The Statuary of Asklepios from the Athenian Agora

by Brian Martens

Hesperia, Volume 87, Issue 3
Page(s): 545-610
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2972/hesperia.87.3.0545
Year: 2018
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ABSTRACT:

This study identifies and publishes the marble statuary of Asklepios from the excavations of the Athenian Agora. The author explores the religious lives of the assemblage, mostly statuettes of the Roman period, through close autopsy and the reconstruction of viewing environments. Following a discussion of displays in baths and in sacred precincts, the author proposes that most of the reduced-scale figures belonged to domestic spaces and, at times, performed roles in household ritual. Varying Late Antique responses of defacing and continued use are also discussed. The evidence presented here moves beyond the monumental settings of Athenian cult and into the everyday spaces where routine interactions with the divine occurred.