From the article:
"Idols, clay lamps and amphorae, drinking cups, perfume vases, jewelry and other utilitarian and decorative objects make up the 300,000 or so finds unearthed during excavation work for the Thessaloniki metro. Most striking among them, however, are the pieces related to Aphrodite, testifying to the northern port city’s enduring bond with the goddess of love.
The most interesting of these are a marble sculpture and a mosaic depicting the goddess that were found during digging for the Aghia Sofia station. Dating to different periods, they are indicative of the fact that the goddess was worshipped in the what is now downtown Thessaloniki as recently as early Christian times.
Aphrodite is represented by a plethora of statues and idols in a variety of different ways, and this was particularly the case in Roman times, explained Polyxeni Adam-Veleni, an archaeologist and head of the Culture Ministry’s General Directorate of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage.
'A large number of statues depicting Aphrodite have been found in the city center, while several more came to light in the area around the Church of the Acheiropoietos. They are mostly related to the worship of Thermaia Aphrodite, who was associated with the element of water,' Adam-Veleni said at a recent conference on the finds discovered during metro excavations in Athens, Thessaloniki and Piraeus."
(photo © ekathimerini.com)
