A crew of Athens municipality unearthed the head of a Hermes statue in downtown Athens on Friday. The crew was carrying out roadworks in Aiolou street in downtown Athens when it revealed the head, part of a Herma column.
The Culture Ministry said in an announcement that the finding is in a good condition and has been transferred to an Antiquities Ephorate warehouse.
The Hermes head is an original sculpture, probably dated to the end of the 4th or early 3rd century BC.
Herma columns were located on crossroads and were used as sign posts. Herma columns are sculptures with with a head and perhaps a torso above a plain, usually squared lower section.
https://www.facebook.com/KostasBakoyannispage/posts/3665611033505158
Mayor of Athens Kostas Bakoyannis posted on his facebook account on Saturday that the head “was found kust one and a half meter below, during roadworks in Aiolou street at Aghia Irini square. It is already at the Antiquities Ephorate. Unique Athens! Pride and admiration.”
Amasing, I wonder how many artefacts that still lies hidden under Athens streets and in it’s soil. Well, we’ll see in the years to come….