Once ›lost‹, now found

A relief from Athens depicting a Niobid

Resumo

The present article identifies part of a relief located in the Paul and Alexandra Canellopoulos Museum as a lost work from the National Archaeological Museum. The relief, depicting a Niobid, was found in the Theater of Dionysus. It was located in the storage facilities of the National Archaeological Museum until the 1930s and probably lost during the Second World War. Taking its find-spot as a starting point, I review its link to the choragic Monument of Thrasyllus, which according to Pausanias was decorated with a composition depicting the legend of the Niobids. I also discuss the iconography associated with this subject. The relief closely resembles a kneeling Niobid figure, raising both arms to dislodge an arrow from its back; this figure type is part of the composition depicting Apollo’s slaughter of the Niobids known from reliefs in Modena, Florence, Bologna, and Catania. It most likely dates to the latter half of the 2^nd century A.D.