CIRCA 1ST-2ND CENTURY A.D.

This figure is a variation of the Venus Genetrix type. Based on a late 5th century B.C. Greek prototype, it was further popularized in the Julio-Claudian Period, as Julius Caesar and his successors sought to identify the goddess as progenitor of their family. Claiming direct descent from the goddess and Aeneas, Caesar built a temple to Venus Genetrix in his forum in Rome in 45 B.C. Many examples of this type show the goddess in the act of covering her head with her himation, however this example is closer to the one in the Galleria Borghese, Rome, which shows Venus holding the apple won in the Judgement of Paris in her left hand, cf. P. Moreno , A. Viacava, I marmi antichi della Galleria Borghese. La collezione archeologica di Camillo e Francesco Borghese. Guida-catalogo, Roma, 2003, p. 142, no. 107.