Cyrene, on the coast of Libya, had been founded in 631 BC by settlers from the island of Thera, compelled to emigrate there by the Pythia at Delphi (Herodotus, IV.150ff). By 1912, it had been wrested from the Ottoman Turks and become a colony of Italy. The Venus of Cyrene was discovered late the next year, when torrential rains washed away the topsoil at Trajan's Baths in the Sanctuary of Apollo, revealing the statue, which soon was transported to Rome.
A Roman copy of a Hellenistic original, it has been characterized as Aphrodite rising from the sea (Anadyomene), the arms away from the body, the hands squeezing water from the hair. It is a popular type that allows the display of a beautiful body, as does the Diadumenos, in which the arms are raised higher to tie a fillet around the head.
This picture was taken in 1997, when the statue still was in the Octagonal Hall of the Baths of Diocletian (or Museo delle Terme, after the baths where it first was exhibited). It remained there until 2008, when, following a ruling by an Italian court, the statue was returned to Libya.
Reference: "The Aphrodite from Cyrene" (1920) by Ernest A. Gardner, The Journal of Hellenic Studies, 40(Pt 2), 203-205; "Hellenistic Sculpture from Cyrene" (1921) by Gilbert Bagnani, The Journal of Hellenic Studies, 41(Pt 2), 232-246.
