Amazon's head

Roman copy of the head of an Ephesian Amazon. This head has been often associated with the headless Mattei Amazon, and is sometimes called the Amazon of Pheidias.

The ancient author Lucian, writing in the second century, tells us that Pheidias made a sculpture of an Amazon “who leans on her spear”. This corroborates Pliny’s naming of Pheidias as one of the possible sculptors of the Amazon of Ephesus, if not the fanciful story of the artists’ selection process

Number

174b

Material

Marble

Location of Original

Naples, Museo Nazionale

Size

0.27m

References

Lippold: Griechische Plastik, 171 (n.7)
Richter: Sculpture & Sculptors of the Greeks (1950), 229, fig.620
Lawrence: Classical Sculpture (1928), 208-
Furtwängler: Masterpieces of Greek Sculpture, 128
Pliny: Natural History XXXIV.19
Lucian: Essays in Portraiture, 4

Date

Roman. Original: c.440-430 BCE

Provenance

Found at Baiae in the Bay of Naples

Search Casts

Museum of Classical Archaeology, Cambridge

Every cast tells two stories.
One ancient. One modern.

Admission is free.

Opening hours

Tues-Fri: 10-5pm
Sat: 2-5pm (Univ. term-time only)
Sun & Mon: Closed

Closed on Bank Holiday Mondays

Visit us

Museum of Classical Archaeology
Faculty of Classics
Sidgwick Avenue
Cambridge
CB3 9DA

Get in touch

Tel. +44 (0)1223 330402
Email museum@classics.cam.ac.uk
Join our mailing list

For an explanation of what personal information we gather when you visit the University’s website and details of how that information is used please see the following University Privacy policy:

https://www.cam.ac.uk/about-this-site/privacy-policy

Copyright statement

All images and material on our websites are ©Museum of Classical Archaeology, University of Cambridge unless otherwise stated. Please contact us to reproduce our images using a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence.

Important Information

Museum of Classical Archaeology Web Accessibility Statement