Dying Niobid at The Royal Cast Collection, Copenhagen

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The statue depicts a young woman mortally wounded by an arrow as she falls to her knees in a desperate attempt to remove it. Her tragic fate is one of the daughters of Niobe, a legendary queen who boasted of having seven sons and seven daughters, outdoing Leto's prolificacy. As punishment for her boasts, Apollo and Artemis condemned her children to death. According to recent research by E. La Rocca, the statue is believed to have originated from ancient Greece between 440 and 430 BCE as part of a pedimental group at the Temple of Apollo Daphnephoros in Eretria. The Roman general Gaius Sosius later relocated it to Rome during the Augustan Age and placed it on the side of the pediment of the Temple of Apollo he built at his own expense in the Circus Flaminius. The myth of the Niobids serves as a fitting narrative for highlighting the affinity between Apollo, the avenger God, and Emperor Augustus, who was also an avenger of his adoptive father Julius Caesar. Additionally, Gaius Sosius benefited from this association. The statue may have been moved to the Horti Sallustiani (Gardens of Sallust) as part of a larger ornamental complex. Dying Niobid is housed at the Museo Nazionale Romano in Rome and dates back to around 430 BCE. It was acquired by The Royal Cast Collection in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1926. This artifact is part of "Scan The World," a non-profit initiative led by MyMiniFactory that aims to create a digital archive of fully 3D printable sculptures, artworks, and landmarks from across the globe for public access. Scan The World is an open-source community effort; if you have interesting items to contribute, email stw@myminifactory.com to learn more about participating. Scanned using photogrammetry and processed with Agisoft PhotoScan software.