ArtsArtSculpture
ANSWERS: 20
  • The sculptor didn't know how to sculpt arms.
  • Haha. If you watch the Disney cartoon movie "Hercules" it offers a funny explanation.
  • Her sculptor was on Thalidomide
  • They broke off sometime between the sculpture's creation in approx 120BCE and 1820CE, when it was discovered. Classical scholars debate over how she may have been posed, if she was holding something, etc. Some people believe that the arms were of a rougher, less refined quality of stone, which is why they broke.
  • t is not known exactly what aspect of Venus the statue originally depicted. It is generally thought to have been a representation of Venus Victrix (Aphrodite Victorious) holding the golden apple presented to her by Paris of Troy. This would also have served as a pun on the name of the island Milos, which means "apple" in the Greek language. Two fragments of a left arm and a left hand with an apple were found near the statue in the same niche and are thought to be remnants of its arms. After the statue was found, numerous attempts were made to reconstruct its pose, though it was never restored. The statue was discovered in 1820 inside a buried niche within the ancient city ruins of Milos on the Aegean island of the same name, also called Melos or Milo, by a peasant named Yorgos Kentrotas. It was found in two main pieces (the upper torso and the lower draped legs) along with several herms (pillars topped with heads), fragments of the upper left arm and left hand holding an apple, and an inscribed plinth. At the moment of discovery a French naval officer, Jules Dumont d'Urville, recognized its significance and arranged for a purchase by the French ambassador to Turkey, the Marquis de Riviere.
  • The simple answer is NO we do not know what happened to her arms . they had already been broken off when she was discovered on the Island of Melos in 1820
  • I know why. And this is true, go look it up: The sculptor made the statue, then just broke the arms off. Why? Because he wanted to, that's why. His way of making the statue. If you took an Art History class like AP or something, you would know, I think. My brother learned it.
  • Twelve days out of Touloun the ship was anchored off the island of Melos. Ashore, d'Urville and [fellow officer] Matterer met a Greek peasant, who a few days earlier while ploughing had uncovered blocks of marble and a statue in two pieces, which he offered cheaply to the two young men. It was of a naked woman with an apple in her raised left hand, the right hand holding a draped sash falling from hips to feet, both hands damaged and separated from the body. Even with a broken nose, the face was beautiful. D'Urville the classicist recognized the Venus of the Judgement of Paris. It was, of course, the Venus de Milo. He was eager to acquire it, but his practical captain, apparently uninterested in antiquities, said there was nowhere to store it on the ship, so the transaction lapsed. The tenacious d'Urville on arrival at Constantinople showed the sketches he had made to the French ambassador, the Marquis de Riviére, who sent his secretary in a French Navy vessel to buy it for France. Before he could take delivery, French sailors had to fight Greek brigands for possession. In the mêlée the statue was roughly dragged across rocks to the ship, BREAKING OFF BOTH ARMS, and the sailors refused to go back to search for them. http://lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us/new/2005/04/arms-and-man-canoe.html
  • I believe it had something to do with an arms reduction treaty. I may be wrong here.
  • Three reasons come to mind. He/she (statue?) could have been accused of stealing and lost one that way, somene might have cut one off as vandalism, or it could be a birth defect.
  • The Aphrodite of Milos (Greek: "Αφροδίτη της Μήλου"), was, in fact, found with fragments of the left arm and the hand holding an apple. However, because they were not as nicely finished as the rest of the statue, restorers in France thought they were not part of the original work and never reassembled them. It is thought now that, because they were not easily seen in situ, the master carver deliberately did not do as good a job on the arms as he did on the upper body. Why does it not have its arms? The body part of a statue has a lot more strength against stresses than free parts such as arms. It is not just the Aphrodite of Milos which has lost its arms to time and wear and tear. Look at the famous Nike of Samothraki (Winged Victory of Samothrace), in the Louvre Museum. She not only lost her arms (which were thrown back) but also her head. Nevertheless, she is beautiful beyond imagination. When I first saw her standing at the top of the stairs in the Louvre, I was transfixed. Her clothing was draped by the sea spray over her body and looked as if, had I touched it, it would have been soft.
  • vandalism, pure and simple
  • She was the very first thalidimide vic.
  • She entered a computer keyboarding speed contest. She won, but a GREAT cost.
  • Probably the same thing that happened to the Sphinx of Giza's nose.
  • She refused the advances of Chuck Norris.
  • Zeus stole 'em? ;-)
  • Doesn't need them! ;-)
  • To keep her from diddling!
  • She was hugging her honey (what was his name again?) and promised to never let go.

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