The influence of Praxiteles on both his contemporaries and later Hellenistic sculptors was immense.  Some 50 copies of his famous statue of a nude Aphrodite have survived, like this Roman marble of ca. 100 BC, known as Aphrodite of Cyrene.  This sculpture represents the 4th century’s discovery of the female body as an object of beauty in itself; it was one of the first attempts to introduce the element of sensuality into the portrayal of the female form.  This copy was found by chance in the Roman baths at Cyrene, North Africa, hence its name.  The porpoise at the lower left is a reminder of the goddess’s marine associations: Aphrodite was supposed to have arisen from the sea at her birth.