Marble relief with a dancing maenad

Kallimachos

ca. 27 BCE–14 CE · Marble, Pentelic · Greek and Roman Art

Copy of a Greek relief of ca. 425–400 B.C. attributed to Kallimachos Maenads were mythical women inspired by the god of wine, Dionysos, to abandon their homes and families and roam the mountains and forests, singing and dancing in a state of ecstatic frenzy. This figure, wearing an ivy wreath and carrying a thyrsos (fennel stalk) bedecked with ivy leaves and berries, moves forward, trancelike, her drapery swirling about her. She was copied from a famous relief of dancing maenads dated to the late fifth century B.C., when Euripides portrayed the manic devotées of Dionysos in his play the Bacchae.

Artist

Kallimachos

Date

ca. 27 BCE–14 CE

Medium

Marble, Pentelic

Culture

Roman

Department

Greek and Roman Art

Credit line

Fletcher Fund, 1935