Fragment of a Marble Relief with Peitho in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, February 2020

Fragment of a marble neo-Attic relief with Peitho
1st century B.C.


Object Details

Title: Fragment of a marble neo-Attic relief with Peitho

Period: Late Republican

Date: 1st century B.C.

Culture: Roman

Medium: Marble, Pentelic

Dimensions: H. 14 7/8 in. (37.8 cm.)
width 5 3/4 in. (14.6 cm.)
depth 1 1/2 in. (3.8 cm)

Classification: Stone Sculpture

Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1910

Accession Number: 10.210.27


This fragment shows Peitho, the personification of persuasion, seated on a high pillar with one hand on a dove and the other holding the edge of her himation (cloak). This scene was part of a decorative relief of Helen being persuaded by Aphrodite to leave her husband and go off to Troy with the Trojan prince Paris. The work was produced for the Roman market. A well-preserved Roman relief in the Archaeological Museum of Naples (Mus. Naz. 6682) shows the entire composition with all the names inscribed.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/248315