Found in the 1830s by William Martin Leake (1777-1860) at Thebes in Boeotia (Greece), given to the British Museum in 1839.
Marble.
Probably late Classical.
British Museum, GR 1839.8-6.4.
H 14 in., W 12 1/2 in.
Metropolitan Catalogue: Cast no. 935.
Cast Location: Robinson B359 Hallway

Two vertical braids of hair between two pilasters adorn this votive relief in the form of an aedicule (chapel). The architrave is inscribed: "Philombrotus and Apthenetus, sons of Deinomachus, dedicate this offering to Poseidon." Leake found the relief at the site of a temple to Poseidon near the sea and thus at the edge of Theban territory. Ancient literary sources attest to the practice of offering one's hair to Poseidon after surviving a shipwreck, and Leake assumed that the dedicators "were probably about to encounter, or had escaped from some peril at sea." Hair was dedicated to various gods as an act of piety, to judge from ancient literary references to the practice. The hair itself might be hung from a tree in a sacred grove, or enclosed in a container and dedicated in a sanctuary, or, as in this case, a more expensive marble dedication might be offered to Poseidon. The dedication of an image of their braids by Philombrotus and Aphthonetus might best be seen as both an act of gratitude, and a vow to dedicate themselves to Poseidon for the rest of their lives, leaving behind that physical state in which they had been close to death.
~Lucy R. Miller


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Bibliography


See William Martin Leake, Travels in Northern Greece. London, 1835/Amsterdam, 1967, 360-361; James Milligen. Ancient Unedited Monuments. London, 1722, 32; C. T. Newton, ed. Ancient Greek Inscriptions in the British Museum. Oxford, 1883, 29; A. H. Smith, A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum, vol. 1 (London, 1892), 366-367, no. 798; F. Van Straten, "Votives and Votaries in Greek Sanctuaries," Le Sanctuaire Grec, ed. A. Schachter. Vandoeuvres-Geneva, 1992, 10. Fig. 12.]]>
Found in Rome.
Marble.
Greek, probably late Classical.
Rome, Capitoline Museums.
H 36 in., W 12 in.
Not in Metropolitan cast catalogue.
Cast Location: Johnson Center 2nd floor

The top of the stele is missing. Carved in low relief. The now-headless profile figure of a standing girl wears a lightweight, crinkly chiton. It is possible that this relief was brought to Rome from Greece during antiquity.


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Bibliography


Fig. 13.]]>
From the Mausoleum at Halikarnassus (modern Bodrum).
Marble relief.
Ca. 350 BCE. London, British Museum.
H 35 in., W 50 in.
Metropolitan Catalogue: Cast no. 740.
Long-term loan.
Cast Location: Concert Hall Lobby

The Mausoleum at Halikarnassus was the tomb of King Mausolus (d. 353 BCE) of Caria in western Asia Minor (modern Turkey). It is thought to have been completed after his death by his wife/sister Artemisia. The tomb became one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, in part because of its colossal size (over 140 feet tall), and because it was decorated with statues and reliefs carved by some of the most famous Greek sculptors of the day. The tomb survived until the thirteenth century, when it was destroyed by an earthquake. Thereafter, much of the marble of which it had been constructed was carried off and used nearby for building materials. The Castle of St. Peter at Bodrum contains many blocks from the Mausoleum. This is one of the most famous reliefs from the tomb on the west coast of Turkey that was actually named the Mausoleum, from which the modern usage of the word derives. A Greek warrior, conventionally nude by classical artistic convention, has fallen on one knee, tries to protect himself with his shield, and looks over his shoulder at his vicious attacker, an Amazon, her feet planted firmly, her sword raised over her head to strike. She is clad in a tunic, as members of this warlike race of women are typically represented in classical art. At the left, part of an Amazon astride a rearing horse is part of the next scene. The site of the Mausoleum at Halikarnassos was first excavated between 1856 and 1858 by Charles T. Newton, an assistant curator at the British Museum, with a permit (firman) from the Turkish Sultan to remove the sculptures, many of which had been built into the walls of the castle of St. Peter, built by the Knights of St. John in 1402. Many of the sculptures and reliefs that had once decorated the tomb were taken to the British Museum in London, where they are now on display.
~Ellen McV. Layman


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Bibliography


See Lucilla Burn, The British Museum Book of Greek and Roman Art (London, 1991), 112-126; A. H. Smith, A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum, vol. 2 (London, 1900), 65-143. Fig. 14. Fig. Cast no. 14 by Andrew Zimmerman.]]>
Metropolitan Catalogue: Cast no. 1226.
Cast Location: Robinson B359 Hallway



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Bibliography


Fig. 15.]]>
Found in the sanctuary of Demeter at Knidos in Asia Minor.
Parian marble.
Ca. 350 - 330 BCE.
The whole statue is in London, British Museum. H without base 17 in. Metropolitan Catalogue: Cast no. 749.
Cast Location: Krasnow Bldg

Demeter, the Greek goddess of grain and of fertility, was associated with the underworld at Knidos, where she was worshipped along with other underworld deities, including her daughter Persephone, the wife of Hades. In this sanctuary, the seated sculpture of Demeter is portrayed as a model of Greek womanhood - serene, mature, and motherly, wearing a chiton and a mantle that veils her head. The statue is seated on a cushioned chair, her feet on a foot-stool. Her long hair is parted in the middle, with long locks falling onto her shoulders. Her eyes are deeply set, and her gaze is calm and perhaps sorrowful. The statue is usually thought to have been influenced by the work of the fourth-century-BCE artist Praxiteles. An expedition of London's Society of Dilettanti first noticed the statue in the Sanctuary of Demeter at Knidos, Turkey, in 1812. Charles Newton uncovered the seated figure and took it to London in 1858. The head was found at a later date, but the entire sculpture is in the British Museum.
~Ashley Simpson


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Bibliography

See A. H. Smith, Catalogue of Sculpture in Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum, vol. 2 (London, 1900), 200-204, no. 1300, pl. XXIV; Lucilla Burn, The British Museum Book of Greek and Roman Art (London, 1991). Fig. 16. Fig. Cast no. 16 before cleaning.]]>
From Ostia, port of ancient Rome.
Parian marble.
Style of the 4th century BCE.
London, British Museum.
H without base 14 in.
Metropolitan Catalogue: Head of cast no. 696.
Cast Location: Krasnow Bldg

This head comes from a Roman marble sculpture carved in the late Classical period in the style of Praxiteles. The full statue represents Aphrodite emerging from a bath, wearing drapery around her legs and sandals. Her hair is parted in the middle and knotted in back. Her expression is tranquil. In the cast, the tip of her nose has been restored. Gavin Hamilton excavated the statue in 1775, in the ruins of a bath complex. Charles Towneley purchased the statue.
~ Ashley Simpson


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Bibliography


See A. H. Smith, Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum, vol. 3 (London, 1904), 28, no. 1574. Fig. 17.]]>
Full statue found on the island of Andros.
Marble.
Style of the 4th century BCE.
Athens, National Archaeological Museum.
H without base 13 1/2 in.
Metropolitan Catalogue: Cast no. 707.
Cast Location: Krasnow Bldg

In the full statue, Hermes wears a cloak slung over his left shoulder, and leans against a tree trunk with a snake coiled around it. The statue was identified as Hermes because of the snake: it is one of the two that would normally coil around his wand (caduceus). This sculpture was frequently reproduced in the Greco-Roman world.

~Ashley Simpson


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Bibliography

Fig. 18.]]>
Purchased in Rome in 1809, and apparently found in Ostia in 1792.
Parian marble.
Style of the 4th century BCE.
Munich, Glyptothek
H with base 22 1/2 in.
Metropolitan Catalogue: Cast no. 767.
Long-term loan.
Cast Location: Robinson B359 Hallway

The young woman has an oval face, smooth and unmarked forehead and face, and somewhat hooded eyes. The hair is pulled back in parallel waves to the base of the head, in the manner of the Herculaneum Women in Dresden. Like them, she may be an idealized portrait. Otherwise, her untroubled features might suggest that she is a Muse or a goddess. The nose, chin, and neck are restored in the cast, making the head appear to be undamaged.



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Bibliography

See Adolf Furtwängler, Beschreibung der Glyptothek König Ludwig's I. zu München (Munich, 1910), 191-194, no. 210. Fig. 19.]]>

This head probably comes from a statue. The face is youthful and effeminate, and was originally identified as that of a woman. The head wears no wreath of vine leaves, which became the distinguishing feature of Dionysos in the later Hellenistic period. The long curly lock behind each ear probably extended to the shoulder. Dionysos came to the Greek pantheon from Phrygia. He injected a rash spirit of wine-drinking and intense mental frenzy, often manifested orgiastically. During the Archaic period of the sixth century BCE, he appears as a mature bearded god, but he grows younger during the fifth century, when he is portrayed as a youth, and he becomes more and more fleshy, sensual, and effeminate during the fourth century BCE and thereafter. Festivals were held in honor of Dionysos throughout Greece. In Athens, however, authorities toned down much of the festival's original madness. The Boston Museum of Fine Arts acquired the marble head in 1896 as part of a concerted effort to gather a collection of classical sculptures. The head was reported to have been found near the choragic Monument of Lysikrates (334 BCE) in what is now the Plaka region of Athens.
~Bill Pierce


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Bibliography

See Walter Burkert, Greek Religion (Cambridge, Mass., 1985); L. D. Caskey, Catalogue of Greek and Roman Sculpture in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Cambridge, Mass., 1925); Mary B. Comstock and Cornelius C. Vermeule, Sculpture in Stone: The Greek, Roman, and Etruscan Collections of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston (Boston, 1976); W. K. C. Guthrie, The Greeks and their Gods (Boston, rpt. 1954). Fig. 20.]]>
Marble.
Ca. 180-156 BCE.
Berlin, Pergamon Museum.
H 62 in., W 43 in., D 18 in.
Metropolitan Catalogue: Cast no. 798.
Long-term loan.
Cast Location:Johnson Ctr 2nd floor

The frieze to which this large statue of Apollo belongs consists of more than one hundred figures of Greek gods (led by Zeus) fiercely battling the giants. The most extensive representation of this epic conflict ever attempted by Greek artists, the frieze is thought to have served as a mythological parallel for the Pergamene victories over the Gauls or Galatians. The decorated altar was created during the reign of the Attalid king Eumenes II between 165 and 156 BCE and dedicated to Zeus and Athena. The names of the participants are helpfully inscribed on this encyclopedic monument. Apollo is defeating the giant Erysicthon. The torso is beautifully muscled, and the drapery folds help to express the drama of battle. German excavations directed by Karl Humann in 1879 and 1880 on the ancient acropolis at Pergamon in Turkey uncovered the magnificently carved frieze surrounding a high podium, and an Ionic colonnade at the top of the podium, within which was an altar dedicated to Zeus. The entire monument is in the Pergamon Museum, Berlin, which was built to house them.
~Lisa Hargrove


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Bibliography

See Renee Dreyfus and Ellen Schraudolph, editors, Pergamon: The Telephos Frieze from the Great Altar, vol. 2 (San Francisco, 1997); J. J. Pollitt, Art in the Hellenistic Age (New York, 1986); Evamaria Schmidt, The Great Altar of Pergamon (Leipzig, 1962). Fig. 21.]]>