'Shy Goddess Venus' found in Roman bath is hailed as ancient masterpiece

Modestly **** marble love goddess found
'Shy Goddess Venus' found in Roman bath is hailed as ancient masterpiece
A recently unearthed female sculpture in the archaeological site of the Antique Roman city of Skupi is hailed as an ancient masterpiece.
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Boris Grdanoski / AP

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_{An archaeologist is looking at a recently unearthed female sculpture in the archaeological site of the Antique Roman city of Skupi, located just northwest of Macedonia's capital Skopje, on Wednesday, July 9, 2008. The sculpture, dating from the second century, has been found in a Roman bath in Skupi and named The Shy Goddess Venus (Pudentis). (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)
2:20 p.m. ET, 7/10/08}

_{Archaeologists and workers excavate an early Christian basilica in the archaeological site of the Antique Roman city of Skupi, located just northwest of Macedonia's capital Skopje, on Wednesday, July 9, 2008.
9:43 a.m. ET, 7/9/08}

updated 1:40 p.m. CT, Thurs., July. 10, 2008
SKOPJE, Macedonia - Macedonian archaeologists say they have discovered a well-preserved statue of the goddess of love in the ruins of an ancient Roman city near Skopje.

Archaeologist Marina Oncevska said Thursday that the 5.6-foot-tall marble Venus is a masterpiece of ancient art executed in the late classical Greek tradition.

It dates to the second or third century.

Oncevska said archaeologists found the statue Tuesday in the ruins of Scupi on the northwest outskirts of Macedonia's capital.

"The smoothness of the marble and the beauty of the statue give us the clue that this masterpiece came from one of the best artistic schools in the Mediterranean," she said.

The goddess is depicted coyly covering her groin and breasts with her hands and has a dolphin attached to her left leg.

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