Statuette of Poseidon
Γ250
White marble
Missing all the limbs
Height: 40 cm.
Knossos
Urban villa
Roman period:
150-175 AD:
Gallery:
XXVIICase:
Not in caseExhibition thematic unit:
Sculpture. Hellenistic period (3rd-2nd c. BC) Roman period (1st c. BC-3rd c. AD)Description
Marble statuette of Poseidon, copy of a variant of the type popular in ancient art known as the “Lateran Poseidon”, attributed by some scholars to Lysippus (4th c. BC). The god of the sea, nude, his himation draped over his left thigh, knee bent, would have had a rock or a ship’s prow under his left foot and have held a small dolphin in one hand, his raised right hand supported on a vertical trident. The musculature and hair, secured with a band, are carefully rendered. The miniature scale of the sculpture indicates that it comes from the domestic shrine of a villa. There is no secure evidence of a sanctuary of Poseidon in the town of Knossos at which it could have been a votive offering.Bibliography:
S. Xanthoudides, Οδηγός Μουσείου Ηρακλείου, Heraklion 1921, 53. Α. Zadoks-Jitta, “The Poseidon Isthmios by Lysippos”, Journal of Hellenic Studies 57(2) 1937, 224-226. Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae VII 1994, s.v. Poseidon, 453, no. 39a (Ε. Simon). G. Ridgway, Hellenistic Sculpture l. The Styles of ca. 331-200 B.C., Wisconsin 1990, 125-126, n. 39. P. Moreno, Lisippo, L'Arte e la Fortuna, Milan 1995, 220-223.Author:
K. S.Photographs' metadata