The Goddesses Returned

The acroliths of Demeter, goddess of agriculture and grain, and Persephone, queen of the underworld, originally were attached to wooden bodies, robed and enthroned in a temple outside the city walls devoted to them. Their worship reflected the agricultural economy of the Morgantina region of Sicily.
Image courtesy of David Summers, McIntire Department of Art

On February 19, the University of Virginia returned to Italy two life-size Archaic marble heads, three feet and three hands—acroliths meant to be attached to wooden bodies.

They will eventually be returned to Aidone, the Sicilian town near the Morgantina site from which they are believed to have been looted. Dating from circa 530 B.C., they were likely draped and enthroned in a temple, and represent Demeter, goddess of agriculture and grain, and Persephone, queen of the underworld. “These objects will take on new meaning when they’re seen and studied with all the other related finds from the sanctuary of Demeter and Persephone,” says Professor of Art History Malcolm Bell III, who has directed U.Va.’s excavations at Morgantina since 1980.

At U.Va.’s “The Goddesses Return” symposium, Clemente Marconi, James R. McCredie Professor in the History of Greek Art and Archaeology at New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts, called the heads “the equal of the sculpture on the Acropolis.”

Many celebrations are being planned in Aidone, said Beatrice Basile, local art superintendent. The acroliths will be displayed in the Aidone Museum, which also has an exhibition on the Morgantina excavations.

The acroliths were contributed to the University in 2002 by an anonymous donor who sought to remain anonymous. The gift agreement seeks to ensure this result. It has been reported in the press that the donor was Maurice Tempelsman, known in arts circles for his antiquities collection (and in popular culture as friend of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis). Due to the gift’s terms, the University can neither confirm nor deny that Tempelsman was the donor.