Kybele (Magna Mater, connected with Rhea)

Well, I'm back from a very successful archaeological expedition in southern Italy and ready to start posting again.



Cybele is a terribly difficult goddess to work with, she is strongly associated with Rhea and worshipped under a large number of names. Statues of her are however, fortunately, both numerous and easily recognizable. You'll normally find the goddess seated, wearing the very typical cylindrical hat, commonly in the shape of a city wall, and with a feline next to her.

Away

I'm going to Italy today to participate in excavations. I am not sure about if we're going to have an internet connection down there or not, so don't worry if there's no posts for 6 weeks or so.

Helios (Sol)

Helios, found at the Esquiline in Rome. The piece is made from Carrara marble and dating from the 4th century BC.

Helios, or Hyperionides/Hyperion (by his father), is showing up now and then, even thou I've found more depictions in mosaics than in sculpture. The god is easily recognized by his sun rays which spread out from the head and he can also be seen with a torch or globe.

Be cautious though, the rays might have been broken off and they were commonly made out of metal (i.e. Bronze) in which case you'll find a series of empty holes around the head.

Mithras

Mithras entered the scene as late as during the empire, but his cult is fascinating and still quite mysterious - there's a lot we do not know about it. Here's a short sumemry of what I've read about it, which shouldn't be taken as a full testemony: The cult came from the east and was open only to men. It was centred around ritual dining, seven spheres (it seems to have been a hierarchical religion) and the slaughtering of bulls. The sanctuaries are very easily recognized on the shape (long and thin, often with the spheres easily visible), the dining couches and most of all, they're almost always to be found underground. You can see examples from Ostia here and here to get a better grasp of the general shape.


Statues of Mithras are also easily recognized and quite common; The god, wearing a Phrygian cap, is seen slaughtering a bull which is also bitten by a dog, serpent and scorpion.

Hygieia

Hygieia has quite commonly come down to us in classical sculpture, even thou I must admit that I only can reckon two museums where I've seen such pieces. She is portrayed as a virgin with a kind face expression, in a long robe with a snake which she is feeding from a bowl.


Hygieia from Zappeion, Athens, of the Hope type. From the second century AD, copy of a Greek original from the third century BC.


Hygieia from Epidaurus, no dating was offered but you can clearly see the snake, which is why I uploaded this shot.

Asklepius

Asklepius is unexpectedly common in classicl sculpture and he is very easily recognized, even thou he can be confusd with Zeus from time to time unless you're cautius. It might be usefull to know that he is almost unexsistant in art (even as he is mentioned, as a hero, in the Iliad) before the 6th and 5th century BC as he made a rather late entrance on the scene.

The god is normally portraied as a bearded man, sitting on a throne or standing up, holding a staff which is encircled by a climbing snake. He can also be seen with his daughter, Hygiena.

Poseidon (Neptune)

Poseidon is one of the great gods, but very much not the strongest of the three brothers. He's also in constant bad luck when it comes to persuade cities to come under his patronage (Athens is only one of many) and this might be one reason why we see less statues of this god than what we might expect, I can only come to think of two famous and easily identified pieces.

He is however easily recognized with his beard, trident and commonly a dolphin at his feet.


A highly polished statue of Poseidon, originating from the Roman period.


This piece, posted here earlier on, is a good example of hos Poseidon might look.

You might also remember this piece, which can be either Poseidon or Zeus (the later being popular nowadays).

Hermes (Mercurius)

Hermes from Hadrianus Villa in Tivoli, Roman copy from the 2nd century AD of a Lysippos Bronze from 330 BC.


A quite atypical Hermes from a local workshop in Messene, 4th century AD.


This Hermes is the work of the Augustan period (27 BC-14 AD), perhaps inspired by older works.

Hermes is one of those gods you run into now and then while admiering classical sculpture. He's rendered as a young, beardless, man, sometimes with winged sandals (even though not as commonly as might be expected). Other easily recognized attributes are his heralds staff (the kerykeion, a detail which unfortunately seems to have been easily broken of and lost) and way farer hat. Yet, even with all those attributes, you'll have a though time recognizing him, as you might notice from the photos above, he could eb just any youth without them.


You can see another rendering of Hermes in Hermes and the infant Dionysus.

Artemis (Diana)

Artemis, goddess of the hunt and closely associated with Apollo, is quite common in classical sculpture, but can still be tricky to identify as she appears in two different costumes.


Artemis Verailles, Roman copy of a 4th century original (attributed to Leochares).

The first, and easiest to recognize, is Artemis as the hunter. You'll easily recognize this type by the short skirt (she is one of few goddesses that ever wear a short skirt), bow and arrows and she's frequently accompanied by a stag.


Artemis from ca 100 BC, dressed in a chiton, peplos and himation.


Bronze from the 4th century BC.

The other type is Artemis as a maiden, as she can be found in e.g. Brauron. Here she's dressed in a long dress, but still with the arrows.

Ares (Mars)

Here you see Mars as he was thought of in the 2nd century AD (If I remember this correctly).


This is a modern copy of a statue from at Hadrianus villa, but it's a good representation of Ares as youth.

The Greek Ares, associated with the Roman god Mars, is very rare in sculpture and you're really lucky if you run into him. I could only find two examples; one at Hadrianus villa (Tivoli) and one at the Monte Martini museum at Rome. It is however easy to recognize the god when you see him, he's portrayed in arms as bearded in early art (archaic) and as a naked youth from the classical period and onwards.