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65-524: The Aphrodite of Knidos was a marble carving of the goddess Aphrodite by the sculptor Praxiteles , which was bought by the people of Knidos in the middle of the 4th century BC. The earliest text to mention the Aphrodite is Pliny the Elder 's Natural History , which reports that Praxiteles carved two sculptures of Aphrodite, one clothed and one nude; the clothed one was bought by the people of Kos and

130-646: A Counter-Reformation renewal of venerable imagery, though banning some of the more fanciful medieval iconographies. Veneration of the Virgin Mary flourished, in practice and in imagery, and new shrines, such as in Rome's Santa Maria Maggiore , were built for Medieval miraculous icons as part of this trend. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church : The Christian veneration of images

195-402: A colonnade with a roof but no walls. In the description given by Pseudo-Lucian, on the other hand, the building which housed the statue is described as having two doors, and suggests a more confined space than Pliny's description. In excavations at Knidos between 1969 and 1972, Iris Love discovered the remains of a round building which she identified as the temple of Aphrodite. This included

260-420: A murti is a representation of a divinity, made usually of stone, wood, or metal, which serves as a means through which a divinity may be worshiped. Hindus consider a murti worthy of serving as a focus of divine worship only after the divine is invoked in it for the purpose of offering worship. The depiction of the divinity must reflect the gestures and proportions outlined in religious tradition. In Jainism ,

325-582: A cult image in the cella . The cella in Greek temples was in the center, while it was located in the back of Roman temples. Access to the cella varied, but apart from the priests, at the least some of the general worshippers could access the cella some of the time, though sacrifices to the deity were normally made on altars outside in the temple precinct ( temenos in Greek). Some cult images were easy to see, and were major tourist attractions. The image normally took

390-401: A divine origin. The Book of Isaiah gave classic expression to the paradox inherent in the worship of cult images: Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made. Judaism emphatically forbids idolatry, and considers it one of the gravest sins . Judaism is aniconic , meaning any physical depiction of God whatsoever

455-568: A far superior replica exists in a torso in the Louvre . The attitude and character of the work are certainly of Praxitelean school. Excavations at Mantineia in Arcadia have brought to light the base of a group of Leto , Apollo , and Artemis by Praxiteles. This base was doubtless not the work of the great sculptor himself, but of one of his assistants. Nevertheless, it is pleasing and historically valuable. Pausanias (viii. 9, I) thus describes

520-534: A god used as an object of worship, while idolatry is the worship of an "idol" as though it were God . The use of images in the Ancient Near East seems typically to have been similar to that of the ancient Egyptian religion , about which we are the best-informed. Temples housed a cult image, and there were large numbers of other images. The ancient Hebrew religion was or became an exception, rejecting cult images despite developing monotheism ;

585-516: A humorous anecdote the goddess Aphrodite herself came to Knidos to see it. A lyric epigram of Antipater of Sidon places a hypothetical question on the lips of the goddess herself: Paris , Adonis , and Anchises saw me naked, Those are all I know of, but how did Praxiteles contrive it? A similar epigram is attributed to Plato: When Cypris saw Cypris at Cnidus, "Alas!" said she; "where did Praxiteles see me naked?" According to an epigram from Roman poet Ausonius , Praxiteles never saw what he

650-463: A monograph as The Hermes of a Praxiteles , reversing his earlier (1927) opinion that it was a Roman copy, finding it not 4th century either, but referring it instead to a Hellenistic sculptor, a younger Praxiteles of Pergamon. The sculpture was located where Pausanias had seen it in the late 2nd century AD. Hermes is represented in the act of carrying the child Dionysus to the nymphs who were charged with his rearing. The uplifted right arm

715-532: A stone inscribed with the letters PRAX, which Love suggested was a statue base for the Knidian Aphrodite. The statue became a tourist attraction in spite of being a cult image , and a patron of the Knidians. Nicomedes I of Bithynia offered to pay off the enormous debts of the city of Knidos in exchange for the statue, but the Knidians rejected his offer. The statue would have been polychromed , and

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780-670: Is a copy by a Roman copyist, perhaps of a work by Praxiteles that the Romans had purloined. Wallace (1940) suggested a 2nd-century date and a Pergamene origin on the basis of the sandal type. Other assertions have been attempted by scholars to prove the origins of the statue on the basis of the unfinished back, the appearance of the drapery, and the technique used with the drilling of the hair; however scholars cannot conclusively use any of these arguments to their advantage because exceptions exist in both Roman and Greek sculpture. Other works that appear to be copies of Praxiteles' sculpture express

845-561: Is called "Lycian" not after Lycia itself, but after its identification with a lost work described by Lucian as being on show in the Lykeion , one of the gymnasia of Athens . The Resting Satyr of the Capitol at Rome has commonly been regarded as a copy of one of the Satyrs of Praxiteles, but it cannot be identified in the list of his works. Moreover, the style is hard and poor;

910-487: Is disallowed; this likewise applies to cult images. The prohibition of idols within Judaism is so severe that numerous stipulations exist which are beyond simply concerning their use: Jews cannot eat anything offered to an idol as a libation , cannot move openly in places where idols are present, and cannot interact with idol worshippers within certain timeframes of idolatrous festivals or gatherings. As time progressed and

975-398: Is famed for its beauty, and is designed to be appreciated from every angle. Because the various copies show different body shapes, poses and accessories, the original can only be described in general terms. It depicted a nude woman, the body twisting in a contrapposto position, with its weight on the right foot. Most copies show Aphrodite covering her pubic area with her right hand, while

1040-474: Is missing, but the possibility that the god holds out to the child a bunch of grapes to excite his desire would reduce the subject to a genre figure, Waldstein (1882) noted that Hermes looks past the child, "the clearest and most manifest outward sign of inward dreaming". The statue is today exhibited at the Archaeological Museum of Olympia . Opposing arguments have been made that the statue

1105-486: Is not contrary to the first commandment which proscribes idols. Indeed, "the honor rendered to an image passes to its prototype", and "whoever venerates an image venerates the person portrayed in it". The honor paid to sacred images is a "respectful veneration", not the adoration due to God alone: Religious worship is not directed to images in themselves, considered as mere things, but under their distinctive aspect as images leading us on to God incarnate. The movement toward

1170-400: Is not thought to match the polished beauty of the original, which was destroyed in a disastrous fire at Constantinople in 475. According to Athenaeus and the late-antique rhetorician Choricius of Gaza , Praxiteles used the courtesan Phryne as the model for the Aphrodite, though Clement of Alexandria instead names the model as Cratina. The statue became so widely known and copied that in

1235-554: Is probably that of one of his most noted works. The subjects chosen by Praxiteles were either human beings or the dignified and less elderly deities such as Apollo , Hermes and Aphrodite rather than Zeus , Poseidon or Themis . He probably invented the S-curve . Praxiteles and his school worked almost entirely in Parian marble . At the time the marble quarries of Paros were at their best; nor could any marble be finer for

1300-606: The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA), announced the acquisition of an ancient bronze sculpture of Apollo Sauroktonos. The work is alleged to be the only near-complete original work by Praxiteles, though the dating and attribution of the sculpture will continue to be studied. The work was to be included in the 2007 Praxiteles exhibition organized by the Louvre Museum in Paris, but pressure from Greece , which disputes

1365-513: The Hermes of Olympia . Aphrodite of Cnidus was Praxiteles's most famous statue. It was the first time that a full-scale female figure was portrayed nude. It was bought by the people of Cnidus , and according to Pliny valued so highly by them that they refused to sell it to King Nicomedes in exchange for discharging the city's enormous debt. Many copies survive, the Colonna Venus in

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1430-633: The Historical Buddha , and other buddhas and bodhisattvas became important in many schools of Buddhist art , and have mostly remained so. The attitude of the devotee towards the image is highly complicated and variable in Buddhism, depending on the particular tradition, and the degree of training in Buddhist thought of the individual. The dharma wheel is an image that used for worship in Buddhism. The Dharma represents and symbolizes all of

1495-544: The Palatine Chapel, Aachen was probably a decisive moment, leading to the widespread use of monumental reliefs on churches, and later large statues. Many Christians believed that idols were not merely idle statues, but that they are inhabited by demons who could exercise influence through the idol. By destroying idols, converted Christians believed to deprave devils of their earthly and material dwelling. The Libri Carolini , an eighth-century work composed at

1560-690: The Statue of Zeus at Olympia , and Phidias 's Athena Parthenos in the Parthenon in Athens, both colossal statues now completely lost. Fragments of two chryselephantine statues from Delphi have been excavated. The acrolith was another composite form, this time a cost-saving one with a wooden body. A xoanon was a primitive and symbolic wooden image, perhaps comparable to the Hindu lingam ; many of these were retained and revered for their antiquity. Many of

1625-606: The Tirthankaras ("ford-maker") represent the true goal of all human beings. Their qualities are worshipped by the Jains. Images depicting any of the twenty four Tirthankaras are placed in the Jain temples . There is no belief that the image itself is other than a representation of the being it represents. The Tirthankaras cannot respond to such veneration, but that it can function as a meditative aid. Although most veneration takes

1690-531: The Vatican Museums often having been considered the most faithful to the original. Its renown was such, that it was immortalised in a lyric epigram: Paris did see me naked, Adonis , and Anchises , except I knew all three of them. Where did the sculptor see me? According to Pausanias there was a statue of Artemis made by Praxiteles in her temple in Anticyra of Phokis. The appearance of

1755-525: The conquest of Mecca in the year 630. In the aftermath, Muhammad did three things. Firstly, with his companions he visited the Kaaba and literally threw out the idols and destroyed them, thus removing the signs of Jahiliyyah from the Kaaba. Secondly, he ordered the construction of a mosque around the Kaaba, the first Masjid al-Haram after the birth of Islam . Thirdly, in a magnanimous manner, Muhammad pardoned all those who had taken up arms against him. With

1820-468: The Greek statues well-known from Roman marble copies were originally temple cult images, which in some cases, such as the Apollo Barberini , can be credibly identified. A very few actual originals survive, for example the bronze Piraeus Athena (2.35 metres high, including a helmet). In Greek and Roman mythology , a " palladium " was an image of great antiquity on which the safety of a city

1885-608: The Kaaba, in the process being charged tithes . This helped the Meccan merchants to incur substantial wealth, as well as ensuring a fruitful atmosphere for trade and intertribal relations in relative peace. Muhammad 's preaching incurred the wrath of the pagan merchants, causing them to revolt against him. The opposition to his teachings grew so volatile that Muhammad and his followers were forced to flee Mecca to Medina for protection, leading to armed conflict and triggering many battles that were won and lost, which finally culminated in

1950-483: The Knidians bought the nude one. The statue was set up as the cult statue for the Temple of Aphrodite at Knidos . It depicted the goddess Aphrodite as she prepared for the ritual bath that restored her purity, discarding her drapery with one hand, while modestly shielding herself with the other. The placement of her hands obscures her pubic area, while simultaneously drawing attention to her exposed upper body. The statue

2015-604: The base, "on the base which supports the statues there are sculptured the Muses and Marsyas playing the flutes ( auloi )." Three slabs which have survived represent Apollo; Marsyas; a slave, and six of the Muses , the slab which held the other three having disappeared. The Leconfield Head (a head of the Aphrodite of Cnidus type, included in the 2007 exhibition at the Louvre) in the Red Room, Petworth House , West Sussex , UK,

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2080-457: The chamber, but Hindu temple architecture typically allows the image to be seen by worshippers in the mandapa connected to it (entry to this, and the whole temple, may also be restricted in various ways). Hinduism allows for many forms of worship and therefore it neither prescribes nor proscribes worship of images ( murti ). In Hinduism, murti usually means an image that expresses a Divine Spirit ( murta ). Meaning literally "embodiment",

2145-835: The command of Charlemagne in response to the Second Council of Nicaea , set out what remains the Catholic position on the veneration of images, giving them a similar but slightly less significant place than in Eastern Orthodoxy. The 16th-century Reformation engendered spates of destruction of images, especially in England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, the Low Countries (the Beeldenstorm ), and France. Destruction of three-dimensional images

2210-667: The connection between this and the Atenism that Akhenaten tried to impose on Egypt has been much discussed. In the art of Amarna , Aten is represented only as the sun-disk, with rays emanating from it, sometimes ending in hands, and temples to Aten (e.g. the Great Temple of the Aten in Amarna ) were open courts with no roof, that the Sun might be worshipped directly as it traveled across

2275-646: The degree of veneration or worship which is thought by opponents to be given to them. The word idol entered Middle English in the 13th century from Old French idole adapted in Ecclesiastical Latin from the Greek eidolon ("appearance", extended in later usage to "mental image, apparition, phantom") a diminutive of eidos ("form"). Plato and the Platonists employed the Greek word eidos to signify perfect immutable " forms ". One can, of course, regard such an eidos as having

2340-462: The destruction of the idols and the construction of the Masjid al-Haram, a new era was ushered in, facilitating the rise of Islam . The garbhagriha or inner shrine of a Hindu temple contains an image of the deity. This may take the form of an elaborate statue, but a symbolic lingam is also very common, and sometimes a yoni or other symbolic form. Normally only the priests are allowed to enter

2405-423: The form of a statue of the deity, typically roughly life-size, but in some cases many times life-size, in marble or bronze, or in the specially prestigious form of a Chryselephantine statue using ivory plaques for the visible parts of the body and gold for the clothes, around a wooden framework. Most cult statues are anthropromorphic and take human shape. The most famous Greek cult images were of this type, including

2470-458: The form of prayers, hymns and recitations, the idol is sometimes ritually bathed, and often has offerings made to it; there are eight kinds of offering representing the eight types of karmas as per Jainism. This form of reverence is not a central tenet of the faith. Very early Buddhism avoided representations of the Buddha, who was represented by symbols or an empty space . Later large images of

2535-623: The idol depends on the school of Buddhism that you belong to. Buddhist idols that originate from Theravada Buddhism are commonly slim, and majestic. Buddhist idols that originate from Mahayana Buddhism are usually thicker, with a more dignified and nonchalant face. Buddhist idols that originate from Vajrayana Buddhism usually have a more exaggerated posture, and usually show the Buddha / Bodhisattva performing hand Mudras . In Shinto , cult images are called shintai . The earliest historical examples of these were natural objects such as stones, waterfalls, trees or mountains, like Mount Fuji , while

2600-640: The image does not terminate in it as image, but tends toward that whose image it is. Towards the end of the pre-Islamic era in the Arabian city of Mecca , an era otherwise known by the Muslims as جاهلية, or al-Jahiliyah , the pagan or pre-Islamic merchants of Mecca controlled the sacred Kaaba , thereby regulating control over it and, in turn, over the city itself. The local tribes of the Arabian peninsula came to this centre of commerce to place their idols in

2665-485: The left holds drapery which, along with a vase, helps support the figure. Almost all copies show the head of the sculpture turning to the left. The female nude appeared nearly three centuries after the earliest nude male counterparts in Greek sculpture, the kouros ; the female kore figures were clothed. Previously nudity was a heroic uniform assigned only to men. When making the Aphrodite of Knidos, Spivey argues that her iconography can be attributed to Praxiteles creating

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2730-582: The only surviving fragments of the original statue, which are now in storage at the British Museum . The prevailing opinion of archaeologists is that the fragment in question is not of the Knidia , but of a different statue. As well as more or less faithful copies, the Aphrodite of Knidos also influenced various variations, which include: Praxiteles Praxiteles ( / p r æ k ˈ s ɪ t ɪ l iː z / ; Greek : Πραξιτέλης ) of Athens ,

2795-530: The other his more celebrated grandson. Though the repetition of the same name in every other generation is common in Greece , there is no certain evidence for either position. Accurate dates for Praxiteles are elusive, but it is likely that he was no longer working in the time of Alexander the Great , in the absence of evidence that Alexander employed Praxiteles, as he probably would have done. Pliny 's date, 364 BC,

2860-469: The period still exist. A supposed relationship between Praxiteles and his beautiful model, the Thespian courtesan Phryne , has inspired speculation and interpretation in works of art ranging from painting ( Gérôme ) to comic opera ( Saint-Saëns ) to shadow play ( Donnay ). Some writers have maintained that there were two sculptors of the name Praxiteles. One was a contemporary of Pheidias , and

2925-402: 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 Rome, and Hinduism, cult images in a temple may undergo a daily routine of being washed, dressed, and having food left for them. Processions outside

2990-424: The priests were allowed access to the inner sanctuary. There was also a huge range of smaller images, many kept in the homes of ordinary people. The very large stone images around the exteriors of temples were usually representations of the pharaoh as himself or "as" a deity, and many other images gave deities the features of the current royal family. Ancient Greek temples and Roman temples normally contained

3055-668: The purposes of the sculptor than that of which the Hermes from Olympia was fashioned. Some of the statues of Praxiteles were coloured by the painter Nicias, and in the opinion of the sculptor they gained greatly by this treatment. In 1911, the Encyclopædia Britannica noted that Later opinions have varied, reaching a low with the sculptor Aristide Maillol , who railed, "It's kitsch , it's frightful, it's sculpted in Marseille soap ". In 1948, Carl Blümel published it in

3120-771: The religious traditions which the Jews were exposed to diversified, what was considered "idolatry" was subject to some debate. In the Mishnah and Talmud , idolatry is defined as worshipping a graven image through the actions of both typical idol worshippers, and through actions customarily reserved for worship of the Jewish God in the Temple in Jerusalem , such as prostrating , sacrificing animals , offering incense , or sprinkling animal blood on altars. Kissing, embracing, or "honoring" an idol, while not considered idolatry per se ,

3185-719: The same gracefulness in repose and indefinable charm as the Hermes and the Infant Dionysus . Among the most notable of these are the Apollo Sauroktonos , or the lizard-slayer, which portrays a youth leaning against a tree and idly striking with an arrow at a lizard. Several Roman copies from the 1st century are known including those at the Louvre Museum, the Vatican Museums , and the National Museums Liverpool . On June 22, 2004,

3250-445: The sky. Cult images were a common presence in ancient Egypt, and still are in modern-day Kemetism . The term is often confined to the relatively small images, typically in gold, that lived in the naos in the inner sanctuary of Egyptian temples dedicated to that god (except when taken on ceremonial outings, say to visit their spouse). These images usually showed the god in their sacred barque or boat; none of them survive. Only

3315-495: The son of Cephisodotus the Elder , was the most renowned of the Attic sculptors of the 4th century BC. He was the first to sculpt the nude female form in a life-size statue. While no indubitably attributable sculpture by Praxiteles is extant, numerous copies of his works have survived; several authors , including Pliny the Elder , wrote of his works; and coins engraved with silhouettes of his various famous statuary types from

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3380-609: The statue for the intent of being viewed by male onlookers. Overwhelming evidence from aggregations suggests that the Knidian sculpture was meant to evoke male responses of sexuality upon viewing the statue. The Aphrodite of Knidos established a canon for the proportions of the female nude, and inspired many copies, the best of which is considered to be the Colonna Knidia in the Vatican's Pio-Clementine Museum . A Roman copy, it

3445-491: The statue was removed to Constantinople (modern Istanbul ), where it was housed in the Palace of Lausus ; in 475, the palace burned and the statue was lost. It was one of the most widely copied statues in the ancient world, so a general idea of the appearance of the statue can be gleaned from the descriptions and replicas that have survived to the modern day. For a time in 1969, the archaeologist Iris Love thought she had found

3510-481: The statue, which represented the goddess with a torch and an arch in her hands and a dog at her feet, is known from a 2nd-century BC bronze coin of the city. A recently discovered dedicatory inscription of the 3rd-2nd century identifies the goddess at Antikya as Artemis Eleithyia . Vitruvius (vii, praef. 13) lists Praxiteles as an artist on the Mausoleum of Maussollos and Strabo (xiv, 23, 51) attributes to him

3575-399: The teachings of the Buddha. The Dharma is a wheel or circle, that maintains different qualities that are meant to be essential to the Buddhist religion. Typically, the wheel shows the eight step path that Buddhists follow to reach Nirvana. The symbol is a wheel in order to show the flow of life: Buddhists believe in reincarnation, so life moves in a circle and does not end in death. The build of

3640-401: The temple on special feast days are often a feature. Religious images cover a wider range of all types of images made with a religious purpose, subject, or connection. In many contexts "cult image" specifically means the most important image in a temple, kept in an inner space, as opposed to what may be many other images decorating the temple. The term idol is an image or representation of

3705-479: The whole sculpted decoration of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus . These mentions are widely considered as dubious. Besides these works, associated with Praxiteles by reference to notices in ancient writers, there are numerous copies from the Roman age, statues of Hermes, Dionysus, Aphrodite, Satyrs and Nymphs, and the like, in which a varied expression of Praxitelean style may be discerned. Cult image In

3770-457: The work's provenance and legal ownership, caused the French to exclude it from the show. The Apollo Lykeios or Lycian Apollo, another Apollo-type reclining on a tree, is usually attributed to Praxiteles. It shows the god resting on a support (a tree trunk or tripod), his right arm touching the top of his head, and his hair fixed in braids on the top of a head in a haircut typical of childhood. It

3835-456: Was claimed by Adolf Furtwängler to be an actual work of Praxiteles, based on its style and its intrinsic quality. The Leconfield Head, the keystone of the Greek antiquities at Petworth was probably bought from Gavin Hamilton in Rome in 1755. The Aberdeen Head , whether of Hermes or of a youthful Heracles , in the British Museum , is linked to Praxiteles by its striking resemblance to

3900-594: Was highly controversial for centuries, and in Eastern Orthodoxy the controversy lingered until it re-erupted in the Byzantine Iconoclasm of the 8th and 9th centuries. Religious monumental sculpture remained foreign to Orthodoxy. In the West, resistance to idolatry delayed the introduction of sculpted images for centuries until the time of Charlemagne , whose placing of a life-size crucifix in

3965-674: Was normally near-total, especially images of the Virgin Mary and saints, and the iconoclasts ("image-breakers") also smashed representations of holy figures in stained glass windows and other imagery. Further destruction of icons, anathema to Puritans , occurred during the English Civil War . Less extreme transitions occurred throughout northern Europe in which formerly Catholic churches became Protestant. Catholic regions of Europe, especially artistic centres like Rome and Antwerp , responded to Reformation iconoclasm with

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4030-457: Was not meant to see, but instead sculpted Aphrodite as Ares would have wanted. The temple of Aphrodite in Knidos where the statue was displayed is described by two ancient sources, Pliny the Elder in his Natural History and Pseudo-Lucian in his Amores . According to Pliny, the sculpture was housed in a small building, open on all sides – by which he likely meant a monopteros ,

4095-513: Was said to depend, especially the wooden one that Odysseus and Diomedes stole from the citadel of Troy and which was later taken to Rome by Aeneas . (The Roman story was related in Virgil 's Aeneid and other works.) Some members of Abrahamic religions identify cult images as idols and their worship or veneration as idolatry ; the worship of hollow forms, though others do not. The matter has long been controversial, depending largely on

4160-508: Was so lifelike that it even aroused men sexually, as witnessed by the tradition that a young man broke into the temple at night and attempted to copulate with the statue, leaving a stain on it. An attendant priestess told visitors that upon being discovered, he was so ashamed that he hurled himself over a cliff near the edge of the temple. This story is recorded in the dialogue Erotes (section 15), traditionally attributed to Lucian of Samosata . The Knidian Aphrodite has not survived. Possibly

4225-470: Was still forbidden. Christian images that are venerated are called icons . Christians who venerate icons make an emphatic distinction between " veneration " and " worship ". Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christians make an exception for the veneration of images of saints – they distinguish such veneration from adoration or latria . The introduction of venerable images in Christianity

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