Eros of Thespie by Praxiteles

 I would like to add this marble statue of Cupid to the selection of James. 

It was a famous sculpture in the Roman world and it had a complex story. In the Fourth Verrines (De signis) Cicero says that Mummius, the conquer of Corinth, took away from Thespiae all the unconsecrated  statues including a Lady of Thespie, he did not touch the marble statue of Cupid in this town, work of Praxiteles, because it was consecrated. Later Caligula carried off the statue from Thespiae which was later returned by Claudius; then Nero stole again the statue and placed in the Porticus of Octavia where it was burned in the fire of 80 (Strabo 9. 2.25; Pausania 9. 27. 3; Pliny 36. 22). The Thespians, however, commissioned a copy of this statue by the sculptor Menodorus. The sources point out that the statue of Cupid was not only essential for the cult in Thespiae but was also a touristic attraction. The sources say that people come to Thespiae from all over only for seeing the statue. It was a cultural mark, a symbol of Thespiae’s identity.