Bronze God from Cape Artemision

c. 460 BCE

Bronze, 209 cm high · National Archaeological Museum, Athens

One of the very few full-size Greek bronzes to survive, raised from the sea off northern Euboea. Most ancient bronzes were melted down; this one lasted because it sank.

Fishermen netted an arm around 1926; the nearly complete statue was brought up in September 1928.
The museum groups it with bronzes lost when Roman ships carrying art from Greece were wrecked.
Look at the arms: stretched to balance a throw, with a span (210 cm) slightly wider than the figure is tall.
The weapon in the right hand is lost, so it may be Zeus with a thunderbolt or Poseidon with a trident.

Poseidon (Roman Neptune), brother of Zeus, rules the sea, earthquakes and horses. The figure’s identity is still argued because only the missing weapon would settle it.

Image: Wikimedia Commons · CC0