Commentary Prepared by Dr. Julia Lenaghan, Ashmolean Museum

A 127
Aura riding to viewer’s left from Epidauros. Athens

Aura (goddess of breezes) seated on horse that rides to viewer’s left. A corner acroterion from over the west pediment the Temple of Asklepios at Epidauros ca. 375 BC.

Marble (Pentelic)
Acroterion
H 79.5 cm, L 58 cm

From the Temple of Asklepios at Epidauros. Found on the west side of the temple.
Greece, Athens, National Museum, 157
Ca. 375-370 BC

Preservation:
The figure, which has been recomposed from three fragments, is preserved with a large part of its plinth. On the riding female, the following elements are missing: the left forearm from just below the elbow and including the left hand, both feet, a large part of the mantle on the left side. On the horse, the head, most of the front legs, and the tail are missing. In a small hole into which the tail was fastened are the remains of a lead covered iron dowel. A hole in the lower part of the mane was probably for the fastening of metal decoration. On top of the head of the rider is a large hole for a meniskos; there seem also to be several small holes on the left side of the head above the temple for attachments. The ear lobes are also drilled for earrings. The surface is weathered with the exception of the left side of the rider which was covered by the mantle. Other sculpture fragments found at the temple that probably belong to the figure even though they have no direct join surfaces, include the rider’s left hand, a piece of her left forearm, and her right foot as well as pieces of the horse’s legs.

Description:
The under life-size statue shows a frontally a female figure riding side-saddle on a rearing horse. The horse, depicted in profile, moves to the viewer’s left. The back of both horse and rider are only summarily executed. The horse’s body follows a slightly diagonal path; the rearing front portion is set forward. The back legs of the horse are not fully rendered. Its hindquarters emerge from and merge with a rocky plinth. Both of its front legs are raised. The coarse hair of the mane is defined by widely spaced, generally parallel, channels. There is hole at the base of the mane and on above the tail for the insertion of elements made in different materials. The horse’s weathered body does not display much detail beyond basic modelling. The riding female sits on the center of the horse’s back with both legs over its left side. Her head turns downward and to its right. She wraps her right arm around right side of the neck of the horse. Her right forearm and hand visible against the right side of the horse’s body are poorly worked. They are somewhat flat, and the hand is awkward and large. Her left upper arm is lowered and extends away and to the left of her body. It bends at the elbow and the forearm was apparently raised. The left hand likely held a corner of the mantle. She wears a short-sleeved, belted, inner garment that extends below the feet. The upper part of the inner garment is folded down, thus creating an overfold. The overfold blows up over the right breast but still covers the left breast. Its bottom edge thus makes an S curve around the breasts. The inner garment is belted, below the bottom edge of the overfold, at the waist. The belt is visible at the center of the body; on the sides, the material blouses out over the belt. In addition, the figure wears a figure 8 cord that wraps under both armpits and criss-crosses behind the shoulders. The lower part of the garment is extremely full and blows into great curving folds, with high ridges and deep recesses, to the right of the right leg. The material of the garment on the body in general clings to the body and is rendered in shallow small folds. The form of the body, particularly of the legs, is clearly visible through the garment. A heavier mantle is wrapped around the body over this short-sleeved inner garment. It runs from the left hand, to over the left shoulder, diagonally across the back to the right waist, and then over the front of the right thigh. The end of the material is twisted into a ball between the thighs; some of it then falls loosely on the left side but most of it then spills in thick folds down between the legs. The head of the woman features long wavy hair that is parted in the center and rolled backward around the face and behind the ears. The rolled area of hair protrudes as if it were a wreath around the head. At the back of the neck the hair is gathered and tied at the bottom of the neck. Below the tie the hair falls downward in a rectangular pony-tail. Cuttings in the head indicate that it wore some sort of headdress which was added separately. The small face is oval and has a tall brow that is given a triangular shape by its framing hair. The eyebrows are arching, and the eyes are widely spaced and large. The mouth is large from side to side with a particularly shapely and defined upper lip. The chin is long but tapers.

Discussion:
The figure of seated female riding a horse to the left is believed to represent an Aura, a goddess of breezes. It was certainly a corner acroterion of the west façade of the Temple of Asklepios at Epidauros. This temple was constructed ca. 380-370 BC, and, though small, was richly adorned with sculpted elements. Significant fragments of the all of the temple’s marble acroteria as well as numerous fragments of the figures that once decorated the pediments are preserved. For general information on the temple, see cat. no. A 121 and for other sculpted fragments from the pediments and acroteria, see cat. nos. A 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 168, and 169. The figure has a pendant, the acroterion from the other corner of the west façade of the Temple. The pendant shows a similarly posed female figure riding a horse to the right. The two figures were identified as Aurae or breezes by Amelung. The rationale was that breezes brought good health and were thus associated with Asklepios. Moreover, Pliny (NH 36.29) describes statues of the breezes holding out their mantles as these statues do. The exact placement of the two pendant and obviously corner acroteria of the west pediment has created some confusion. The first excavator, Kavviadas, failing to realize that they were acroteria, placed the left riding Aura in the right (south side) of the pediment and the right riding figure in the left (north side) of the pediment; that is, both figures were head towards the center of the pediment. He justified this placement by noting that the original find locations of the figures suggested it. Subsequently, however, when the figures were correctly identified as acroteria, scholars placed the left riding Aura on the left (north side ) and the right riding Aura on the right (south side). In this scenario the figures would have appeared to be riding off the corners of the temple. Yalouris prefers and believes that it is both in keeping with the original find locations of the figures and with architectural movement of the building and pediment that the figures moved towards the center. Thus, he places the left riding Aura on the right (south) corner and the right riding Aura on the left (north) corner. Although this is now generally accepted, one is left to wonder about the side view of this arrangement. The viewer would be looking directly up at the hindquarters of the horses of the Aurae. J. Lenaghan

Bibliography:
J. Crome, Die Skulpturen des Asklepiostempels von Epidauros (Berlin 1951) 23-25, no. 3, pls. 6-8 catalogue entry, comparison of both lateral acroteria of the west side
N. Yalouris, "Die Skulpturen des Asklepiostempels von Epidauros" Archaische und klassische griechische Plastik II (Mainz 1986) 180 brief mention in which notes confusion about location of left and right acroteria
N. Yalouris, Die Skulpturen des Asklepiostempels in Epidauros (AntPl 21 1992) 32-33, no. 27, pls. 29-31, full new catalogue entry, with notes of some extra fragments, previous identification, and rationale for position as left acroterion