Emory students, meet Aphrodite: Greek goddess of love, mythical ancestress of the first kings of Britain and Julius Caesar and antiquity’s archetypal seductress — and now your proud neighbor.

In June 2006, the Michael C. Carlos Museum acquired the rare marble piece known as Figure of Aphrodite, a Roman imperial copy of an earlier Greek bronze statue by an unknown artist, from the late first century at a Sotheby’s auction in New York for the reported sum of $968,000, a generous portion of which was provided by Mrs. Michael C. Carlos. By itself, this would have been an immense and laudatory move on the museum’s part — although the statue was missing its head and right arm, even a partial, authentic statue of the goddess of love from mid-antiquity would have been a sight to behold.

But the Carlos Museum was more ambitious: it decided to make Aphrodite whole (or close enough to whole) again.

Head of a Goddess, also identified as being from the late first century, had been sold to a private art collector from Houston at a 2002 auction. Meanwhile, researchers at Sotheby’s — utilizing a 19th-century French drawing of the intact statue, which had belonged to an official at Napoleon Bonaparte’s court — were able to identify the Head as belonging to the Figure. The Carlos Museum purchased the head from the private collector for a reported $50,000, on the heels of a meticulous effort on the part of Carlos conservator Renée Stein to confirm that the head and the torso were indeed mates.

Now united, the recapitated statue depicts a nude Aphrodite, attempting to cover herself with her hand after noticing a voyeur. The subject’s nudity is highly significant in that its nude depiction came from a time in history when portrayals of unclothed females, both divine and otherwise, were becoming more commonplace.

On the base of the statue to Aphrodite’s left is the figure of the baby Eros riding a dolphin, a common feature of depictions of Aphrodite — and those who wished to accentuate their divine descent from the love goddess. The sculpted image of Cupid on a dolphin can also be seen on the Carlos Museum’s reproduction of the Augustus of Prima Porta, currently residing in the hallway of the Michael C. Carlos building, which depicts the first princeps striking a militaristic pose in an ornamental cuirass.

The museum’s staff and administrators put forth truly inspiring efforts to acquire the best possible pieces for the University and foster productive relationships with collectors and foreign governments, which lead to exhibits like the aforementioned Aphrodite and “Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharoahs,” which could not have been pulled off without the high level of trust that the Carlos Museum’s curators achieved with the Egyptian government. Another recent exhibit, including parts of the Dead Sea Scrolls, required the cooperation of the Israeli government.

The fact that the Carlos Museum is now prominently displaying the reconfigured Aphrodite, in the newly reorganized Greco-Roman section of the museum, should reinforce to members of the Emory community what a tremendous resource they have in the Carlos Museum. And while the Carlos Museum is a frequent destination for class trips for schools from around the greater Atlanta area, it is our hope that these recent, high-profile coups will encourage Emory students and faculty to make even greater use of the special opportunities that access to such a world-class institution provides.

At a time when the humanities in general are under a critical microscope, as budgets justifiably tighten across the board and students are drawn in greater numbers to fields of study with more obvious practical applications, it is encouraging that the Carlos Museum continues to work just as hard to aid Emory’s reputation as an institution that is devoted to the liberal arts.

The statue is a big deal in the art world and no academic field operates in a vacuum — what adds to Emory’s prestige in the art world can only buttress Emory’s overall prestige. Hopefully, students, faculty and staff alike will capitalize on the available opportunity and visit Emory’s whole-again resident love goddess — and keep in mind what it took to bring her here, piece by piece.

The above staff editorial represents the majority opinion of the Wheel’s Editorial Board.