Roman

According to epic tradition, the Amazons were a race of female warriors who lived just beyond the borders of the known Greek world. Signifying the danger and romantic wonder of the foreign and unknown, they appeared often in legend as enemies of the Greeks. RISD’s head originally belonged to a full-length statue, a replica from a well-known series of wounded Amazons. This is not only apparent from the break at its neck, but also from the top of the head: a large area on the left half is without rendering of hair. This was the resting point for the right hand of the figure.

This piece is one of over 15 existing example of the Sciarra type, named after a statue from the Palazzo Sciarra, Rome (now in Copenhagen). Traditional scholarship has tied this Amazon type to a set of four others that together may represent the subject of a contest in antiquity. According to the ancient author Pliny the Elder (AD 23-79), five famous Greek sculptors created figures of Amazons for the Artemision at the Ephesos (constructed on the coast of Asia Minor in the 6th century BC), one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.