APHRODITE REVEALED: the goddess disclosed

Ure Museum, Department of Classics, University of Reading: 8-10 May 2008

Sponsored by the Classical Association, the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies , and the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

The Greek goddess of love is ambiguous, alluring, and influential. The Greeks offer at least two mythic traditions regarding her birth, and never agreed as to her origins, perhaps foreign. Aphrodite's representations served many purposes: religious, political, and secular. Her story became no clearer in later antiquity, and her post-antique depiction and its reception continue to beguile.

The image of Aphrodite has been at the centre of the Ure Museum of Archaeology since its recent redesign. She thus invites scholars to Reading to debate her persona and its representation.

Topics include:

Aphrodite's representation and representation
The genealogy of the goddess
Her arrival in Greece
The manipulation of her multiple guises
Her reception during and since antiquity

Conference organisers:

Dr. Amy C. Smith
Department of Classics, School of Humanities
University of Reading, Whiteknights
RG6 6AA
a.c.smith@reading.ac.uk

Miss Sadie A. Pickup
Wolfson College
University of Oxford
OX2 6UD
sadie.pickup@wolfson.ox.ac.uk

For questions or comments please contact a.c.smith@reading.ac.uk.

The Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology is in Rm 38 on the ground floor of the Humanities and Social Science (HUMSS) building, on the Whiteknights Campus, University of Reading.

Map of the Whiteknights campus:

www.info. rdg.ac.uk/maps/maps-display.asp

Page last updated 3 April 2008