Cyrene Sculpture Museum

Welcome To Cyrene Sculpture Museum

Cyrene Sculpture Museum lives up to its name: a wonderful collection of sculptures and statues, including statues of gods and goddesses, like Isis, Athena, Zeus, Apollo, Hermes, Demeter, Dionysus, and Cupid, portraits of Roman emperors and a bust of Alexander the Great, the marble group of the Three Graces, and the giant Sphinx (see below).

In addition to Greek and Roman statues the museum houses an interesting collection of Libyan sculptures which differ in style and execution (see below, left) from the Greek and Roman statues. Archaeologists agree that these sculptures, some of which were veiled and faceless, belong to the local Berber culture, dating from the 5th century BC to the Roman period. They were all found near tombs, either in niches or on bases, and thus were thought to have been used in funerary ceremonies, probably in conjunction with the worship of the Libyan Death-Goddess Persephone.

Libyan sculptures belonging to the local Berber culture (left).

Statue of Satyr from the Antonine period, found in the Trajan Baths (left). The Goddess Isis holding a child (right).

  
Clio, Cleo, Kleio or Klew (the Goddess of History); and the Goddess of Agriculture Isis or Izis (right).

Cleo is also a woman's name, short for Cleopatra. Her arms may once held the sacred scroll, as the goddess was often represented holding an open scroll. She was a member of the family of the sacred nine muses, including   Kalliope (epic poetry), Ourania (astronomy), and Erato (erotic poetry).

A Small Statue of The Goddess Aphrodite (left), and the Goddess Leda (right).

In Greek mythology the heroine Leda appeared in the myth of Leda and the Swan as the daughter of King Thestius, the wife of Spartan king Tyndareus (a king of Sparta), and the mother of several noble children, including the astrological Gemini twins Castor and Polydeuces. One day she was approached by promiscuous Zeus in the form of a swan and subsequently mated with her and as a result Helen was born.

The Gorgon's Head (left); Zeus' head (right)

Jupiter

A bust from the Apollo temple

The Naxian Sphinx Goddess. A similar copy of the above statue is also found in Delphi Museum.

This mythical sphinx is a   fabulous creature with bird wings, a woman's head, and a lion's body and legs. Despite the nature of its legend, the statue conveys gentleness and compassion. Legend states that the goddess Hera placed the beast before the city of Thebes as a curse. To escape punishment, her   would-be victims must answer the famous riddle of the creature that starts walking on four, then on two and then ends up walking on three. When Cedipus replied: Man, who starts crawling on four as a baby, walks on two as an adult, and ends up using a walking stick as an old man, the sphinx killed herself and Cedipus became the king of Thebes. Subsequently the people of Naxos gave the sphinx to the Oracle of Delphi (the Apollo sanctuary), where it rested on a 12 metre high column.

The Discus Bearer of Cyrene

The Discus Bearer

Statues of two children from Cyrene Sculpture Museum.

Dionysus

Dionysus statue, from Cyrene Sculpture Museum, from the Roman period, and belonging to the type known as "Dionysus of Madrid".