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 relation to the worship of the Libyan Death-Goddess Persephone. (Temehu.com)

Image copyright © Jona Lendering, Marco Prins via vici.org