Aphrodite and Eros between Literature and Archaeological Evidence

Dr. Hanan Khamis el-Shafie, an assistant professor at the Department of Greco-Roman Archeology and Classical Studies, Faculty of Arts, Damanhour University

30 March 2017

12:00 PM

Fourth Floating Hall (F4 Level)

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina Antiquities Museum is holding a lecture entitled Aphrodite and Eros between Literature and Archaeological Evidence. The lecture will be held on Thursday, 30 March 2017, at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Main Building, Fourth Floor Floating Room(F4 level), at 12:00 noon. It will be given by Dr. Hanan Khamis el-Shafie, Assistant Professor at the Department of Greco-Roman Archeology and Classical Studies, Faculty of Arts, Damanhour University. The Researcher will tackle a significant case in Greek mythology and art; which states the most common myth is that Eros was son of goddess Aphrodite. Sappho was the first to introduce this idea, thenother authors addressed it from their personal points of view. For example, although Pausanias agrees with Hesiod that Eros existed at an early stage, he maintains that the child god must have been the youngest of all,being Aphrodite’s son. However, there are no art works referring that Eros is the son of Aphrodite. Although they appear together in some works, this does not prove they are mother and son. At the same time, Eros is depicted in several art works greeting Aphrodite as she is born out of the sea foam and emerging from the shell.