Penelope in Persepolis or The Power of Images to Stop War with an Arch-Enemy

Among the finds from the Achaemenid palace of Persepolis a classical Greek marble statue of highest quality, representing Odysseus’ wife Penelope, constitutes an ongoing and still unexplained surprise. How, by whom, and for what purpose was this work of art brought to the residence of the Persian king? Moreover, Roman marble copies testify to a second, contemporary version of this work, destined for collocation in one of the centres of Greece. Close analysis allows the conclusion that one replica was erected in Athens and the other brought to Persia as a gift to the Great King on the occasion of the ‘treaty’ of Kallias by which the Persian Wars were concluded. Penelope serves as a mythical example representing the disturbances brought about by continuous far-reaching warfare.
This event is sponsored by the Department of Classics, the UCSB Ancient Mediterranean Studies Program, and the Ancient Borderlands Research Focus Group.

jwil 27.x.2011