Newly Excavated Statues on the Acropolis

This photograph shows four now well-known works that had been uncovered between 1864 and 1865 when excavations were being made for a museum on the Acropolis. The statues had all been buried since ancient times, following the destruction of the Acropolis by the Persians in the fifth century BC. The headless statue of Athena, identified by her aegis bearing the head of Medusa, is an Early Classical work from around 480 BC that originally stood on a column dedicated by a certain Angelitos. At the center stands the Moschophoros or Calf-bearer, an Archaic work of around 560 BC, another dedication that was originally free-standing. Below it is the over-life-size head of Athena, part of a monumental scene of the Gigantomachy, the battle of the Olympian gods against the race of Giants, which decorated the pediment of an early temple of Athena built around 520 BC. At right is the torso of another Early Classical statue known as the Kritios Boy of around 475 BC. Although the four sculptures are posed together here, the photograph is not an archaeological record because the statues were all found at different times and in different locations. Today the works are housed in the Acropolis Museum.