For the source text click/tap here: Avodah Zarah 44
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Proclus the son of Plospus met Rabban Gamliel while bathing in the Greek goddess Aphrodite’s bathhouse in Akko and asked him how he could bathe there, given the clear prohibition in the Torah against benefiting from pagan idols. According to the Mishna, he went so far as to quote the passage in Sefer Devarim (13:18) that is the source for the prohibition.
Rabban Gamliel said to him “I cannot respond to you and discuss Torah ideas in the bathhouse.”
Upon exiting, Rabban Gamliel did respond to the question posed by Proclus.
Aphrodite was the Greek goddess of beauty, and she was represented by a beautiful, young female form, which is why statues of her were often used for decoration, rather than as an idol to be worshipped.
We explore The Bathhouse of Aphrodite: as a Case Study in Rabbinic Subterfuge.