The Cyrene Apollo
Peter Higgs looks at how a monumental Hellenistic statue sheds light on culture, religion and identity in Roman North Africa.
One of the most visually stunning of all the ancient sculptures displayed in the galleries of the British Museum is the colossal marble statue of Apollo found at Cyrene, in modern day Libya. The statue was discovered in January 1861 by Lieutenant Robert Murdoch Smith and Commander Edwin Porcher, whose excavations are recorded in thrilling detail in their monumental site report published in 1864. The Apollo, standing 2.29 metres, was found broken into 121 pieces close to the large stone pedestal on which it originally stood.
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