BURIED CITY’S GLORIES

Hawera Star, Volume L, 27 November 1930, Page 7

BURIED CITY’S GLORIES

THREE MARBLE STATUES

TR EASURES OF' HERCULANEUM

Professor Majuri, who i,s in charge of the excavations in Hcrou/ianeum, at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, has discovered three exquisite statues of outsanding archaeological and artistic merit in one of the richest and most beautiful private residences of the ancient city. Herculaneum, like Pompeii, was overwhelmed and buried bv the eruption of Vesuvius in A.D. 79.

All three statues are made of white marble and stand about 4fthigh. They represent a drunken Hercules, a satyr, and a hunting scene. The workmanship of the statues is perfect, and tho marble, owing to the long time it has been underground', has assumed a delicate patina- similar to old ivory. Especially beautiful is the group representing a hunting scene. A young deer, brought to bay by a pack of •’ouiids, is shown fighting for freedom. Four hounds' have attacked 'simultaneously. One has climbed on to its back and tears at its ears, another clings to its neck, half-hanging from its lower liv>. and the other two savagely bite its left thigh and right foot. The workmanship is exquisite in every detail, arid tM> group has a palpitating vivacity. The desperate effort of the deer is excellently rendered—its neck rigid, its muscles bulging, its frightened eyes ahrioet out of their orbits. It is considered by experts one qf the most realistic pieces' of sculpture of the ancient era.