The Athena-Marsyas Group of Myron in Stucco

Abstract

The lunette relief of stucco room 8a in Terrace House 2 at Ephesos is said – in the publication of Dwelling Unit 6 – to depict Dionysos and Aphrodite contrary to the earlier interpretations as Orpheus and Eurydike or Mars and Venus. Here by contrast we endeavour to show that what is depicted is the famous Athena-Marsyas group by Myron from the Acropolis at Athens, with the composition laterally reversed. The subject is fitting for the intimate setting of a banqueting hall as a warning against orgiastic conduct. The relief was created in Construction Phase III, thus in the middle of the 2nd cent. A.D. The substantial enlargement of Dwelling Unit 6 by the addition of apsidal hall 8 and the stucco room 8a could be due to T. Flavius Lollianus Aristobulus’ greater need for prestigious accommodation after his appointment to the Roman Senate after 150 and before 170.