Hermonax at a banquet

During excavations by the Royal Museums of Berlin in 1908, this under-life-size sculpture was discovered on the temple terraces at Myus along with fragments of similar reclining sculptures. The man is shown lying on his side, supporting himself with his left arm. His left elbow is propped up on a pillow. He grasps a drinking cup in his left hand, while his right rests on his thigh, legs slightly bent. A short-sleeved chiton covers his upper arms and clings to his ponderous torso. A mantle is thrown over his left shoulder, covering his back and lower body. Carved into its smooth surface on the front side is a votive inscription, one of the oldest inscriptions in the Antikensammlung. It is written in boustrophedon, “turning like the ox,” in which alternating lines run in opposite directions:

“Hermonax and …non dedicated me
as a due portion (of their) labours for Apollo”

That the name of the second dedicator ends with -non indicates that she was a woman, most likely the wife of Hermonax. This small statue was offered to Apollo and probably set up in the sanctuary of Apollo in Myus as part of a family dedication with multiple figures. Such sculptural groups were typical votives in eastern Greece in the Archaic period. The mother, enthroned, would have occupied one end of the group; at the other end was the father, represented (like Hermonax) as a participant in a symposium – a festal banquet often held in honour of a divinity. Between the parents stood the statues of the children . Such marble statues of reclining men are known so far only from the East Greek cultural sphere. The western coast of Asia Minor and the islands just offshore show a marked preference for depictions of clothed men sitting on thrones, standing, or reclining at a symposium, as well as of standing naked youths.