Brian Martens The Marble Statuettes of the Roman Period

The excavations of the Athenian Agora have played a major role in bringing to light the rich sculptural legacy of ancient Athens. The project’s storerooms boast one of the most important bodies of sculpture from classical antiquity, covering the complete range and history of output in a storied centre of artistic production. This volume presents, for the first time, the marble statuettes and statuette fragments, carved between the 1st century BCE and the 4th century CE, that have been excavated from the Agora since 1931. Comprising one in six figural sculptures found at the site, these works are testament to a thriving demand for small divine images in Roman-period Greece that has been insufficiently recognized until now. Among these broken and battered figures are the portraits of polytheistic Athens: naked Aphrodite at her bath, winged Eros assisting his mother, tired Herakles after a labour, teenage Artemis aiming her bow, attentive Asklepios dispatching cures. The author marshals a detailed and heavily illustrated catalogue of 672 objects to offer new data to the study of Greek iconography and sculptural production. Taken as a collective whole, the statuettes document the vibrant religion, society and art of Athens and beyond.