The eye of the Goddess
Is the eye of Venus herself? She emerged from the volcanic rock of Herculaneum, at the feet of Vesuvius, after a sleep of very close to two thousand years.
Seventeen years before the well documented eruption of 79 CE, the Basilica at Herculaneum was almost entirely destroyed by an earthquake, and the Proconsul, Marcus Nonius Balbus, had started extensive repairs when the final disaster struck. The eruption covered Pompeii and the nearby towns of Herculaneum and Stabiae with nine to 20 feet of hot ash and pumice, and buried the painted marble bust.
The entire town of Herculaneum was discovered by chance in the 18th century, during the construction of a well, and the statue was found in a collapsed escarpment near the Basilica.
With her coloured hair and make up, her clearly defined pupils and eyelashes, she looks little unchanged, still fresh and beautiful after her long burial.