When a man in a suburb of the Greek city of Thessaloniki found an almost meter-tall decapitated body wrapped in a bag in a trash can, he was probably relieved it was made of marble. It turns out the statue is likely to be more than 2,000 years old, local police said last week.
The man handed the headless female statue over to the local authorities in the town of Neoi Epivates, who asked archaeologists to check it over. They believe it dates to the Hellenistic era, which lasted from the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE until 31 BCE. Art and culture flourished during this period, partly due to the legendary emperor’s conquests.
The statue is being examined further and will reportedly be given to the local antiquities authority so it can be preserved and studied.
Bert Smith, a classical archaeologist at Oxford University, told the New York Times that the statue was probably made for religious purposes. “The small size is typical for such marble votives set up to divinities in sanctuaries or temples,” he said. “[In ancient Greece] people prayed to divinities and made dedications to them in thanks for their favor.”
Estelle Strazdins, a classicist at the Australian National University, told the Washington Post the statue’s loose clothing and its marble composition suggest it depicts a goddess.
She told the Washington Post that it may have come from a temple. “It might be a gift that someone has given to the god either to thank them for something or in the hopes of getting some kind of grant,” she said.
Officers are investigating why the statue was thrown out and temporarily detained a man for questioning. He has been released without charge.
Such discoveries are not uncommon in Greece. Several construction projects have unearthed classical treasures. In December, workers installing natural gas pipelines in Athens found a Roman-era statue of the Greek god Hermes, the son of Zeus and Maia. It was buried upright in a brick-lined hole near the Acropolis.
Thessaloniki, Greece’s second-largest city, recently exhibited a trove of antiquities discovered during the lengthy construction of its metro system, which opened in November. They includ tens of thousands of artifacts from the Greek, Byzantine, and Ottoman periods, and also a marble-paved Roman road. They are currently on show in several of the metro stations.
