Monday, September 21, 2009
"The Hope Hygiega"
6:49am
The Hope Hygieia
Roman, 2nd-century copy, c. 130-161, after a Greek original of c. 260 BCE
Marble
William Randolph Hearst Collection, LACMA 50.33.23
(Lady in purple hat just an innocent bystander...)
"Hygieia, goddess of health, is identified by her snake. She was the daughter of Asclepius, god of medicine (and mythical ancestor of Hippocrates), whose shrines apparently housed sacred serpents. Here Hygieia feeds one some milk.
"This famous statue is presumed to be a copy of a lost Greek original from around 360 BCE and is the only complete, larger example of the type. It was unearthed in 1797, along with the Hope Athena, during excavations at Ostia, the port of Rome, among the ruins of an ancient palace that was built around 138-161."
