AFRODITE ‘POGGIATA SU UN TIMONE’: UNA STATUETTA MENZIONATA NEGLI INVENTARI TEMPLARI DI DELO

Abstract

Three inscriptions from Delos, reporting on the many successive treasure inventories of the Sarapeion (ID 1416; ID 1417; ID 1452), mention the presence of an ἀφροδίσιον ἐν ναιδίῳ ἀπηρεισμένον ἐπὶ πηδαλίου, which can literally be translated as ‘a small Aphrodite in a small shrine leaning on a rudder’. In this paper, I argue that this object should be identified with a marble statuette of Aphrodite Sandalbinder, a very popular sculptural type from the late Hellenistic period to the Roman era, although no other textual references to it are known. The figural support in form of a rudder characterizes the goddess as Euploia, patron deity of navigation and seafaring.