were a crucial factor in the development of Aphrodisias into a leading artistic center.

 

     Sculptors from the city were famous throughout the Roman Empire. They were well-known for virtuoso portrait sculpture and Hellenistic-style statues of gods and Dionysian figures. In late antiquity (4th-6th centuries AD), Aphrodisian sculptors were in great demand for marble portrait busts and statues of emperors, governors and philosophers in the major centres of the empire – for example, at Sardis, Stratonikeia, Laodikeia, Constantinople and Rome.