ClassificationsGreek and Roman Art
Votive Relief with Leto, Apollo, Artemis and Python
CultureGreek
PeriodClassical
Date5th Century BCE
MediumMarble (Ephesos 2)
Credit LineAnonymous gift
Dimensions21 x 15 3/4 x 2 5/8 in. (53.3 x 40 x 6.7 cm)
Object number2003.023.006
Label TextAccording to myth, Leto was a Titan who fell pregnant after having been seduced by the king of the gods, Zeus. As punishment, Zeus’s wife, Hera, decreed that she should not give birth anywhere that the sun shone. Travelling as an exile, she eventually reached the island of Delos where, shielded from the sun by Poseidon’s waves, she gave birth to the twin gods, Apollo and Artemis. Hera then sent a monstrous serpent, Python, to kill them.This votive relief shows Python at right emerging from a cave. Leto flees to the left, carrying the infant Apollo, who turns back to fight Python with a bow and arrows, originally rendered in paint. Artemis follows behind on foot, also turning back to fire arrows at the monster. Below, an inscription: Dedicated by [...]yne and her husband, Agathon. The relief was probably set up in a sanctuary sacred to the Delian Triad, perhaps as thanks for a successful childbirth.
Exhibition HistoryMCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, September 2004 - April 28, 2014
MCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, July 22, 2014 - April 10, 2021
Published ReferencesStephanie Lynn Budin, Artemis (New York: Routledge, 2016), 36-37, figure 2.1.
ProvenanceEx private collection, New York, acquired from George Allen (1919-1998) [Hesperia Art], Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
InscribedInscription: Dedicated by ...]yne and Agathon
Status
Not on viewCollections
- Greek and Roman Art
4th Century BCE
late 1st Century BCE-1st Century CE
early-mid 20th Century
ca. 4th Century CE
ca. 540 BCE
mid 6th Century BCE
1st Century CE
