The de Nion Head

Among the more brilliant creations of Archaic Greek sculpture is the almost life-size 'de Nion Head', believed to have come from the northern Peloponnese. The Head, which once formed part of an equestrian figure, possibly represents one of the divine Twins, the Dioskouroi. This head of a rider, carved in Naxian marble, was created about 550-554 B. C., at the very outset of the ripe Archaic period. Various pieces of circumstantial evidence indicate that the Nion sculpture may have been created by some unknown master sculptor from Sykion, a prominent city in the northern Peloponnese in the second quarter at the sixth century B. C. Whatever its provenance, the de Nion Head merits inclusion among the masterpiece of Archaic Greek sculpture, on a par with such works as the famous Rampin Horseman.