Sleeping Eros: A Sculpture Dreaming About Love
Bronze statue of Eros sleeping (Photo: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
With Valentines Day just around the corner, you’re going to love our Geo Quiz.
We’re looking for the name of a famous Greek island that’s located in the eastern Aegean Sea just 10 miles or so off the coast of Turkey.
The island’s dotted with beaches and villages with names like Faliraki, Pefkos, and Archangelos.
This island was once home to one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was the gigantic statue of the Greek Titan Helios, the Colossus that inspired the design of the Statue of Liberty.
But our interest in this Greek island was sparked by much smaller statue found on this island.
It’s 2,000-year-old life size sculpture now on exhibit at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The subject is a young boy, who’s been out shooting arrows all day, and he’s fallen asleep.
The arrows have golden tips … that aren’t deadly as much as powerful. Supposedly they cause victims to suddenly be overcome with feelings of love.
Bronze statue of Eros sleeping (Photo: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
The bronze statue of Sleeping Eros is said to have come from the Greek island of Rhodes, the answer to our Geo Quiz.
The usual depictions of Eros show him looking like Cupid, the pudgy infant with wings who’s poised to shoot his gold tipped arrows. Sean Hemingway, curator of Greek and Roman Art at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, says the Eros depicted in this 2,000-year-old statue has just dozed off. He’s resting from his labors of love, and that posture reveals the innocence and purity of love.
Bronze statue of Eros sleeping (Photo: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
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