relief;
votive offering
- Museum number
- 1895,1028.1
- Description
-
Marble votive relief dedicated to the goddess Bendis, a Thracian goddess akin to the Greek Artemis. Bendis, standing to the right, is approached by a group of mortal votaries, eight naked athletes led by two bearded and draped officials, perhaps trainer and sponsor. The first official carries a torch and so identifies the athletes as members of a torch race relay team. The athletes wear wreaths in their hair.
Bendis is dressed in a sleeved tunic hitched up so as to form a short skirt. An animal skin is draped over one shoulder, while an outer cloak pinned at the neck falls over her shoulders and down her back. Her legs are clad in knee-length boots, and she wears a Phrygian cap with a pointed crown. She holds a libation bowl (phiale).
- Production date
- 400BC-375BC (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 52.07 centimetres
-
Width: 83.82 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- For a discussion of this scene in the context of Attic images of Thracians, see Tsiafakis 2000, 386-8 and fig. 14.10.
Bibliography:
Tsiafakis, D. 2000, 'The allure and repulsion of Thracians in the art of classical Athens', in B. Cohen (ed.), Not the Classical ideal. Athens and the construction of the Other in Greek art (Leiden: Brill), 364-387.
- Location
- On display (G19)
- Acquisition date
- 1895
- Department
- Greek and Roman
- Registration number
- 1895,1028.1
