The Barberini Hera, also known as Barberini Juno, is a Roman sculpture believed to be a copy of a Greek original depicting either

Hera In ancient Greek religion, Hera (; ; in Ionic Greek, Ionic and Homeric Greek) is the goddess of marriage, women, and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she is queen of the twelve Olympians and Mount Oly ...

or Juno, two prominent goddesses in ancient mythology. Unearthed in Rome during the late 17th century, this sculpture now resides in the Museo Pio-Clementino.

Description

The statue depicts the goddess standing, wearing a crown and

peplos A peplos () is a body-length garment established as typical attire for women in ancient Greece by , during the late Archaic Greece, Archaic and Classical Greece, Classical period. It was a long, rectangular cloth with the top edge folded down ab ...

(which clings to show her form beneath and has dropped from her left shoulder, nearly revealing her breast) and now resting the weight of her restored right arm on a standing

sceptre A sceptre (or scepter in American English) is a Staff of office, staff or wand held in the hand by a ruling monarch as an item of regalia, royal or imperial insignia, signifying Sovereignty, sovereign authority. Antiquity Ancient Egypt and M ...

and carrying a

patera In the material culture of classical antiquity, a ''patera'' () or ''phiale'' ( ) is a shallow ceramic or metal libation bowl. It often has a bulbous indentation ('' omphalos'', "belly button") in the center underside to facilitate holding it, ...

in her left. This sculpture is a Roman copy of a Greek original, possibly by Alcamenes;

Lewis Richard Farnell Lewis Richard Farnell FBA (1856–1934) was a classical scholar and Oxford academic, where he served as vice-chancellor from 1920 to 1923. George Stanley Farnell in the inscription of the 1896 edition of the first volume of the first edition of ...

suggested that "the not infrequent repetition of the type suggests a Greek original of some celebrity." It is now in the Museo Pio-Clementino in the

Vatican Museums The Vatican Museums (; ) are the public museums of the Vatican City. They display works from the immense collection amassed by the Catholic Church and the papacy throughout the centuries, including several of the best-known Roman sculptures and ...

. It is also sometimes identified as a Ceres. The right arm and the nose are restorations. The Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, who have a plaster copy, believe that the sculptor was Agorakritos from Paros and that the original was created in the fifth century. They speculate that if is not Hera then it may be the Greek goddess of fortune (

Tyche Tyche (; Ancient Greek: Τύχη ''Túkhē'', 'Luck', , ; Roman mythology, Roman equivalent: Fortuna) was the presiding tutelary deity who governed the fortune and prosperity of a city, its destiny. In Classical Greek mythology, she is the dau ...

) or the goddess of love (

Aphrodite Aphrodite (, ) is an Greek mythology, ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, procreation, and as her syncretism, syncretised Roman counterpart , desire, Sexual intercourse, sex, fertility, prosperity, and ...

Discovery

The sculpture was discovered by the antiquarian Leonardo Agostini in the late 17th century, during excavations on the

Viminal Hill The Viminal Hill ( ; ; ) is the smallest of the famous Seven Hills of Rome. A finger-shape cusp pointing toward central Rome between the Quirinal Hill to the northwest and the Esquiline Hill to the southeast, it is home to the Teatro dell'O ...

. The site was located beneath the convent affiliated with the church of San Lorenzo in Panisperna, an area known to have hosted the ancient Baths of Olimpiades. Its identification as the Barberini Hera was established by its early owner, Cardinal Francesco Barberini.Ercole Massi, ''Sculptures and Galleries in the Vatican Palace'', 3rd ed. 1873:170; Jean Duchesne, ''Museum of painting and sculpture or collection of the principal ...'', vol. 13, 1832:918.

Notes

{{Reflist, 2 17th-century archaeological discoveries

Sculptures of Hera Sculptures in the Vatican Museums Roman copies of Greek sculptures Archaeological discoveries in Italy