Workers in Greek Athens found an antique bust of the god Hermes while working in a drainage system, reports the Smithsonian Magazine.
On Friday, November 13, while working in the sewers of Athens, workers discovered a bust of the ancient Greek god Hermes. The sculpture was one meter underground and well preserved. She was found in the wall of a drainage channel under the Agia Irini square.
Presumably, the statue was made in 300 BC (the turn of the 4th-3rd centuries BC). Unlike traditional descriptions of Hermes as a youth, the found bust represents God as a mature man.
The statue was created in the style of the ancient Greek sculptor Alkamen, who worked in the first half of the 5th century BC. His head of Hermes Propylaean, which once stood at the entrance to the Acropolis of Athens, inspired many later copies.
The millennial bust was one of the herm statues that were used as street signs in ancient Athens. The word “herma” is translated as “a pile of stones”. These statues were both cult objects and road landmarks.
Like other gods and goddesses, Hermes played many roles. Some revered him as the god of fertility, others he was known as the messenger of the gods, embodied in the body of a young man with wings. Hermes’ main role was to patronize travelers and merchants.
Earlier it was reported that the builder found the ceiling of the Church of St. James in the Belgian Antwerp message to descendants from 1941. The letter, hidden in a matchbox, was written by four church decorators.