A couple of years ago I took this shot of an odd-shaped woman holding an apple and dropping what I took to be a tennis racket or perhaps a frying pan. It's part of a series of figures topping a wall by the riverside (I showed one earlier here). What could it be I wondered? The other figures seemed to represent trades and professions of Hull. Quite what this lady's profession might be I had not a clue (I lead a sheltered life) and various lewd suggestions from web-friends were hardly helpful. And there things would have remained had I not spent an afternoon going through recent photos. I found myself looking at exactly the same figure in a mosaic from the 3rd century AD! Unclad lady, an apple and what turns out to be a mirror who else could it be but Venus the Goddess of Beauty. OK beauty comes in all shapes and sizes ...
The mosaic is the Rudston Venus mosaic which came from a large Roman villa in the village of Rudston just west of Bridlington. It is now safely ensconced in the Hull & East Riding Museum.
That's brilliant.
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