Proceedings of the XXIst International Congress on Ancient Bronzes (Supplementum 4)
Articles

The arm of a large-scale bronze statue from Aigion, Achaea, Greece

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  • Andreas G. Vordos
Andreas G. Vordos
Hellenic Ministry of Culture, Athens, Greece
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17204/dissarch.suppl4.139

Published 2024-09-30

Keywords

  • Aigion,
  • temenos,
  • arm,
  • Zeus

How to Cite

Vordos, A. G. (2024). The arm of a large-scale bronze statue from Aigion, Achaea, Greece. Dissertationes Archaeologicae, 139–147. https://doi.org/10.17204/dissarch.suppl4.139

Abstract

The arm of the large-scale bronze statue presented in the current research was handed over in 1951 to the Ephorate of Antiquities in Aigio of Achaia and constitutes a typical yet exquisite example of Peloponnesian oversized statuary in bronze. The area where the arm was found coincides with the location of the ancient agora, as well as, according to previous excavation works, the place where the temenos of Zeus Soter, patron deity of the ancient polis of Aigion, is located. Based on the surviving fragment/limb, several issues regarding statue typology are further discussed, while its posture is suggested as ‘standing in grandeur’.    

The identification of a divine figure, probably that of Zeus, is supported by the location of discovery and the object it was supposedly holding, combined with the numismatic issues of Aigion depicting the same type of statuary of the supreme god. The dating of the statue in mid Hellenistic years onwards agrees with the scientific analysis of the alloy, carried out in the laboratories of the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.

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