An exceptional Alexander Frieze

Honestly, I am not too keen on statues, paintings or other depictions of Alexander other than those from the Greek and Hellenistic era. I obviously have to include the Roman copies because more often than not, the Greek originals no longer exist.

Over the centuries, Alexander enjoyed many admirers. Scores of sculptors and painters have tried their best to produce a portrait of Alexander befitting the great king, placing him in their own historical context. It is precisely that kind of setting that I often find awkward.

Paintings by Charles le Brun (Entry into Babylon, Alexander and Porus, the Battle of Arbela, etc.), Peter-Paul Rubens (Roxane), Paolo Veronese (The family of Darius before Alexander), Jacques-Louis David and Tieopolo (Alexander and Campaspe in the studio of Apelles) are all beautiful representations. Still, for me, those pictures don’t take me back to the very days of Alexander. The same happens with most of the stone and marble renditions of the conqueror by great artists like Verrocchio or Andrea della Robbia, as well as the portraits on cameos and medallions.

Today, I am, however, making an exception for this Alexander frieze displayed on the walls of the cafeteria at the Harris Museum and Art Gallery in Preston, UK. It is a plaster copy of a work by the Danish artist Bertel Thorvaldsen. 

The name Thorvaldsen probably doesn’t ring a bell with most of us, but in the 19th century, he was one of the highly successful artists. After his studies at the Copenhagen Academy, he went to Rome, where his enthusiasm for classical sculpture fired his imagination. 

Just like the copy we find in Preston, the original Alexander Frieze was also made of plaster. It was actually commissioned in 1812 to celebrate Napoleon’s entry into Rome. It took Thorvaldsen three months to accomplish this masterpiece. Yet, Napoleon never showed up in Rome, and the frieze remained at the Palazzo Quirinale. 

However, the scene was so inspiring that two other versions were created in marble. One for Count Sommariva, who lived near Lake Como in Italy, and one for the Palace of Christianborg in Copenhagen. Several plaster casts were made during Thorvaldsen’s lifetime and also afterwards. The Preston copy arrived in England in 1862 to celebrate Danish art at the International Exhibition in London. The Victoria and Albert Museum offered this piece of art to the Harris Museum and Art Gallery in Preston in 1987.

The scene of the frieze loosely interprets the triumphant entry of Alexander the Great into Babylon in 331 BC. Basically, the frieze starts from two sides. One is showing the army led by Alexander in a chariot, and the other the citizens of Babylon led by the goddess of peace holding an olive branch. 

The frieze is a magnificent piece of art, and I feel it deserves a better setting than a cafeteria, even if it fits the neo-classical style of the building! Thorvaldsen truly understood the essence of Greek art, or rather Hellenistic art, at its apotheosis. It is not surprising to learn that the piece has been copied so many times. Napoleon clearly did not realize what he missed...

The frieze closely reflects the frieze of the Parthenon with its successive figures on horseback and their cloaks bulging in the wind. I love the lively details the artist managed to incorporate. There is this cute looking elephant carrying the trophies of war taken from the Persians. Or the Babylonian flower girls and musicians, and the chained lions. I am staring in awe at the knelt figure dragging an altar because it reminds me of a similar artifact I encountered at the Museum of Morgantina in Sicily. That specific altar from the 3rd century BC was made of silver and was found at the House of the wealthy Eupolemos, as part of an extraordinary hoard of silverware (see: Haggling over the silver hoard of Morgantina). 

I secretly wonder whether Alexander carried a similar altar with him on his campaigns. We may never know for sure, but it certainly is not impossible.

[Pictures are reproduced with the courtesy of Jim Cleary]

Phidias, architect and sculptor

One of the most recurrent names of Greek sculptors is undoubtedly Phidias. He lived in the days of Pericles, Athens’ Golden Age. His best-known masterpieces were completed in the years between 465 and 430 BC.

The first Persian War of 490 BC ended with the Battle of Marathon. The second Persian invasion in 480 and 479 BC led to the fire of Athens and its Acropolis. The Athenians who had sought refuge on the nearby island of Salamis could only watch on. As a result of these wars, Athens had to be rebuilt, and Themistocles’ priority was to protect the city. He erected a protective wall using much of the rubble from the destroyed buildings.

The restoration of the Acropolis happened only some thirty years later. That enterprise was led by the statesman and orator Pericles, who came to power around 461 BC. He had befriended Phidias, who was already a celebrated artist. He put him in charge of rebuilding the Parthenon.

Rebuilding the Parthenon was no small affair. Phidias functioned as a modern general manager and supervisor and had to take care of almost every detail. The new design was meant to boost Greek morale and express the courage of the Greeks who had defeated the Persian invaders.

The modern restoration works at the Parthenon have revealed many subtle construction elements that were hitherto unknown. Isn’t it amazing to find out that the true genius of Phidias surfaces only 2,500 years after his death? Thanks to modern technology, we can genuinely appreciate the complicated arithmetic and geometric correlation in calculating the temple’s proportions. And there is an overall inter-relationship between its height, width, and depth that has never been surpassed. As described in an earlier blog (see: The perfection of a Greek temple), the entire concept of the Parthenon is just perfect. The eye is being tricked, for there is no single straight line in the whole construction!

Many original friezes and reliefs have now been moved to the New Acropolis Museum. The way they are exhibited helps us understand the concept of the entire project as the sequence of the scenes unfolds to the visitor walking past.

Under Pericles, Phidias constructed a giant nine-meter-high statue of Athena Promachos in bronze. It stood between the Propylaea (the actual entrance to the Acropolis) and the Parthenon and could be seen far out at sea. Another statue of Athena was erected inside the Parthenon. This was a chryselephantine statue that stood twelve meters tall. It was covered with ivory and gold. Athena was easily recognizable to all, with the head of Medusa on her shield and her characteristic helmet. As extra references, she carried the image of Nike, the goddess of Victory, in her right hand and held her spear with her left. At her feet, a small pond filled with oil was added to moisturize the fragile ivory, creating a soft reflection of her features at the same time. This Athena was dedicated in 438 BC, i.e., almost ten years after its conception. Please note that this was only 100 years before Alexander the Great was born. He must have seen her in all her glory!

Very soon afterward, Phidias’ started his greatest masterpiece, which became one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. We are talking about the famous statue of Zeus, conceived especially for the Temple of Zeus in Olympia, completed in 432 BC. It stood in the inner temple and is beyond our imagination. In antiquity, it was described as an acrolith, i.e., made of a wooden frame covered with ivory and gold (see also: The ladies of Morgantina), with inlaid eyes. Zeus was crowned with an olive wreath. In his right hand, he held an elephantine statue of Nike, the goddess of Victory, while in his left hand, he held the divine scepter. Although the father of the gods was seated, the statue stood 12.4 meters high, meaning that his head nearly hit the ceiling. Just like for the Athena inside the Parthenon, the ivory body parts of Zeus were regularly rubbed with oil. A shallow oil reservoir in front of the statue also acted as a reflecting pool (see: Olympia, in the footsteps of Pausanias).

Working from his nearby shop in Olympia, it took Phidias eight years to complete this wondrous statue. His quarters were built primarily to house this work of art. The place has been identified thanks to a small terracotta cup unearthed within its walls carrying the inscription “I belong to Pheidias.” His house must have emanated prestige and elegance fitting a renowned and accomplished artist.

Sadly, no originals of Phidias’ work have survived. All we have are copies usually made by the Romans several centuries later. The artist is known for creating a dedication in memory of Marathon and a large bronze in Delphi that combined Apollo and Athena with several attic heroes. We can be assured, however, that he influenced countless artists all over the Mediterranean for many centuries.

Phidias died in 430 BC, probably shortly after having completed his Olympian masterpiece, but the circumstances of his death are shrouded in mystery.

Olympia, in the footsteps of Pausanias

How about walking through a city with a 2,000-year-old guidebook in your hands and still finding your way around? That is possible in Olympia, where you can walk in the footsteps of Pausanias, who visited and described the city in the second century AD (see: Pausanias - Fϋhrer durch Olympia). Back then, Olympia shone in all its glory, some of which we still can find today, although we must also put our imagination to work.

Olympia is where the Olympic Games were born in 776 BC, a four-yearly event celebrated until 393 AD, spanning twelve centuries. The city definitely has something to tell if you listen closely!

According to tradition, the Olympic Games were held at the first full moon after the summer solstice. The high priestess of Olympia would mark the start of these games by lighting the Olympic flame. Participating individuals and city-states would bring offerings to ask for the favor of Zeus and Hera in their respective temples. Among such expensive gifts, some of which made it to the local museum, we find shields, helmets, money, weapons, and statues by the greatest artists of the time. To raise their prestige, many cities built their own treasuries to house their valued offerings.

From a simple foot race over the entire length of the Stadium (192m), the Olympic Games grew into a five-day event with 18 different competitions. These included wrestling, boxing, foot races over longer distances, discus and javelin throwing, chariot, horse-racing, and pentathlon. To allow the participants to travel unharmed through bellicose city-states, a three-month truce was called all over Greece, and Olympia attracted as many as 40,000 visitors. The victors' prize was meager in our modern eyes: a crown of olive leaves and an olive branch cut from the nearby sacred grove. True to the Greek idealism of that time, the real prize was eternal glory and fame, reaching a sense of immortality.

Like Pausanias, my first stop is at the Temple of Zeus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, completed in 457 BC. It is impossible to follow his detailed description of the roof, the pediments, the metopes, and the votive offerings; there is not even an inkling of the famous statue of Zeus created in 432 BC by nobody less than Phidias, whose workshop is nearby. All I find are massive foundations, the steps of the stylobate, with tumbled-down drums from the archaic Doric columns, one of which has kindly been re-erected for us to visualize. Initially, this temple, measuring 64x28m, was the largest in Greece, six columns wide and 13 columns long, reaching a height of almost 11 meters. It is hard to imagine the beauty and the glory of this building staring at these weathered gray limestone elements, which were coated with a thin layer of stucco. This temple's impressive east and west pediments have been retrieved and are now exhibited in their full splendor at the local museum. They are facing each other over the entire length of the room, set at eye level, enabling the visitor to closely witness the mythical chariot race of Pelops and Oinomaos on the east pediment (the fundamental myth of Olympia) and the battle of the Lapiths and Centaurs on the west pediment with a three-meter-tall Apollo at its center. Just try to imagine these pediments when standing in front of the remains of the Temple of Zeus, with the huge loose drums of the columns lying on the ground. It must have taken the breath away from any visitor to the Games!

At the museum, there is also a splendid light-footed Nike of Paionos (424 BC) that once stood on a triangular base at the southeastern corner of the Temple of Zeus, still in situ. Her waving cloak and the opening of her wings give the impression of her flying descent from Mount Olympus to proclaim her victory. Nike is 2.10 meters tall, and the base puts her nearly 9 meters up in the air. The inscription "The Messenians and the Naupactians dedicated to Olympic Zeus a tithe of the booty taken from their enemies" refers to their victory over Sparta, probably around 421 BC.

The very statue of Zeus in the inner temple is beyond imagination. However, antiquity descriptions mention that it was an acrolith, i.e., a wooden frame covered with ivory and gold (see also my earlier blog: The Ladies of Morgantina), with inlaid eyes. Zeus was crowned with an olive wreath; in his right hand, he held an elephantine statue of Nike, the goddess of Victory, also crowned with a wreath and holding out a ribbon, while in his left hand, he held the divine scepter. Although the father of the gods was seated, the statue stood 12.4 meters high, meaning that his head nearly hit the ceiling. A recent study has revealed that the slabs of 2.8 to 3 cm thick Pentelic marble used for the temple roofing let through more light than marble from Paros used for the sculptures in the pediment and apparently lit up Zeus' features (especially the eyes) once the visitor's eyesight became accustomed to the darkness inside the temple. To preserve the ivory body parts of Zeus, these were regularly rubbed with oil that was kept in a special shallow reservoir in front of the statue, which may have acted as a reflecting pool as well.

For obvious reasons, Pausanias' next stop and mine is at the nearby workshop of Phidias. Since this building was converted into an early Christian church in the 5^th century AD, the overall construction and layout have been preserved – enough, it seems, for scholars to recreate the scale model of this workshop that occupies a prominent place at the Museum of Olympia. It was built primarily to house this work of art and was lit by rows of windows on three different levels. Phidias' workshop, measuring 32x14.5m, could be identified by the many tools and terracotta molds found inside. However, the solid proof came from a small terracotta cup that was unearthed within its walls, carrying the inscription "I belong to Pheidias" and is now exhibited at the museum. The artist's house must have emitted a certain prestige and elegance when judging by the corner antefixes retrieved on the premises. But then, he was a renowned and accomplished artist, reputed for having worked closely with Pericles at the reconstruction of the Acropolis in Athens. All the sculptures of the Parthenon are by Phidias or were made under his guidance, and his masterpiece certainly was the Chryselephantine statue of Athena, created some eight years earlier.

The Temple of Hera (the wife of Zeus) was the first large building in Olympia, built between 650 and 600 BC, making it the oldest known Doric temple built of stone (earlier sanctuaries were made of wood). It is also the first well-preserved peripteral temple, meaning the columns ran all around the inner sanctum, sixteen deep and six wide. Inside the Heraion was the table on which the garlands for the victors in the Olympic Games were prepared. The museum hosts a beautiful, well-restored terracotta acroterion in the shape of a disk that stands on top of each pediment. It may represent the sun or another heavenly body and is unique for its size and the variety of its painted decorations. Better known is undoubtedly the gorgeous Hermes by Praxiteles (late 4^th century BC) that was discovered among the ruins of the Heraion. This perfectly rendered Hermes is holding the infant Dionysus, who, as the future god of wine, reaches out for the now lost bunch of grapes which Hermes probably held in his raised right hand. The finely polished 2.13 meters high statue is made of Parian marble and fills the room with its very presence.

At the Philippeon, built by Philip II and finished under Alexander the Great, Pausanias witnessed the statues of both Macedonian kings and those of Amyntas and Eurydike, Philip's parents, and of Olympias, his wife – all executed by Leochares in ivory and gold. This circular building, finished around 338 BC and built to commemorate Philip's victory at Chaeronea, has been partially restored to give at least some idea of this exceptional monument. However, the grand statues are long gone. For a complete description of the Philippeon and its historical context, please refer to my earlier blog: The Philippeon at Olympia.

On the way to the Stadium, then and now, the visitor inevitably passes by the large Nymphaeum donated by Herodes Atticus and his wife, Regilla. The fifteen niches of the circular, two-story-high back wall were populated with statues of Herodes Atticus himself and those of several Roman Emperors like Antoninus Pius, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, and their family members. Several of these marble effigies have been recovered and can be admired at the Museum of Olympia. To name just a few, we find Athenaides, daughter of Herodus Atticus; Annia Faustina or Lucilla, daughters of Emperor Aurelius; Marcus Aurelius himself; the emperors Hadrian and Titus. On the edge of the pool, separating the circular part of the rectangular basin in the front, stood a life-size bull, also moved to the museum, which carries an inscription left by Herodus Atticus' wife, reading: "Regilla, priestess of Demeter offers the water and appendices to Zeus." Each end of this rectangular basin was decorated with a small tholos.

Next to this grand Nymphaeum, twelve Treasury Houses, of which only five have been identified, line up before reaching the Stadium. Today, it is difficult to separate the outline of these buildings from the 6^th and 5^th centuries BC. Still, this lack of insight is compensated mainly by the 16 bases of Zanes (the plural form of Zeus), whose bronze statues, ranging from the 4^th century BC to the 1^st century AD, lined up the way to the entrance of the Stadium. One of these statues even represented Alexander the Great as Zeus! They were built using the fines athletes had to pay for cheating at the Games. The athlete's name and infringement were recorded on these bases for all to know. They stood here as a warning to future competitors. I found it quite amazing to learn that so many statues were made of costly bronze, silver, and even electron; some were also chryselephantine sculptures with their hands and faces made of gold or ivory (besides the famous Zeus). The wealth of Olympia is far beyond our imagination.

The Stadium is, of course, the piece of resistance that stands for all that Olympia was about, the very core of the Olympic Games. An inspiring portion of the vault that initially covered the entire entranceway, the Krypte, added in Hellenistic times, is still visible today. Emerging from this tunnel into the blasting light of the Stadium must have added to the athletes' sense of expectation. The Stadium area was 212.5 meters long and 28 meters wide, but the race field proper met the standard length of 192 meters. Even today, it is pretty exciting to stand on the stone departure line facing the challenge of the entire length of the track. In antiquity, some 40,000 spectators from all over Greece would have cheered their favorite figure from the sloping sides, simply sitting on the grass. The only benches were those reserved for the judges, the so-called Exedra set halfway on the south side of the Stadium. Opposite this Exedra and still visible today stood the altar of Demeter Hamyne.

Whether Alexander ever visited Olympia or attended the Olympic Games is uncertain. Still, we do know that the news of his birth in 356 BC was brought to Philip together with the news that his horses had won. This competition was held at the adjacent 780-meter-long Hippodrome.

It makes one wonder where all these guests and spectators stayed during the games, and it is surprising to find a large guesthouse inside the precinct of Olympia, known as the Leonidaion. It was built around 330 BC and was entirely financed by Leonidas of Naxos. It is said to be the largest hostel of antiquity, and with its 74 x 80 meters, it is indeed imposing. Moreover, it must have been quite a pleasant place to stay. The rooms were located on all four sides of the buildings around a central atrium trimmed with 44 Doric columns, imitating the Greek fashion of the time. The rooms on the west side were larger and more luxurious than those on the other three sides. A gallery counting 138 Ionic columns, 5.5 meters tall, ran around the outside of the Leonidaion. In Roman times, the building was converted into living quarters for their dignitaries, and a wavy pool, complete with a central island, was added. The ornate terracotta antefixes from this building are particularly handsome with their leaf motifs and lion head spouts, which can be admired at the Museum of Olympia.

The last complex of importance is composed of the Palaestra and the Gymnasium, where all the competitors trained for at least one month before the start of the games. The Palaestra was conceived in the 3^rd century BC for pugilists and wrestlers to exercise. The building was almost square, 66 x 77 m, with a central courtyard surrounded by a colonnade giving access to spaces for practical use like the cloakrooms, teaching rooms, bathrooms, the rooms where athletes could rub themselves with oil and sand, etc. Adjacent to the northern side is the Gymnasium, built about a century later. This building is much larger, measuring 120 x 220 m, and is entirely closed off. Like the Palaestra, it is set around a vast central courtyard with porticos on all four sides. The roof of these wide Stoas was supported on the inner side by a double row of Doric columns. The Gymnasium was appropriately used for sports requiring more space, like running, javelin, discus throwing, etc. In bad weather, the athletes could still exercise under the covered Stoa. Behind the Stoa on the west side were the rooms dedicated to the athletes, while on the east side, the Stoa was closed off by a solid outer wall (see also: Olympia, an ongoing excavation project).

Olympia can only be seen with its museum and vice versa. They truly complement each other.

[Click here to see all the pictures of Olympia]

Translucent roof to illuminate Zeus’ face inside his temple at Olympia

What will they come up next, you’ll ask. Yet the theory is not as crazy as it may seem.

[Reconstruction of the statue of Zeus at the Hermitage Museum, Credit: George Shuklin/WikiCommons]

Descriptions from antiquity give us details about the eyes and the hair of the 12-meter-high statue of Zeus that occupied the temple at Olympia after Phidias completed it in 432 BC. We know that the statue was an acrolith, i.e., a wooden frame covered with ivory and gold (see also my earlier blog: The ladies of Morgantina), but its beauty and uniqueness made it one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world.

The Temple of Olympia has no windows, and the door was not of exceptional size, but still, people were able to describe Zeus’ looks. There must have been a trick, right?

In a recent study, a team of researchers concentrated on the marble roof of the temple, testing the translucency of different types of marble. It turns out that slabs of 2.8 to 3 cm thick Pentelic marble, the kind found in the mountains behind Athens, let through more light than marble from Paros and probably just enough to discover Zeus’ features once the visitor’s eyesight became accustomed to the darkness inside the temple. Special light meters and a spectrophotometer have revealed a high transparency level in the yellow-red of the spectrum, meaning that the thin slabs of Pentelic marble were capable of illuminating objects made of ivory and gold. In a natural way, the roof could have let enough light through to discern the face (especially the eyes) and the head of this tall Zeus.

An additional argument to support this theory of using Pentelic marble may be found in the fact that the Greeks replaced the original Paros marble plates of the temple with plates of Pentelic marble – a coincidence or a preference for cheaper construction material, we’ll never know, for nothing has remained of the great sculpture. After the temple of Olympia was destroyed by repetitive earthquakes, the statue was moved to Constantinople (now Istanbul) where it went up in flames in 475 AD.

Haggling over the silver hoard of Morgantina

The main treasures exhibited at the Museum of Morgantina are, strangely enough, the result of illegal diggings that found their way via clandestine channels to museums in the United States. The Ladies of Morgantina which I discussed earlier were eventually located by experts at the University of Virginia Art Museum. 

Yet, that is not all for through the same channels a 15-piece silver hoard was smuggled from the so-called House of Eupolemos on the site of Morgantina in Sicily to show up at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Evidence for the looting goes back to the 1980’s but discussions back and forth with the Italian authorities dragged on for years. Finally in 2006 an agreement was reached between the Metropolitan Museum, the Italian government and the regional government of Sicily to restitute the treasure under condition to return it to New-York Metropolitan this year for a period of four years. Since it was beyond doubt that the vessels came from the site of Morgantina, the treasure arrived back where it belongs in 2010.

Of course, considering the American point of view, the above deal makes some sense. The Met put down nearly three million dollars during the years 1981-1982 for this Hellenistic silver believed to come from Turkey and wants to cash in on the money spent. But then the Sicilians rightfully say that these unique vessels belong to the place where they were found and should be exhibited at the Museo Regionale di Aidone next to the site of Morgantina. Since November last year, difficult negotiations are taking place to keep this hoard of Eupolemos where it is now in exchange for a possible loan of other artifacts to the Metropolitan. The Met is not commenting on this suggestion although they are at least open for further discussions. Diplomatic responses are being expressed but nothing conclusive so far (See this article in The Art Newspaper).

Thanks to a coin found at the House of Eupolemos, the silverware can be dated to 214-212 BC. These were turbulent years when Carthage and Rome fought each other in the Second Punic War over the supremacy of Sicily. According to Livy, Morgantina was attacked in 211 BC and conquered by the Romans, events that coincides with the time the hoard was hidden. An inscription on a lead-tablet reveals the name of Eupolemos, who is either a high-priest, or the owner or keeper of this precious silverware.  It is probable that when the Roman army entered Morgantina, the silver was buried in the basement of Eupolemos’ house. 

The most striking piece may well be an 11 cm-high miniature silver altar weighing as much as 370 grams and decorated with an Ionic dentil and a Doric frieze of metopes and triglyphs; four ox-heads crowned with a gold star hold the surrounding gilded garland. This altar probably was used for offerings at home, but that is not certain. (More details in this interesting article: “Another thing: Recovered loss – altar from the Morgantina Treasure”).

Beside this special altar, we can admire two large oval bowls for mixing wine; three drinking cups with in their bottom a relief of flowers and leaves; a small cup with fishnet motive (looks like a modern football); a pitcher; a kylix (wide drinking cup with two handles); a phiale (offering-dish) with sunrays; a ladle; two pyxides (round box) one showing a cupid carrying a torch on its lid and the other a lady holding a child on her lap; a magnificent medallion with a picture of Scylla; and two slender horns that probably were part of a leather priest-mask. Several of these objects have inscriptions with dedications to the gods, leading to believe that they were used for libations. 

A closer examination of this silverware has revealed that the vessels were made by artists from Syracuse, making them the only examples of the fine silversmith’s art during the second half third century BC when the city was at the top of its power and prosperity. 

Can you imagine the craftsmanship that existed already in Alexander’s days? Hard to fathom. 

[Click here to see all the pictures from the Morgantina Museum]

The Ladies of Morgantina

Alexander lived during the rich days when the Classical Greek art had reached its apogee. We can only guess what beautiful architecture and statues he may have grown up with and may have surrounded him. In whatever I see, I always wonder if it is something that Alexander may have known or if it was the product of his spreading of Hellenism.

Once in a while though, I find myself confronted with striking objects or out of common statues and on such occasions these questions surface once again. This is exactly what happened in the small but very fine Archaeological Museum of Morgantina, Sicily that exhibits quite a few special artifacts.

For now, let’s focus for a moment on a group that is generally called The Ladies of Morgantina. It is the strangest pair of women I’ve ever seen, in fact only marble acroliths: two heads, three feet and three hands. The statues themselves would have been made of wood, now gone, to which the extremities were attached. The faces have that serene expression, typical for the classical period with almond-shaped eyes and enigmatic smile, which led experts to date them to around 530 BC. The heads and hands are perfectly well preserved while the feet are strangely worn, perhaps because of repeated caresses by their worshippers. The Ladies’ hair and their jewelry like diadems and earrings were probably made of some precious metal and the statues themselves were wrapped in a mantel of linen or wool, the head covered with a veil. They must have looked extremely true to life.

Lots of speculations and debates have surrounded these statues but in the end most scholars agree that both are female and could represent Demeter and her daughter Persephone. The position of their fingers suggests that they must have held an object in their hands.

The way they sit today in Morgantina’s Museum does them credit. A simple wire construction hidden by dark tulle outlines the body of these goddesses while the spotlights lay the accent justly on the acroliths, making them again very respectable as they stare at their visitors from the height of their podium. They have a very dignified posture and pose, accentuated by the correct light and their timeless smile.

It is a great pleasure to see these goddesses right here where they belong after having traveled around for many years. They were smuggled out of the country after illegal digging in the second half of last century and eventually found their way to the United States. Shortly after 2005 they luckily came home to Morgantina and it is no surprise that they are a prized possession of the museum.

[For more pictures click on this link to the Morgantina Museum]