Marble sculpture head of a woman in situ, Chersonesus Taurica, CrimeaCourtesy of the Centre Expedition Novae AMU in Poznan/E. Klenina
Posted on 09/26/2025 6:49:53 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
More than two decades ago, Ukrainian and Polish archaeologists unearthed an exquisitely carved marble head of a female statue at the ancient Greek site of Chersonesus on the Crimean Peninsula. The artist skillfully rendered the woman's features with a hint of both Greek idealism and Roman realism, which prompted researchers to wonder who exactly the sculpture was meant to depict. La Brújula Verde reports that researchers have recently scrutinized many aspects of the sculpture -- including its date, design, execution, and archaeological context -- to finally ascertain the mystery woman's identity. Researchers determined the statue likely represents an aristocratic woman named Laodice, who lived in the city in the second century a.d. One of the helpful clues that led to this conclusion was the sculpture's melonenfrisur hairstyle, which was a popular fashion worn by wealthy women during this time period. The experts also connected the work of art with an honorary inscription found elsewhere at the site. It appears that Laodice was instrumental in helping Chersonesus earn "free city" status from the Roman Empire, for which she was rewarded by having a statue erected in her honor in the public square. Read the original scholarly article about this research in npj Heritage Science. To read about evidence of an Anglo-Saxon town in what is now Crimea, go to "Searching for Lost Cities: London on the Black Sea."
(Excerpt) Read more at archaeology.org ...
Marble sculpture head of a woman in situ, Chersonesus Taurica, CrimeaCourtesy of the Centre Expedition Novae AMU in Poznan/E. Klenina
Nice find, i alwzys enjoy seeing the artistic craftsmanship of scuplters
Say her name!
the sculpture’s melonenfrisur hairstyle
Okay, I think the archeologist mumbled that word, and everybody else just pretended to hear him and to know what it meant. “Of course, the sculpture’s, um, melonenfrisur hairstyle. What country was that from?”
Basically the hair looked like the rows on a melon
Is she an aristocrat, or just a pretty commoner willing to strip and pose for the sculptor? Is she even a real person at all?
I need more evidence to decide. What do her bazoombies look like?
Nice find.
They did nice work.
So, cornrows. As in cultural appropriation. Not sure who appropriated who, though.
English, nicht Deutsche.
There are two kinds of people in the world.
Those who use the metric system,
and those who have been to the moon.
To dust Laodice did return. Apparently.
concepts of beauty haven’t changed much; although when I’ve seen contemporaneous Cleopatras, i wonder whether she launched a thousand ships or sunk them, to mix ancient women a bit.
“Okay, I think the archeologist mumbled that word, and everybody else just pretended to hear him and to know what it meant.”
Kind of like “covfefe” ;>}
She was a good hang, spoke a lot of languages, knew contemporary Roman and classical Greek literature, oh yeah, and she was reputedly a very talented libidinous trollop. Herod complained that when the two of them met to discuss administrative matters, she dismissed the servants and wanted to get busy with him.
She had a bunch of kids, one by Julius Caesar and a number by Anthony, and while there isn't a paper trail, and some of those lines of descent are thought to have died out, they may just have dwindled into historical obscurity. It's not unlikely that millions of her descendants walk the Earth today. The way Antony carried on in his spare time, his descendants are probably in the hundreds of millions.
Nonetheless, I’ll think of Laodice as a chaste ( rather than chased or chasing ) beauty.
Laodicea on the Lycus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laodicea_on_the_Lycus
I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. ...
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