SCULPTURE

Female portrait statue Γ88

  Museum/Current place of storage: Epidauros, Archaeological Museum.
  Inv. no: 555
  Dimensions:
  Material: Over-life-sized.
  Findspot:

In 1882 during the excavation of P. Kavvadias in the Asklepieion of Epidauros, “alongside the exedra close to the round building” (Tholos) (P. Kavvadias, Prakt 1882, 81, pl. B’ no. 2).

  Original Display Location:

Most probably part of the semicircular exedra northeast of the Tholos (see W. Peek, Inschriften aus dem Asklepieion von Epidauros, Berlin 1969, pl. ΧΧ, figs. 31-32; S. Freifrau von Thüngen, Die frei stehende griechische Exedra, Mainz 1994, 85-87, no. 48 [Epidauros, Exedra 1], pls. 34-35, plan 21 [dated to the turn between the 3rd and 2nd c. BCE; reused in the 1st c. BCE when the inscriptions IG IV2 1, 232 = Peek 1969, 66, αρ. 100 and IG IV2 1, 700 were added]).
  Date: Principate of Augustus.
  Statuary Type (body) :

Variant of the “Formia” statuary type.
  Mode of Self-Representation (head): -
  Civic Presence (Social Role Represented):

Member of an elite family of Epidauros.
  Inscribed Base: Νο (see above in the original display location).
  Author: Panagiotis Konstantinidis
  Added: 2024-04-26
  Edited: 2024-09-13

Description - Comments:

The inset head and the also inset right arm are missing; the right foot is broken off. Broken and today re-attached to the statue are the right forearm with part of the himation and the part of the latter between the arms. Chipping is evident sporadically on the surface of the garments. The figure is depicted standing, wearing a long chiton and a long himation tightly wrapped around her body, which forms a characteristic triangular shape below the breasts in its course from the right shoulder to the slightly bent left forearm. The himation is equally carried on the upper part of the back, covering the head. The “Formia” statuary type is for the most part faithfully replicated. High quality of workmanship.

Bibliography:

H. Kruse, Römische weibliche Gewandstatuen des zweiten jahrhunderts n.Chr., Göttingen 1975, 177, note 286 (Variante no. 3); St. Katakis, Τα γλυπτά των ρωμαϊκών χρόνων από το ιερό του Απόλλωνος Μαλεάτα και του Ασκληπιού, Athens 2002, 296 note 1434; St. Katakis, “Les statues honorifiques dans un sanctuaire hors de la ville: le cas du sanctuaire d’Apollon et d’Asclépios à Épidaure à l’époque romaine”, in G. Biard, V. Gaggdis-Robin, N. de Larquier eds., Les mille visages de l’honneur. Actes des IIIes rencontres autour de la sculpture romaine, 8-9 novembre 2019, Arles, Bordeaux 2023, 57, fig. 13 (beginning of the Imperial period); P. Konstantinidis, Γυναικείοι δυναστικοί εικονιστικοί ανδριάντες αυτοκρατορικής περιόδου από την Ελλάδα (τέλη 1ου αι. π.Χ. – 5ος αι. μ.Χ.), Athens 2024, 78 note 9.