She has been armless since the day she arrived in Paris, yet the debate about her missing limbs never ends.
A French naval officer found the statue in 1820 on the island of Melos, broken in pieces inside a farmer’s wall. Two arms were discovered nearby, one holding an apple, the other bent at the elbow. The farmer wanted money. The officer wanted glory. In the confusion the arms disappeared—some say thrown into the sea, others say hidden for ransom.
Restoration reports from the 1820s describe marble dowels and iron pins that once held the arms in place. Early drawings show her as a victorious goddess raising the apple of Paris. Later scholars argued she was spinning wool or holding a mirror. Every generation invents the Venus it needs.
In 2019 a 3D scan revealed drill holes in her torso that match no known reconstruction. The holes sit too high for the apple version and too low for the mirror theory. The statue refuses to choose. Without arms she belongs to everyone. With arms she would belong to one story and one story only. Paris decided long ago that mystery is more valuable than certainty.