10 December 2023 The Future is the Product of the Past

The Surprising Fact About The Roman-Era Female Bust

50 years ago, foundation excavation work was started for the construction of Girls’ Institute in Akpınar Neighborhood of Bolu city (in Turkey) center. During the foundation excavation, workers found a marble female bust and handed it over to the Bolu Museum authorities. Museum officials determined that the bust of women they examined belongs to the Roman period and has continued to be exhibited in the museum as a Roman-era female bust ever since. However, recent studies have revealed a surprising fact about the female bust of the Roman period.

According to the news on the Cumhuriyet Newspaper website; The Bolu Chamber of Commerce and Industry formed a delegation of archaeologists in order to promote historical tourism in the city. The delegation examined the sculptures in the Bolu City Museum. The work was started on the thought that the statue, which has been exhibited for 50 years as the “Female Bust of Roman Period” in the museum, may belong to Artemis. As a result of the study, it was determined by the experts that the statue belonged to the Greek mythology goddess Artemis.

“IT IS A HIGHLY HIGH-LEVEL ARTWORK”

Providing information about the statue, Düzce Konuralp Antique Theater Excavation Team Member Archaeologist Dr. Güzin Bilir, “The” painted woman’s head “in front of you is Artemis, which is the symbolized form of wild nature, abundance, hunting, and archery. The head of Artemis, which is a kind of personification of the natural resources of Bolu, is a very high-level work of art, probably made of island marble or Athens marble. The work, which attracts attention with its quality and craftsmanship, was probably imported, and its workshop may have originated in the southern Italy region. As for its stylistic features, the striking point of the work is that there are traces of intense dye, especially the presence of dark red dye on her hair. The red dye was preferred for women’s hair, as red hair is seen as a symbol of beauty, ”she said.

Goddness Artemis
Düzce Konuralp Antique Theater Excavation Team Member Archaeologist Dr. Güzin Bilir, “The” painted woman’s head “in front of you is Artemis, which is the symbolized form of wild nature, abundance, hunting, and archery.” PHOTO: DHA

Produced for propaganda during Augustus

Güzin Bilir stated that the statue might have been sent to important cities for propaganda during the period of the first Roman Emperor Augustus, “It is an ‘eclectic’, that is, a mixed work, showing the sculpting features of both the Classical and Hellenistic periods. Such works were produced for propaganda purposes, especially during the period of the first Roman emperor Augustus, and were erected in important places in the Roman provinces. The artifact, which we can date to 27 BC and 14 AD, was found during the construction of a girls’ institute in the most central part of the city of Bolu, Akpınar district, and since it was very well preserved, it must have been in a closed area within an important public building in the city center. The presence of such a quality work of art in Bolu proves to us that there are historical and cultural beauties as well as natural and natural beauties. In fact, this work is a kind of combination of Bolu’s natural riches and cultural heritage, ”she said.

Explaining that the statue found in the city shows the importance of Bolu in the Roman Empire, Bilir said, “Foreign tourists want to see this head of Artemis in a beautiful area when they come. Other examples in the world are exhibited in very important museums. A small number of them are the subject of printing a continuous model in their era. However, this is such a statute; it is being printed and its repetition is not printed. That is why it is very important and very valuable in terms of the marble used. This means that it is an indication of how important Bolu’s place and value were in the Roman Empire. “It is made in Naples and sent here.”

Source: DHA Cumhuriyet Newspaper

Related Articles

Three-room Urartian tomb with liquid offering area (libation) found in eastern Turkey

18 January 2023

18 January 2023

A three-room Urartian tomb with a rock-cut libation (liquid offering area) to offer gifts to the gods was unearthed in...

Italian Art Police Seize Stolen Roman Statue

12 April 2021

12 April 2021

Italian police said they recovered a first-century Roman statue that was stolen in 2011 and found in an antique shop...

The first time in Anatolia, a legionnaires’ cemetery belonging to the Roman Empire unearthed

18 November 2022

18 November 2022

In the ancient city of Satala, in the Kelkit district of Gümüşhane in the Eastern Black Sea region of Turkey,...

Hundreds of oil lamps discovered in Aigai, “the City of Goats”

23 September 2023

23 September 2023

During the ongoing excavations in the Aigai Ancient City, located near the Yuntdağı Köseler Village of Manisa province in western...

Neo-Assyrian underground complex discovered under a house in southeastern Turkey

11 May 2022

11 May 2022

An underground Iron Age complex has been found in Turkey that may have been used by a fertility cult during...

2000-year-old passage found after Latrina at Smyrna Theater

28 January 2022

28 January 2022

Archaeologists discovered a 2,000-year-old passage that was 26 meters long and constructed in an “L” form in the theater part...

3500-year-old ceramic oven discovered in Turkey’s Tepecik Mound

24 August 2021

24 August 2021

A 3,500-year-old ceramic oven was unearthed in Tepecik Mound in the Çine district of Aydın, in western Turkey. Tepecik Höyük,...

An inscription containing the Turk name was discovered for the first time in Anatolia

3 September 2022

3 September 2022

For the first time in the pre-Islamic Early period Turkish history, an inscription bearing the inscription expression “Turk” and written...

A Roman tomb where magical nails were used to fend off the ‘restless dead’ has been discovered in Türkiye

15 March 2023

15 March 2023

In the ancient city of Sagalassos in southwestern Türkiye, archaeologists have identified an unusual burial practice from the early Roman...

Archaeologists Unearth Cisterns at Izmir’s Ancient “City of Mother Goddess”

2 June 2021

2 June 2021

In the ancient city of Metropolis, in western Turkey, in the province of Izmir, something that played an important role...

New fortification walls discovered in the ancient city of Pergamon

14 February 2022

14 February 2022

2,500-year-old fortification walls were found in the Ancient City of Pergamon (Bergama), which was included in the World Heritage List...

USF team discovers 2,000-year-old Roman house during excavation in Malta

8 August 2023

8 August 2023

A team of researchers and students unearthed a 2,000-year-old Roman house in Malta, complete with a waste disposal system and...

“Important discovery” showing that the Hittite city of Büklükale close ties with the Hurrian society

21 October 2022

21 October 2022

According to Japanese archaeologists, an ancient clay tablet discovered at the Büklükale ruins in central Turkey suggests that a little-known...

Hellenic and Roman statue heads unearthed in Knidos

9 December 2021

9 December 2021

Hellenic and Roman sculpture heads were unearthed in the ancient Carian settlement Knidos, located in the Datça district of Muğla...

More than 50 pairs of tweezers found during an excavation of a 2,000-year-old Roman settlement – Romans to blame for no-body-hair trend

31 May 2023

31 May 2023

More than 50 pairs of tweezers were found during the major excavation in Wroxeter City, Shropshire, one of the largest...