The Triad of Zeus Soter, Artemis Soteira and Megalopolis at Megalopolis

Abstract

The sanctuary of Zeus the Saviour at Megalopolis was probably established in 371 B.C. The three cult statues, depicting Zeus Soter, Artemis Soteira and Megalopolis, are described by Pausanias, who attributes them to the sculptors Kephisodotos and Xenophon. This Kephisodotos must have been the elder one. The configurations of these three statues seem to be represented on Megalopolitan coinage. Zeus was seated frontally on a throne, holding a sceptre in his raised right hand with a himation over his left shoulder. Artemis was standing to the left, dressed in a short chiton, with a spear in her raised right hand and the hem of her mantle in her left. The head of Artemis at Pavia may derive from this Artemis. The figure of Megalopolis was draped, her right arm brought down and her forearm brought forward, in order to extend an attribute, perhaps a phiale. She wore a mural crown.