03/22/2025
Aphrodite rising.
While the legendary statues of ancient Greece and Rome are now known the world over as stark white works of art housed in museums and galleries, those who viewed them 2,000 years ago would have had a very different experience. Not only were these statues originally painted with vivid colors and draped in garments, they were also heavily perfumed with various scents. New research has just revealed the true extent to which "admiring a statue in the ancient world was not just a visual experience, but also an olfactory one." The statues of Artemis and Hera at Greece's famous Sanctuary of Delos, for instance, were coated with olive oil, beeswax, and rose-scented perfumes. Meanwhile, the statue of Queen Berenice II of Egypt was so heavily scented that it would have been "moist with perfume." Because these statues were not only meant to be works of art, but also living embodiments of divine figures, it was important that those who came to pay homage were given an all-consuming sensory experience. Learn more about this groundbreaking research: https://inter.st/kole
