Statue of Hera discovered at Dion

Posted on 3/03/07 in Education, Greek art, Greek history, News
Reference Address: http://www.ellopos.com/blog/?p=171

A life-size statue of the ancient Greek goddess Hera, discovered during excavations at the ancient Macedonian city of Dion near Mount Olympus in north-central Greece, will be officially presented by archaeologists in nearby Thessaloniki on Friday night. According to Prof. Dimitris Pantermalis, who has supervised the digs at Dion for the past 37 years, the 2nd-century BC sculpture is very likely the missing half of a rare double statue that once decorated a temple dedicated to Zeus.

The headless statue is seated on a throne. It is carved in the same position, form and style as a statue of Zeus, also headless, that was found four years earlier in the bed of the Vafyros River near Dion. Pantermalis said it represents the first double statue found in Greece and makes Dion the only area where depictions of important ancient Greek deities have been found together. He noted that a reference to a similar double statue of Zeus and Hera at ancient Olympia is made by the ancient writer Pausanias but has not yet been found. He added, that the discovery indicates that the ancient Macedonians at Dion offered sacrifices to both Zeus and Hera, who according to Greek mythology was Zeus’ official wife and the goddess of marriage.

Dion is situated on the foothills northeast of Mount Olympus, the tallest mountain in Greece, whose summit was considered by the ancient Greeks to be the home of the 12 most important gods in the Hellenic world’s Pantheon. Archaeological excavations in the area have so far unearthed the remains of an ancient Macedonian city, two theatres, a gymnasium and several ancient temples. Among these are several sanctuaries dedicated to ancient Egyptian deities like Sarapis, Isis and Anubis, whose cults spread to ancient Greece during the Hellenistic era after the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great.