Photo de stock - This painted ancient Greek terracotta vessel dates to the fifth century B. C. and was uncovered iin the area of Phanagoria, an ancient Greek settlement on the present-day Taman Peninisula near the Black Sea in what is present-day Russia. It was fashioned to represent the Greek goddess Aphrodite coming forth from an open scallop shell. The symbolism is clear - the Greeks said she was borm from the sea foam after the god Cronus cut off Uranus' genitals and threw them into the sea. Another myth has her father as Zeus and her mother Dione. Depicting Aprodite (venus to the Romans) arising from the sea and within a seashell was common. The Greek honored Aphrodite as the goddess of love and beauty. The vessel is housed in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg.