Antefix (end-tile): head of Artemis-Bendis at The British Museum, London

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"Bendis was a Thracian goddess of the moon and hunt whom Greeks identified with Artemis. She was a huntress like Artemis but accompanied by dancing satyrs and maenads on a fifth-century red-figure stemless cup at Verona. By decree of Dodona's oracle, Athenians had to grant land for her shrine or temple; Thracian residents introduced her cult into Attica, though processions remained separate. Both cult and festival became popular that in Plato's time its festivities were naturalized as official city-state ceremonial called Bendideia. Events included nighttime torch-races on horseback mentioned in Republic 328. "You haven't heard there is to be a torchlight race this evening on horseback in honor of the Goddess?" "On horseback?" said I. "That's a new idea. Will they carry torches and pass them along to one another as they race with horses or how do you mean?" "That's the way it is," said Polemarchus, "and besides there is to be a night festival which will be worth seeing." (Credit: Wikipedia) This object is part of Scan The World. Scan the World is a non-profit initiative introduced by MyMiniFactory through which we are creating a digital archive of fully 3D printable sculptures artworks and landmarks from across the globe for public access free. Scan the World is an open source community effort if you have interesting items around you and would like to contribute email stw@myminifactory.com to find out how you can help. Scanned: Photogrammetry (Processed using Agisoft PhotoScan)"