Thought to be one of a pair, this relief is of a flamboyant female dancer with swirling drapery, some of which forms a veil over her head.
The theatre of Dionysos on the south slope of the Acropolis in Athens forms part of the sanctuary of Dionysos. It is likely that this relief was part of the decorations for the theatre, renovated by the Romans in the first century BCE. Theatre, like sport, was a component of religious festivals in ancient Greece rather than just an entertainment. Dionysos was the patron god of theatre in ancient Greece and was usually accompanied by dancing women called Maenads
Athens, National Museum 260
Hauser: Die Neu Attischen Reliefs (1889), 43-4, no.59
Papaspiridi: Guide du Musée Nationale d’Athènes (1927), 82
Svoronos: Das Athener Nazionalmuseum Athens (1903), 239, pl. XXXII
Found in 1862 in the sanctuary of Dionysos in Athens
