10 July 2008 | An extremely precious statue of the goddess Venus, dating from the third century, was found recently during archaeological excavations at the Skupi site near Macedonia’s capital Skopje, national media reported today.

According to archaeologists, quoted by the Dnevnik newspaper, the statue is an original and its value is similar to those that are displayed in the Louvre Museum in Paris.

The real-life-sized statue (170 centimetres) is of the Roman goddess of love, Venus. Because of the statue’s specific posture in covering her private parts, she is thought to be the Venus Pudica, or the Modest Venus.

The precious find was discovered in a bath, which archaeologists recently unearthed at the Skupi site, along with an Early Christian basilica. The statue of Venus has an engraving of a dolphin on her left leg, which is characteristic of the Modest Venus when she is coming out of the water.

The dolphin, the craftsmanship and the materials used for the sculpture suggest, according to experts, that Skupi was a settlement of the highest rank between the first and the seventh centuries, as only prosperous towns could afford to the luxury of having such a well-made statue of Venus.

The discovery, reported Dnevnik, has been taken away for conservation and will be displayed in the Museum of Skopje. Around 23,000 objects have been discovered the excavations on the Skupi site, which started in March and will be completed at the end of July.

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