DEA DARDANICA, marble, second half of the 3rd–beginning of the 4th century, Mediana

DEA DARDANICA, marble, second half of the 3rd–beginning of the 4th century, Mediana

Figure of a woman, lacking the head, dressed into a long, wrinkled chiton with a chimation thrown over. In the bent right arm, placed on the chest, she is holding a cattle, and in the left one, which is hanging, there is a sack (marsupium). Next to the foot of the left leg is represented the head of a wild boar, and above it, there is a double axe (labrys). The figure represents the deity of the homeland (dea patriae) of Dardanians, identified as DeaDardanica.

The sculpture was discovered at Mediana, in the villa with peristyle – in a room at the entrance. It represented symbolic-dynastic character and could have been placed in that position for ceremonial reasons, so that the emperor would immediately come face to face with the goddess who was the patroness of the native land of Constantine’s dynasty.

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