Head of a sphinx from a statue of Venus Heliopolitana
Head of a sphinx from a statue of Venus Heliopolitana
3D
Published 2019-06-19T08:31:13+00:00
This head belonged to one of two sphinxes that flanked a statue of Venus Heliopolitana discovered in Baalbek and now in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum. Crowned with a double diadem, the sphinx has eyes and eyebrows that would have been inlaid, and its earlobes are perforated for earrings. Thrones with sphinxes on both sides can be traced back to the second half of the second millennium B.C. and have been discovered at Phoenician sites, including Byblos and Sidon, where they were probably produced as symbols of the goddess Astarte.
The Venus Heliopolitana (or "Venus of Heliopolis Syriaca") was worshiipped at Baalbek, a city in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley. The deity was a form of Ashtart who formed a third of the Heliopolitan Triad, in which she was the consort of Jupiter (Ba'al) and mother of Mercury (Adon).
| Date published | 19/06/2019 |
| Complessità | Medium |
| Title | Head of a sphinx from a statue of Venus Heliopolitana |
| Date | Early 3rd Century AD |
| Dimension | H. 10 1/4 × W. 7 7/8 × D. 8 1/4 in. (26 × 20 × 21 cm) |
| Accession | -- |
| Medium | Marble |
| Credit | Musée du Louvre, Paris |
| Record | https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/772073 |
| Artist | Unknown artist |
| Place | Metropolitan Museum of Art |
