Thasian Exports of Prefabricated Statuettes

The identification of Thasian sculptural marble is relatively easy, since pure white, dolomitic, coarse-grained marble came almost exclusively from Thasos during antiquity. Dolomite can be distinguished from calcite with a variety of scientific techniques. Most Thasian marble sculptures around the Mediterranean seem to have been carved at their destination from roughly shaped blocks, and their sculptors had no apparent connection with Thasos. A few sculptures, however, seem to have been exported from the island in a virtually finished state. They are here recognized on the basis of style, sculptural typology, and the use of Thasian marble. Marble is identified with X-ray diffraction (XRD), paramagnetic resonance spectography (EPR), and macroscopic observation. Most of the sculptures are statuettes and represent sleeping figures: satyrs, nymphs, slaves, and Hypnos himself. Thasian sculptural entrepreneurs apparently turned to the theme of sleep as an identifiable Thasian specialty.