I. 
PLAIN OF MARATHON. 31 
chalice of terra cotta found near Alliens, and chap. 
now in the author's possession', Venus is 
represented in a sitting attitude^ with the 
inscription A<J>POAITH over her head; and, 
what is more remarkable, she is not there 
depicted according to the received opinion with 
regard to the Grecian Venus, as founded upon 
the description of her statue by Praxiteles at 
Cnidus, but as a matronly woman, in rich 
drapery; corresponding with the appearance 
presented by this statue, and consistently with 
her relationship to the Phrygian Pessinuntia, the 
Syrian Astarte, and the Egyptian Isis-. The 
(1) Presented hy Sand ford Graham, Esq. M.P. after his return 
from his travels in Greece; who, during a successful excavation made 
among the Athenian tombs, discovered and brought to this country a 
collection of Greek Vases, which may be considered as unrivalled, both 
in their number and in their importance ; as illustrating the arts, 
customs, superstitions, history, and mythology of the AntieutCVecian.y. 
(2) That J'^cnus, among the Antients, was sometimes represented as 
a young and beautiful woman, naked, we learn from the story of the 
Cnidiun Statue by Praxiteles ; but it is at the same time evident, that 
the people of Cos rejected the same statue, upon this account. There 
seems reason for believing that many of the statues by Grecian 
sculptors, c(insidered as representing Venus, and particularly the 
famous statue called that of the Medician T'enus, were statues of 
^spasia the concubine of Cyrus, whom the Greeks represented with 
the symbols and attributes of Venus, as the Dove, Dolphin, &c. from 
the particular favours that were said to have been conferred upon her 
by that Goddess ; and probably the Cnidian Venus was nothing more 
than a statue of Phryne the mistress of Praxiteles, whose portrait 
Jpelles painted for his Venus Anadyomene, 
