CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D.

According to the intrepid 2nd century A.D. Roman traveler Pausanias, one of the masterpieces by the 5th century B.C. sculptor Polykleitos was his chryselephantine cult state of the goddess Hera for her temple at Argos. “The statue of Hera is seated on a throne; it is huge, made of gold and ivory, and is the work of Polykleitos. She is wearing a crown with Graces and Seasons worked upon it, and in one hand she carries a pomegranate and in the other a scepter. About the pomegranate I must say nothing, for its story is somewhat of a holy mystery.” (Description of Greece, 2.17.4-6). The original statue does not survive, nor are there any Roman copies that are universally accepted. A silver coin minted at Argos during mid 4th century B.C. perhaps shows the cult statue head, but the crown has been simplified as it does not match Pausanias’ description (see no. 22 in C.C. Vermeule, Polykleitos). A large seated Roman marble goddess, now headless, in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, has been attributed by Vermeule and others to Polykleitos, as the drapery is plausibly 5th century B.C. in style (see no. 23 in Vermeule, op. cit.). Roman era coins minted at Argos during the reign of the Emperor Antonius Pius have what may be the best surviving image of the original cult statue, as the reverse clearly shows the goddess seated, wearing an elaborate crown, holding the pomegranate in her right hand, the scepter in her left (see nos. 12.27-29 in C. Arnold-Biucchi, “Reflections of Polykleitos’ Works on Ancient Coins,” in W.G. Moon, ed., Polykleitos, the Doryphoros, and Tradition). The Roman marble Juno presented here, complete with pomegranate, while only an echo of the lost original, may be the only surviving example known that shows the complete figure in the round.