Agora Object: S 33
Inventory Number:   S 33
Section Number:   Ε
Title:   Herm as Statue Support
Category:   Sculpture
Description:   A herm used as support for the left arm of la large statue carrying a child.
Upper half of the child is missing as well as the entire statue, whose left arm rests on the head of the herm. The base of the herm is somewhat chipped.
The child is half draped, and heavy folds of drapery hang down on either side of the herm. The modeling of the child's body, the arm and the drapery is indifferent though effective. The preserved left hand has long pointed fingers and appears to be the hand of a woman.
The herm bears the head of a heavily bearded man; the hair shows two rows of round formalized curls; the beard has stylized curling locks. At the right side of the head a single lock hangs from temple to the bottom of the beard.
Pentelic marble.
Cf. S 2144 (ΣΑ 3253).
Cf. the description of the Herm of Alkamenes in Richter (1929) , Sculpture and Sculptors of the Greeks, p. 236, fig. 628 (p. 182, fig. 673 in the 4th edition 1970): "The style of the herm is evidently archaistic, the formal treatment of the hair and beard being conditioned by its architectonic character, for the rendering of the eyes places it in the second half of the fifth century." Our herm appears, likewise, to be a Roman copy of the same work.
For the use of a herm as a support, cf. the Madrid Hermes in Reinach (1910), Repertoire IV, p. 98. For the child, cf. Brunn-Bruckman, Plutus, from the Peiraeus.
Also cf. Rizzo (1932), Prassitele, pp. 9-10, pl. 14.
Context:   Late Roman level.
Notebook Page:   140
Negatives:   Leica, 1-66, 1-68, 1-73, 1-74, 1-75, 1-107, 1-152, 1-153, color slide
Dimensions:   P.H. 1.36; H. (herm) 1.02, (head) 0.21; W. (herm) 0.14, (head) 0.13; Th. (herm) 0.165
Material:   Marble (Pentelic)
Chronology:   2nd c. A.D.
Date:   4 June 1931
Section:   Ε
Grid:   Ε:5/Α
    H 10
Elevation:   -2.50m.
Masl:   -2.5m.
Period:   Roman
Bibliography:   Museum Guide (2014), p. 40.
    Mauzy (2006), pp. 18, 19, figs. 29-32.
    Guide (1990), p. 196.
    Guide (1976), p. 186.
    Guide (1962), p. 122.
    JHS 51 (1931), p. 185, fig. 2.
    ILN (29 August 1931), p. 337.
    Agora XI, no. 210, pp. 161-162, pl. 56.
Is Similar To:   Agora:Object:S 2144
    Agora:Object:Richter (1929), p. 236, fig. 628 .
    Agora:Object:Reinach (1910), p. 98.
    Agora:Object:Brunn-Bruckman, Plutus, from the Peiraeus.
    Agora:Object:Rizzo (1932), pp. 9-10, pl. 14.
References:   Publication: Agora XI
Publication: Museum Guide (2014)
Publication Page: Agora 11, s. 181, p. 162
Publication Page: Agora 11, s. 196, p. 177
Images (27)
Notebook: Ε-1
Notebook Page: Ε-1-79 (pp. 139-140)
Cards and Envelopes (4)