A LAMP-BEARER (?) IN THE FORM OF DIONYSOS FROM ANATOLIAN CIVILIZATIONS MUSEUM
A LAMP-BEARER (?) IN THE FORM OF DIONYSOS FROM ANATOLIAN CIVILIZATIONS MUSEUM

Summary/Abstract: A rare and nearly life-size bronze statue of Dionysus is displayed in the Classical Artifacts section of the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations. The piece, whose origin of discovery is unknown, was broken into pieces and smuggled abroad. It was brought back to Turkey and reassembled by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Bronze statues in human form were frequently used in the houses of wealthy city dwellers in antiquity. Bronze is reused by melting, which has caused the present statue to become an increasingly rare artifact. This study aims to introduce the bronze sculpture of Dionysus, its possible date of creation, and its intended use by comparing it with similar examples from the Roman Empire. The study conducted thus far, indicates that the artifact may have been used as a lighting device. These lighting devices were especially popular in the 1st century AD, and similar examples can be seen in Pompeii. The stylistic analysis indicates that the sculpture is pasticcio and contains elements from a wide range of time periods and dates to the 1st–2nd centuries AD.

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