Poseidon of Cape Artemision
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The bronze Poseidon of Cape Artemision is an ancient Greek sculpture that was recovered from the sea off Cape Artemision, in northern Euboea (Modern Greek Εύβοια, Évia). It represents the God of the Sea,[1] slightly over lifesize[2] brandishing the (missing) trident with his raised right hand and sighting over his extended left hand It is an original work of great strength in the "severe style" that preceded the fifth-century classical style, dated to ca. 460 BCE. It is sometimes associated with Kalamis, an Athenian sculptor working about 470-440 BCE. The Poseidon/Zeus is a highlight of the collections in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens.[3]
The sculpture was discovered in 1928 at the site of a Roman shipwreck that occurred between the end of the first century BCE and the beginning of the first Century CE. A few wooden fragments of the hull lie at a depth of about 40m.
The empty eye-sockets were originally inset with bone. The sculpture's head, now an icon of Hellenic culture, formed the subject of a Greek postage stamp.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Some scholars read it as a Zeus hurling the thunderbolt, a subject known from bronze statuettes.A cogent summary of technical and iconographic arguments for Zeus was presented by George E. Mylonas, "The Bronze Statue from Artemision" American Journal of Archaeology 48.2 (April 1944), pp. 143-160.
- ^ 2.09 meters.
- ^ Inv. no. 15161.
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