An Early Classical Disc Relief from Melos
In the islands surprises seem to be as ἀνήριθμοι as the γέλασμα of the waves. If news came from anywhere else of the discovery of a circular marble slab carved with a head in relief, experience would lead the archaeologist to expect a late portrait or one of the so-called oscilla. Not so on Melos: here he finds himself confronted with the splendid head of a goddess carved in the purest Early Classical style.For such in fact is the fragment of a circular marble disc (Plate XXXVII and fig. 1) discovered in 1937 on the slopes of Klema, the site of the ancient town of Melos. It was found lying on the surface of the ground, on the property of Panagioulis Vikhos, to the north-east of Kalyvaki. The distinguished lawyer of Plaka, Mr. N. Kyritses, to whom we must again express our gratitude for having rescued it, readily offered it to the State.The disc is of Parian marble. Its convex obverse is decorated in relief with a head in profile to the right—an unusual subject. The reverse (fig. 2) is flat and smooth. The flat rim joining the two faces is 0·016 m. wide, but at the centre, where it is broken, the disc is 0·073 thick, not counting the height of the relief. The greatest preserved height of the fragment is 0·325 m., the greatest width 0–335.