Omphalos Apollo
Roman copy of a Greek bronze prototype.
Near the findspot was a base featuring an omphalos (navel in ancient Greek), the mythical centre of the world. This is how the Apollo got its name, although now it is believed that the sculpture and the base do not belong together
Material:
Pentelic marble
Location of Original:
Athens National Museum 45
Size:
1.76m
Accession:
Purchased in 1884 from Martinelli of Athens
References:
Lippold: Griechische Plastik, 102 (n.1)
Richter: Sculpture & Sculptors of the Greeks (1950), figs.36-7
Pfeiff: Apollon (1943), pls. 27-8
Papaspiridi: Guide du Musée Nationale d’Athènes (1927), 34, no.45
Reporter: 19 June 1885, 891, no.101
Walston: Catalogue of Casts in the Museum of Classical Archaeology (1889), 28, no.109
Date:
Roman. Original: c.460 BCE
Provenance:
Found in 1862 in the Theatre of Dionysos, Athens
Number:
109