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Museum of Classical Archaeology Databases

Acheloos

The fragmentary face of the most important Greek river god. The River Acheloos is the longest in Greece at 150 miles; this mask-like face is a personification of it. The river and its god feature in accounts of a number of Greek myths, including Hesiod’s Theogony and Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Acheloos is usually represented as an mature powerful man with horns, flowing silver hair and beard, and the body of a snake. The name may mean silver-sparkling, as much of the river passes through steep gorges

Number: 
557
Material: 
Marble
Location of Original: 

Berlin, K2

Size: 
0.32m
Date: 
c.470 BCE
Provenance: 

Found in Marathon

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