Patrizio Gunning, Lucia; (2024) Acquisition, provenance and arrival of the Satala Aphrodite to London. [Exhibition]. Yerevan, Armenia. 21 September 2024 - 21 March 2025.

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Abstract

THE Hellenistic bronze head known as the Satala Aphrodite sits in a modest display in a glass case over a ventilation grille in Room 22 of the British Museum since its arrival there in May 1873. The label for the display simply reads: Head from a bronze cult statue of Anahita, a local goddess shown here in the guise of Aphrodite. 200-100 BC. Found at Satala in NE Asia Minor (Armenia Minor). A left hand holding drapery was found with the head, showing that it belongs to a full-length figure. GR 1873.8-20.1 (Bronze 266) (head) GR 1875.12-1.1 (hand). It was identified by Armenian historian and patriot Ghevont Alishani as being a head of Anahita (Fig. 1),ii which may have originated from a cult temple believed to have been located near the find spot,iii the head has become an emblem for the people of Armeniaiv appearing on Armenian stamps, gold coins and bank notes. How did this head arrive to the British Museum? Extraordinary efforts were made to acquire the Satala Aphrodite, and the intricate story of how it came to be in the British Museum can be found in the Castellani and Biliotti papers in the archives of the Department of Greece and Rome at the British Museum, in the minutes of Trustees’ Meetings in the Central Archives, and in correspondence with William Gladstone at the British Library, as well as additional letters in the Victoria and Albert Museum archives.

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