THE VENUS OF MILO

AN ARCHEOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE GODDESS OF WOMANHOOD


BY
PAUL CARUS

ILLUSTRATED


αἰδοίν χρυσοστέφανον καλὴν Άφροδἰτην ᾄσουαι—Homeric Hymn.


CHICAGO LONDON
THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING COMPANY
1916

COPYRIGHT BY
THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING COMPANY
1916

CONTENTS.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

THE DISCOVERY OF A RARE ART TREASURE.

Melos was inhabited in ancient times by Dorians who sympathized with Sparta against Athens, but when the Athenians conquered it after a most stubborn resistance they slaughtered the entire Dorian male population and replaced them by Athenian colonists. Since then the island remained absolutely faithful to Athens, in fact it was the last possession which still belonged to Athens when the Ionian confederacy broke up, and the friendly relations between Melos and her metropolis continued even after Greece had become a Roman province.

On this island of Melos, a peasant by the name of Yorgos Bottonis and his son Antonio, while clearing away the stones near the ruins of an ancient theater in the vicinity of Castro, the capital of the island, came accidentally across a small underground cave, carefully covered with a heavy slab and concealed, which contained a fine marble statue in two pieces, together with several other marble fragments. This happened in February, 1820.

The Rev. Oiconomos, the village priest who guided the finder in this matter, invited M. Louis Brest, the French consul of Melos, to see the statue and offered it to him (in March of the same year) for 20,000 francs. M. Brest does not seem to have been in a hurry to buy, but he claims to have written to the French minister at Constantinople. One thing is sure, no answer had come by April when His French Majesty’s good ship “Chevrette” happened to cast anchor in the harbor at Melos and an ensign on board, Monsieur Dumont d’Urville, went to see the statue. The inability to sell it had brought the price down, and the finder was willing to part with it to the young Frenchman for only 1200 francs. M. d’Urville was more energetic than M. Brest and as soon as he reached Constantinople the French Minister at once authorized a certain Count Marcellus, a member of the French embassy, to go to Melos and procure the statue.

Count Marcellus arrived on the French vessel “Estafette” in May, but found that the statue in the meantime had been sold to a certain Nikolai Morusi for 4800 francs and had just been placed aboard a little brig bound for Constantinople, the home of the buyer. At this juncture the three Frenchmen, M. Brest, M. d’Urville and Count Marcellus, decided not to let their treasure so easily escape them, so M. Brest protested before the Turkish authorities that the bargain had been concluded, declaring that Bottonis had no right to sell his prize to any other party. They even threatened to use force and, being backed by the French mariners of the “Estafette,” said that under no conditions would they allow the statue to leave the harbor.

While the three Frenchmen claimed that France was entitled to have the statue for 1200 francs they were willing to pay not only 4800 francs, the price promised by Morusi, but 6000 francs. The new buyer had not yet paid and so the peasant was satisfied with the cash offered him, while the Turkish authorities did not care either way. Thus it came to pass that the valuable marble was transferred to the French warship on May 25, 1820, (so at least runs the original report without the fantastic story of a battle) and after much cruising was carried to Constantinople where it was placed on the “Lionne,” another French ship bound for France and destined to bring home the French Minister, Marquis de Rivière. The “Lionne” reached France in October, 1820, and the statue was delivered at the Louvre in February, 1821.

DUMONT D’URVILLE’S REPORT.

THE most important passage of Dumont d’Urville’s report[1] about the discovery of the statue reads in an English translation thus:

“The Chevrette set sail from Toulon on April 3 (1820) in the morning, and anchored on the sixteenth in the roadstead of Milo....

“On the 19th I went to look at some antique pieces discovered at Milo a few days before our arrival. Since they seem to me worthy of attention I shall here record the result of my observation in some detail....

“About three weeks before our arrival at Milo a Greek peasant digging in his field ... came across some stones of considerable size. As these stones ... had a certain value, this consideration encouraged him to dig still further, and so he succeeded in clearing out a sort of recess in which he found a marble statue together with two hermae and some other pieces, likewise of marble.

“The statue was in two pieces joined in the middle by two small iron tenons. Fearing he would lose the fruit of his toil, the Greek had the upper part of the two hermae carried away and deposited in a stable. The rest were left in the cave. I examined all very carefully, and the various pieces seemed to me in good taste, as far as my slight acquaintance with the arts permitted me to judge of them.

“I measured the two parts of the statue separately and found it very nearly six feet in height; it represented a nude woman whose left hand was raised and held an apple, and the right supported a garment draped in easy folds and falling carelessly from her loins to her feet. Both hands have been mutilated and are actually detached from the body. The hair is coiled in the back and held up by a bandeau. The face is very beautiful and well preserved except that the tip of the nose is injured. The only remaining foot is bare; the ears have been pierced and may have contained pendants.

“All these attributes would seem to agree well enough with the Venus of the judgment of Paris; but in that case where would be Juno, Minerva and the handsome shepherd? It is true that a foot clad in a cothurnus and a third hand were found at the same time. On the other hand the name of the Island Melos has a very close connection with the word μῆλον which means apple. Might not this similarity of the words have indicated the statue by its principal attribute?

“The two hermae were with it in the cave. Beyond this fact there is nothing remarkable about them. Their height is about three feet and a half. One is surmounted by the head of a woman or child and the other by the face of an old man with a long beard.

“The entrance to the cave was surmounted by a piece of marble four feet and a half long and about six or eight inches wide. It bore an inscription of which only the first half has been respected by Time. The rest is entirely effaced. This loss is inestimable; ... at least we might have learned on what occasion and by whom the statues had been dedicated.

“At any rate I have carefully copied the remaining characters of this inscription and I can guarantee them all except the first, of which I am not sure. The space which I indicate for the defaced part has been measured in proportion to the letters which are still legible: