According to a possibly apocryphal account by Pliny, Praxiteles received a commission from the citizens of Kos for a statue of the goddess Aphrodite. Praxiteles then created two versions— one fully draped, and the other completely nude. The shocked citizens of Kos rejected the nude statue and purchased the draped version. The design and appearance of the draped version is today unknown as it didn’t survive, nor did it appear to have merited attention, to judge from the lack of surviving accounts.

The rejected nude was purchased by some citizens of Knidos and set up in an open air temple that permitted viewing of the statue from all sides. It quickly became one of the most famous works by Praxiteles for the bold depiction of Aphrodite as proudly and erotically nude.

Praxiteles was alleged to have used the courtesan Phryne as a model for the statue, which added to the gossip surrounding its origin. The statue became so widely known and copied that in a hyperbolic anecdote the goddess Aphrodite herself came to Knidos to see it, and asked …”Where did Praxiteles see me naked?”.

The statue became a tourist attraction in spite of being a cult image and patron of the Knidians. Nicomedes I of Bithynia offered to pay off the enormous debts of the city of Knidos in exchange for the statue, but the Knidians rejected his offer. The tradition— apparently prompted by a stain in the marble on the rear of one thigh— that the statue was so lifelike that a young man secreted himself in the cella at night and attempted to copulate with it[1] is recorded in the dialogue Erotes (section 15), traditionally misattributed to Lucian of Samosata.