Head of a Female Marble Statue

Head of a female figure, probably a deity. The face is turned to the left and slightly inclined. The hair framing the face was arranged in swollen frontal bands, held in place by a band (tenia), which is thought to have been made of bronze, while the hair ended in a large braid gathered at the nape of the neck. The eyes appear small and elongated, with a slight asymmetry between the eye sockets, typical of an oblique viewpoint; the marble eyeballs were framed by a bronze sheet that served as a support for the eyelashes, also made of bronze (now lost).

The style of the work—particularly the treatment of the eyes and the hairstyle—is fully attributable to the Greek sculptural tradition of the so-called Severe Style.

The marble head, discovered in the 1970s, most likely belonged to a statue of a young female deity. On the basis of its dimensions and orientation, it is hypothesized that the statue originally stood about 1.70 meters tall and was designed to be viewed from below, suggesting a placement in an elevated position, perhaps within the eastern pediment of the great Temple of Hera. Moreover, the state of preservation of the marble surface—rather damaged and eroded—indicates prolonged exposure to the elements. The marble used, imported from the islands of Greece, makes this statue an object of exceptional quality, produced with very fine material and by specialized craftsmen, reflecting the wealth of the colony of Kroton and of its principal place of worship.