Harvard Art Museums > 1981.119: Lycian Votive Relief: Twelve Gods Sculpture Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Lycian Votive Relief: Twelve Gods , 1981.119,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Sep 06, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/287005. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 1981.119 Title Lycian Votive Relief: Twelve Gods Classification Sculpture Work Type sculpture Date 2nd-3rd century CE Places Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Lycia Period Roman Imperial period, Late Culture Roman Provincial Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/287005 Physical Descriptions Medium Limestone Dimensions 36 cm h x 62 cm w x 7.5 cm d (14 3/16 x 24 7/16 x 2 15/16 in.) Inscriptions and Marks inscription: In Greek, in two lines: ΔWΔΕΚΑΘΕΟΙC ΚΑΤΕΠΙΤΑΓΗΝ / ΜΑCΑC [Transcription: Δωδεκαθεοις κατεπιταγην Μασας] [Translation: Masas to the Twelve Gods according to a command.] Provenance Recorded Ownership History [Art Market, Holland] sold; [through Christie's, Primitive Art, Antiquities and Islamic Works of Art, London, Wednesday, December 2, 1970, no. 94] to William Kelly Simpson; gift to Fogg Art Museum, 1981. Reportedly found c. 100 km south of Ankara. Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of William Kelly Simpson in memory of Michael C. Rockefeller Accession Year 1981 Object Number 1981.119 Division Asian and Mediterranean Art Contact am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Descriptions Published Catalogue Text: Stone Sculptures: The Greek, Roman and Etruscan Collections of the Harvard University Art Museums , written 1990101 Lycian Votive Relief The right upper corner is broken away, with the head of three and the upper bodies of two (at the extreme right) missing. There are other minor chippings around the edges. The rectangular plaque is carved with two registers of figures, a thin fillet molding above the flat surfaces between and below, either side of the lower niche with the standing figure in the center. In the upper row, carved in sunken relief, are thirteen male figures standing frontally, holding spears vertically in the right hand and wearing helmets and what seem to be cloaks over cuirasses with skirts. The central figure stands in a distyle baldachino with a fringed canopy and wears what seems to be an extra cloak (palumentum) around his shoulders. A similar male figure without the extra cloak and with arms spread out to the sides (in an orans gesture) stands frontally in the lower, central niche. On either side, in a long, thin, rectangular register, are six seated dogs (or possibly bears). They are shown in profile, each group facing toward the male figure in the center. The inscription in Greek appears on the flat band between the two registers of relief, with the name MASAS divided on the flat surfaces left and right of the lower central niche: Δ W Δ E K A Θ Ε Ο Ι С K A Τ Ε Π Ι Τ A Γ Η Ν The twelve Gods according to a Command Masas The emperor or a chief stands in the upper center, flanked by the twelve gods represented as warrior-hunters. The figure in the lower center is either the priest of the cult or a regional official. He may also be Masas, the dedicant. The rustic style of these reliefs is paralleled in the reverses of Greek Imperial coins struck in the cities of Pisidia under Claudius II (A.D. 268-270) and Aurelian (A.D. 270-275). This may give a good clue as to the date of this class of dedication, a number of which, with different names on them, are carved by the same hands. Cornelius Vermeule and Amy Brauer Publication History Louis Robert, "Documents d'Asie Mineure", Bulletin de Corresondance Hellenique, vol. CVII, pp. 587-593 Christie's Sales Catalogue, auct. cat. (London, England, 1970), p. 30, no. 94, plate (text from Dr. Klaus Parlasca) Cornelius C. Vermeule III and Amy Brauer, Stone Sculptures: The Greek, Roman and Etruscan Collections of the Harvard University Art Museums, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 1990), p. 113, no. 101 John Bodel and Stephen Tracy, Greek and Latin Inscriptions in the USA: A checklist, American Academy in Rome (New York, 1997), p. 48. Gil H. Renberg, Unexplored Aspects of the Lycian "Twelve Gods Reliefs", Epigraphica Anatolica (2014), vol. 47, pp. 107-132, pp. 108-112, 130, fig. 1 Verification Level This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu