Despinis Head
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The Despinis Head is part of a colossal ancient Greek sculpture, depicting a female head, which was conserved in the store rooms of the Archaeological Museum of the Ancient Agora in Athens until recently. According to George Despinis, director of the museum, it was originally part of the statue of Artemis Brauronia carved by Praxiteles.
Conserved in the storerooms of the Museum of the Athenian agora under the inventory number 1352, the Despinis Head was originally published as a male head with an erroneous provenance.[1] It was claimed that the head derived from the Makriyannis area just below the Acropolis. Using the original records mentioning it and a photograph, George Despinis established that is actually derived from the sanctuary of Athena Hygieia between the Brauroneion and the Propylaea. It was probably discovered in the course of Kyriakos S. Pittakis' excavations of 1839. The remnants of an earring prove that the head is female.[2]
Description
The head, carved in Parian marble, measures 56 cm high (i.e. twice life size) and the complete statue would have had a height of around 3.6 metres,[3] which suggests that it was a cult statue.[4] It has been damaged by the passage of time, but also by iconoclastic Christians who destroyed the left side of her hairdo, her nose, mouth, have been broken off and her eyes have been smashed.
The face of the goddess is rounded and slightly asymmetrical, with a rather severe expression. Her hairdo, which is parted in the middle of her forehead, is made up of two thick plaits wrapped around the head and a small vertical plait running from the front of her head to the top. This hairdo is most common in depictions of children and young women, such as a statue of Artemis found at Delos, and therefore fits a depiction of the young, virgin goddess Artemis.[3]
