Budapest Régiségei 34. (2001)

STUDIEN = TANULMÁNYOK - Nagy Mihály: A female statue in the Hungarian National Museum 195-199

MIHÁLY NAGY A FEMALE STATUE IN THE HUNGARIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM The Collection of Roman Antiquities of the Hungarian National Museum preserves a fragmentary female statue (Fig. 1), which, during the reconstruction works at the museum has been removed from the wall of the first storey corridor, where it stood for several decades, and this occasion made its closer study possible. The find site and the original inventory number of this statue is unknown. We know only, that it was in the possession of the museum already in 1909, and it was reinventarised later in 1962.

1 The limestone statue is a round sculpture and it was first described and published by Antal Hekler in 1909.

2 The feet and the head together with the neck are missing; the total height of the torso is 107 cm, while its greatest thickness is 33 cm. The weight of the body rests on the left leg, the right playing leg is bent slightly at the knee. The woman wears a long, wide ungirt chitonion,

3 made of a thin fabric. The neckline and the pseudo-sleeve on the right shoulder are ruffled. The thinness of the fabric is indicated by rich folds over the breast and by the unmistakable marking of the navel. Over the long shirt, an upper garment, an asymmetrically arranged himation

4 or palla

5 is visible. One of its tips rests on the left shoulder, the garment covers the back - save the right upper part of the body -, the right hip, it forms a loose hoop under the stomach and the other end of the garment was thrown above the left arm and shoulder, hanging down to the knee. The right arm reaches across in front of the breasts, and holds a snake, whose scaly body survived only in fragments. In the overfall of the himation, at the place of the totally missing left hand, a globular object, most probably an egg or apple is visible. The bust - as already Hekler had noted - does not rest calmly on the hip, since it turns slightly to the left, laying an emphasis on the hands and the globular object. According to him: "The lively movement of the hip is substantial in this motive and it has a decisive importance regarding pictorial impression. " On the statue at the Hungarian National Museum, regarding the handling of the folds, Hekler also discovered the relationship with the Greek statuary of the 5

th century B.C. According to him, the relationship can be best illustrated by the comparison of the statue with the relief of the metopes at the temple in Phigalia.

6 On the place of the left hand we find an artificial hole, which is conical and becomes wider towards the back. The hole is connected with a deep vertical channel (Fig. 2). The channel has a thin rim on both sides, the left of which is fragmentary now. Although we have some instances regarding female grave statues from Eastern Pannónia,

7 because of the attributes - snake and the globular object -, and moreover of the livelihood of our statue and the emphasised representation of the breasts, we may think that not a local woman, rather a mythological figure was portrayed here. If we identify the globular object as an apple, there are no exact parallels to our statue, but we may compare it with a limestone plaque from Intercisa, representing Hercules and a Hesperide, once belonging to a funerary monument dated to the second half of the second century AD.

8 The lady holds an apple in her right hand and reaches it to Heracles. The attributes clearly refer to mythological figures, but the whole concept of the picture is different from that of the statue. The man and woman are wearing the costumes of the local romanised population, so it is probable, that a Pannonian couple were represented there, in a transubstantiated form. The slab makes part of a series showing the deceased identified with mythological beings.

9 Another slab probably from a grave monument, dated to the second half of the second century AD, also from Intercisa, shows Heracles with Alcestis,

10 while another from the first half of the 3

rd century A.D. from the same locality shows Heracles with Hesione." Heracles is very often represented in other European provinces as well, and he "is by far the most popular. " In a list of mythological scenes containing 241 pieces, compiled by Jocelyn Toynbee,

12 Heracles "features in 96 of the sculptures listed; whereas the next in frequency, Achilles and Ganymedes, each appear on only 14 monuments..."

13 "...myths that are allegories of death and of salvation beyond the grave are obviously the most favoured. Hence, of course, the immense popularity of Herakles, the conqueror of evil and death - the 'saviour' par excellence."™ A reference to the twelfth labour of Heracles, the acquisition of the Apples of the Hesperides, comes forth ten times, including the plaque from Intercisa too, in Toynbee's list.

15 The Hesperides appear only two times, once in Pannónia, on the plaque mentioned above, and once perhaps in Gaul, on a fragmentary monument.

16 Returning to our female torso, if we identify the globular object in her left hand as an egg, it cannot be a Hesperid, since they do not hold neither serpents nor eggs in their hands. The statue resembles somehow the representations of Hygieia, holding a snake and an egg.

17 The costume seems rather similar to those worn by Sirona - the Celtic health-goddess -, whose 195