Description
The goddess wears sandals and a chiton over which a pleated blouse reaches her hips. Her chest is covered with an aegis—a goatskin decorated with a Medusa head. The rendering of the sleeves and helmet betrays a lack of familiarity with Greek garments; it looks like armor with the sleeves of the chiton underneath, and the helmet has an almost baroque outline with the separately worked crest. On her left arm the goddess wears a round shield with a Medusa head (a well known element to ward off evil). In her raised right hand she once held a spear. The position of her feet, and the garment swirling back reminds us of the many other statues of victory from the same workshops.
The native population presumably saw this statue as the goddess Allat, the equivalent of Athena. The base has a Greek votive inscription: “For the health of our ruler,” not mentioning the emperor by name. The rendering of the eyes indicates a date around the turn of the first century
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