The Venus de Milo - an 'armless quiz.

Answer: Alexandros of Antioch, son of Menides

Alexandros was also a poet and won the five-yearly Competition of Poetry and Theatrical Arts held in Thespiae (a city near Mount Helicon). He won the prize for singing and composing.

Answer: The Louvre, Paris, France

The Venus is housed in its own alcove with a plaque reading,
"Aphrodite, dite 'Venus de Milo,'
vers 100 av. J.C.,
Ile de Melos,
Don du Marquis de Riviere au roi Louis XVIII".

Answer: 1000 Francs

The plaque's inscription translates as follows:
"Aphrodite, called 'Venus de Milo',
around 100 BCE,
the Island of Melos,
Gift of the Marquis de Riviere to King Louis XVIII".

Answer: Marble

The Venus was uncovered on the Greek island of Melos on April 8th, 1820. It arrived in Paris in February, 1821.

Answer: On the island of Melos, in the Aegean Sea

The island of Melos is half way between Crete and the Greek mainland.

Answer: It was originally carved in two parts

The two halves meet in a line which is barely noticeable, being concealed by the roll of drapery around the hips.

Answer: All of the left arm, and most of the right arm is missing. A roll of drapery falls from the hips.

It is remarkable how the artist cuts the cold, hard marble to look like warm, soft, skin, hair, and drapery. And more life-like than some people I know.

Answer: Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love

Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love. The later Roman equivalent goddess, is Venus. Both Greece and Rome were polytheistic, worshipping many gods. The only monotheistic nation in the world at that time was across the Mediterranean sea, in ancient Judea.

Answer: False

The arrival created a huge sensation and brought much controversy in its wake. The museum highly publicized the arrival of what they decided at the time was a fine example of classical sculpture. But the dating of the piece was hotly contested. The French claimed it as a work of the School of Praxiteles, placing it in the 5th or 4th century BCE, the true "Classical" era.

But a section of the broken base was inscribed, stating that it was created by Alexandros of Antioch, an artist of the later Hellenistic era.

The broken section was later 'lost' by the museum curators. Furthermore, the German government claimed ownership, saying it was found on land owned by a German national. Ultimately the controversies helped publicize the sculpture, and its true beauty was the only thing that everyone agreed upon.

Answer: Hellenistic

Jean Charbonneaux, the Louvre's conservator of Greek antiquities wrote in 1951, "In 1893, contrary to the general opinion, the scholar Furtwangler set 150 BCE and 50 BCE as the limits of the period where the statue belonged". This is in contrast to the earlier declaration of Count de Forbin, director of the Louvre in 1821 who placed it during the earlier Classical period.
Forbin placed it during the Classical period when popular opinion considered the Classical era superior to the Hellenistic. Charbonneaux placed it during the Hellenistic period when popular opinion considered the Hellenistic era equal or superior. French scholars have often been criticised for dating objets d'art according to political considerations.
The Hellenistic era occurred after the death of Alexander the Great, who exported Greek art and culture to the rest of the world but who also brought outside influences into Greek art and culture. Some saw this as an improvement, but some saw this as a corruption of the more 'purely Greek' culture of the earlier Classical era.