A Companion to Ethnicity in the Ancient Mediterranean

Ethnicity and Representation 367

Figure 24.8 TheSlipper-Slappergroup of Aphrodite, Eros, and Pan of ca. 100. From the Club-
house of the Poseidoniasts at Delos. Athens, National Archaeological Museum 3335. Photograph
by J. Patrikianos. © Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Tourism/Archaeological Receipts Fund.

Whereas the archer (Figure 24.1) is easily associated with ethnicity studies, the vast
majority of Greek art is approached only culturally. The tendency to associate Greek art
with culture, rather than Hellenic ethnicities, is a major characteristic of the Hellenis-
tic era. For example, versions and variants of sculpted Aphrodites were commonplace in
this era, many of them neo-classical references to theAphrodite of Knidosby the sculp-
tor Praxiteles (Stewart 1990: 177–8,passim, Figures 503–505; Havelock 1995). The
Aphrodite of Melosof ca. 100 shows Praxiteles’Knidiaupdated to accommodate new
tastes (Stewart 1990: 30, 52, 96, 224, Figure 806). Closer to theKnidiain pose, if farther
in spirit, is a group of ca. 100 from Delos with Aphrodite, Eros, and Pan (Figure 24.8;
Bruneau and Ducat 1983: 72–4, no. 57, Figures 46–8; Stewart 1990: 226–7, Figures
831, 834). Aphrodite brandishes her sandal against the advances of Pan, while Eros looks
on, laughing and shoving off the unsophisticated suitor. TheSlipper-Slappergroup, as it
is affectionately known, was found in the guestroom of a complex operated by a group
of Phoenician businessmen, the Poseidoniasts.