The goddess from Taranto, a western Greek cult image

This statue was discovered in 1911 by workmen digging near the Southern Italian city of Taranto (the ancient Tarentum) in a 4-metre-deep trench, in which it had been hidden in antiquity. The goddess sits in state on a richly decorated throne, back straight and gazing directly ahead. She has cushions beneath and behind her, while her sandalled feet rest on a high footstool. The lower arms are stretched out in front, although both hands are missing. The right probably held a sacrificial cup, the left a fruit or an ointment jar. She is wearing three garments: a long sleeved chiton reaching down to the feet, a himation draped diagonally and fastened over the right upper arm with six fibulae, and a fine shawl covering the back and parts of the arms. Her braided hair is parted in the middle and is bound at the back with a scarf, from which, behind the ears, there emerge three long tresses that fall over the front of the torso. Over the hair above the forehead is a circlet, on which is placed a diadem with holes and slits that would have held metal ornaments. At one time the goddess had ear-rings, also of metal. The type of the seated goddess and the severity of the composition, essentially frontal, suggest that this statue is one of the few large cult images of the fifth century BCE to have survived. The identity of the figure has not been established; the most likely possibilities are Persephone, Hera or Aphrodite. The Tarentum Goddess must have been made soon after 480 BCE.