Zeus. Marble. 350 - 340 BCE.
Marble, from Mount Pentelikon near Athens
Zeus' head is a refined mid-4th-century adaptation of the 5th-century chryselephantine Zeus at Olympia by Phidias. While modeled after the High Classical masterpiece, the sculpture exhibits a "softened" aesthetic and a more fluid expression characteristic of the Late Classical period, likely carved by one of the masters associated with the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus near modern Milas (Mylasa). The iconography suggests a localized Carian deity, specifically Zeus Labraundos or Zenoposeidon, as evidenced by two distinct drill holes at the crown intended for the attachment of a polos, the tall cylindrical headdress typical of cult statues in south-western Asia Minor. Exhibited at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Boston, USA.