Hesiod in the Theogony describes the birth of Aphrodite from the genitalia of Uranus, which Kronos cut off and cast into the sea; from the foam generated around them emerged the deity who was immortalised as the goddess of love. This very ancient myth is represented in Greek art already from the 5th c. BC. However, this particular type of Aphrodite, nude and wringing her hair seated upon a rocky outcrop or perhaps mounted on a dolphin (the figurine is too damaged for a certain identification), is a Hellenistic creation known both from monumental marble sculptures and from small-scale figurines. According to some researchers the type derives from a famous painting of Aphrodite Anadyomene (‘risen from the foam’) by the painter Apelles in the Asklepieion of Kos (second half of the 4th c. BC). Like the Praxitelian statue of ‘Cnidian Aphrodite’, Apelles’ painting is mentioned in many ancient sources and seems to have contributed to the formation of a new model of female beauty during Hellenistic times. It is clear that the erotic dimension of Aphrodite was only enhanced in the Hellenistic period, when the nude representations of the goddess proliferated and the word Aphrodisia became synonymous with sexual intercourse. This fact is possibly associated with the improved social position of women and their liberation from the conservatism of the male-dominated cities of the Classical period. At the same time, it reflects a departure from the aesthetic of Classical art, which was based on adulation of the male body.