Top left: Fragment of a Votive Relief (?) with Herakles; Top right: Votive...

Image from Svoronos

Collection: Athens, National Archaeological Museum
Title: Votive relief to Helikon
Context: Probably from Thespiai
Findspot: Excavated at Thespiae, Church of Haghia Triada, near the Shrine of the Muses (during the French School excavations in 1889)
Summary: The head and shoulders of the personification of Mt. Helikon, rising up from between some hills
Object Function: Votive
Material: Limestone
Sculpture Type: Stele, relief-decorated
Category: Single monument
Style: Hellenistic
Technique: Low relief
Original or Copy: Original
Date: ca. 200 BC - ca. 100 BC
Dimensions: H. 1.15 m; W. (above) 0.45 m; W. (below) 0.50 m; D. 0.24 m
Scale: Miniature (pictorial field)
Region: Boeotia
Period: Hellenistic

Subject Description: The personification of Mt. Helikon, here shown as a burly, bearded, shaggy haired man, is shown rising up from between/behind some hills. Beneath the hills, near the bottom of the relief, is an incised laurel crown.

Form & Style: The tall rectangular stele tapers up, and is crowned by a moulding comprised of a thick taenia above a cyma.

Condition: Intact

Condition Description: The edges are chiped, and the surface slightly scratched and stained. The base of the relief has been obscured and joined to a modern base. The inscription is quite worn.

Material Description: Hard, Boeotian stone

Inscription:

The relief above Helikon's head and below the hills contains several inscriptions, the central one of which notes that Amphikritos dedicated the relief to the Muses (and to Helikon). Inscription A is comprised of 3 lines below the geison; inscription B is comprised of four lines below the image; inscription C surrounds the top half of the laurel crown. The inscriptions read as follows:A: [...]*D*I*O*S *A*M*F*I*K*R*I*T*O*U *M*O*U*S*A*I*S *A*N*E*Q*H*K*E*O*S *M'[...] *I*N' *A*E*I*N*W*S*K*A*I *G*E*N[*E]*O*S *T*O *T*E*L*O*S [*K*E*I]*N*W *K*A[*I *T*O*U]*N*O*M*A *S*W*I*Z*O*I

B: *O*U*T*O*S *A[*R*I*S]*T*O*F*O [...] *B[*R]*O*T*W[*I *I*S]*A*O*U*K *A[*D*A*H]*S *E*L*I*K*W*N *M*O[*U*S*A*W]*N *X*R*H[*S]*M*O*N *I*A*X*E*W*P*E*I*Q*O*M*E*N*O*I[*SI] *B*R*O*T*O*I*S *U*P*O*Q*H*K*A*I*S *H*S*I*O*D*O*I*O*E*U*N*O*M*I*A *X[*W*R]*A *T' *E[*S]*T[*A*I] *K*A*R*P*O*I*S *B*R*U*O*U*S*A

C: [...] *H*S*I*O*D*O*S *D*I*O*U *M*O*U*S*A*S *E*L*I*K*W*N*A *T*E *Q*E*I*O*N *K*A*L*I*S*T*O*I*S *U*M*N*O*I*S [...]

Inscription Bibliography: CIG 7.4240

Sources Used: Karouzou 1968, 97; Svoronos 1903-12, pl. 76

Other Bibliography: P. Jamot, BCH 14 (1890) 546-51, pl. 9-10