Neo-Attic Altar with Deities

The altar has a cylindrical shape with moldings at the base and as a crowning element. Three figures are represented in relief, two of which move towards the left, while the third faces in the opposite direction. The female figure is immediately recognizable thanks to the attributes she owns: the helmet, a spear and a gorgoneion (currently removed) on her chest. She is the goddess Athena. Zeus precedes her, with the scepter and the pointed beard. The female figure walking in the opposite direction is of difficult interpretation: she is holding a scepter and a patera. The altar fits into a figurative current, defined Neo-attic, arose around the II century BC, which sees its apex in Augustan age, a moment in which the depiction of divinity is preferred. The presence of Athena and Zeus evokes the cult of the Capitoline Triad: Minerva, Juno and Jupiter, who ventured since ancient times on the summit of the Capitol. For this reason it has been hypothesized that the third unidentifiable figure is Juno. The altar was used to support the so- called Ptolemy also from the Cavaceppi Studio.

Inventory: MT 501b

Material: White marble

Technique: Work sculpted through the use of: chisels (also square-tipped and toothed) rasps

Dating: Imperial age

Origin: Cavaceppi Studio