Wounded Amazon at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

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The Amazons were a legendary tribe of female warriors known for their exceptional skills in archery and horseback riding. This stunning marble statue depicts a wounded Amazon, crafted by the Romans as a replica of an ancient Greek bronze original dating back to around 450-425 B.C. The original bronze may have stood proudly in the sacred precincts of Artemis at Ephesus on the Asian coast, where the Amazons were deeply connected with the goddess through myth and cult. Here, the mythical warrior woman has been stripped bare of her arms and steed, and lies wounded under her right breast. She wears a short, sleeveless tunic unfastened at one shoulder and cinched at the waist with a makeshift bridle from her horse. The garment is known as an exomis, a type of clothing typically worn by Greek men for exercise, horse riding, or hard labor. Despite her dire circumstances, this Amazon exhibits no signs of pain or exhaustion. Instead, she leans gently on the pillar to her left and rests her right arm elegantly on her head in a gesture often used to convey sleep or death. The serenity of her pose and the emotional restraint in her facial expression are hallmarks of Classical sculpture from the second half of the fifth century B.C. The Roman writer Pliny the Younger describes a prestigious competition held in the mid-fifth century B.C. between five renowned sculptors, including Pheidias, Polykleitos, and Kresilas, who were tasked with creating a statue of an Amazon for the temple of Artemis. This type of statue, reproduced in other marble copies, is generally associated with that illustrious contest. Of this marble replica, the lower legs and feet have been restored using plaster casts taken from other marble copies of this type in Berlin and Copenhagen. Most of the right side, as well as the lower end of the left forearm, the lower part of the pillar, and the plinth, are eighteenth-century marble restorations. However, the sharply carved facial features and crisply carved curls indicate a faithful rendering of the bronze original. This object is part of "Scan The World", a non-profit initiative introduced by MyMiniFactory, which aims to create a digital archive of fully 3D printable sculptures, artworks, and landmarks from around the globe for public access. Scan the World is an open-source community effort, if you have interesting items nearby and would like to contribute, email stw@myminifactory.com to learn how you can help. This object was scanned using photogrammetry (Processed using Agisoft PhotoScan).