This temple contained the famous early fourth-century BCE sculpture of the goddess by Praxiteles, often said to be the first nude statue in the Greek world. An account from Roman times exists that, in the context of a discussion which is better, homosexual or heterosexual love, describes the immense erotic power of the statue of Aphrodite1:
"As soon as the Athenian, who had so far been indifferent, glimpsed this side of the goddess, which reminded him of boys, he exclaimed with even greater enthusiasm than that of Charícles, "By Hercules, what a harmonious back. What rounded thighs, begging to be caressed with both hands! How well the lines of her cheeks flow, neither too skinny, showing the bones, nor so voluminous as to droop!"2
Hadrian built a replica of the temple in his villa at Tivoli. Thanks to replica the original could be identified.
