12. Roman Statuary

Red Sea region In the temple area of the port-site of Berenice on the Egptian Red Sea coast was found a bust of Serapis and another unspecified 'head of Roman statue' (Meredith 1957:70). Date indeterminate. Indian Subcontinent: An alabaster statuette of Heracles or a figure in the guise of Heracles excavated at Charsada (North-West Pakistan). According to Wheeler (1962:123), the excavator of the site, the stattuete is of "crude Mediterranean type and it or its artist was an importation from the Greek world." Statuette is dated to 2 nd century B.C. A unique alabaster sculpture of the Roman God of Love, Eros, within a hollow container, was recovered during exploration of the site of Junnar, Maharashtra (Deo 1992:43). Cimino (1994:183-184) describes the piece as "an unicum of its type, probably linked to Orfic beliefs." Date indeterminate. A number of plaster medallions with sculpted Greaco-Roman figures (Ares, sleeping Maenad) have been recovered from Begram in Afghanistan. Dated between 1 st century B.C. - 3 rd century A.D. (Cimino 1994: 214-219). A bronze figure of the Roman sea-god, Poseidon, was excavated from Brahmapuri, Maharashtra (see section on Copper/Bronze objects) Figure stylistically

68 dated between 300 B.C. - A.D. 200 by de Puma (1992:103). However, the Poseidon figure comes from strata dated to 1 st-2 nd century A.D. (Sankalia 1957:207-208). A bronze stattuete of Atlas was recovered from Devnimori, Gujarat (see section on Copper/Bronze objects). A terracotta bust of a Yavana (Roman soldier?) was found during explorations at Erode, Tamil Nadu. The bust is in the possession of the Kalaimagal Meenakshisundaram Archaeological learning and Research Centre at Erode. The author was provided with photographs of the unique terracotta figure by Director of the French Institute, Pondicherry (Pl. XIII; also Gupta 1990; Cimino 1994 Pl XVII. 1). Date indeterminate An imitation of a Roman bust probably inspired by portraitures on "IndoRoman" coins was found during excavations at Jetavanarama, Sri Lanka (Bopearachchi 1996:71). Mid-1 st millenium A.D.