© Ashmolean Museum
© Ashmolean Museum
APHRODITE: THE MAKING OF A GODDESS
8 October 2026 to 11 April 2027
Critic score
Over 200 objects trace Aphrodite from ancient Cyprus to modern culture, revealing how her image shaped ideas of love, beauty, and power across eras.
From Ashmolean Museum
Step into the world of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, beauty, and desire – later worshipped by the Romans as Venus. Today she is thought of as a symbol of passion and beauty, but her story is far older and more complex. This major exhibition will explore Aphrodite's beginnings on the island of Cyprus, where she was worshipped as an all-powerful goddess over 3,000 years ago, and will trace her journey through the Greek and into the Roman world, where she became Venus....
Read more at Ashmolean Museum →Critic Review
The Guardian
Jonathan Jones
A trashy way to treat the goddess of love
"Instead, it sees Venus as a cheap Roman substitute for the original Greek love goddess Aphrodite, who in turn is exposed as a ripoff of a matriarchal deity once worshipped on Cyprus. The result is a mixture of world-class loans and an archaeological hobbyhorse."
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