Some of the headless statues that can be seen in the ruins of the Roman gymnasium complex at Ancient Salamis in north-eastern Cyprus. As I said in an earlier post, it is not clear why all the statues are headless/faceless. One theory is that they were removed by the early Christians who considered them to be “graven images”. Another theory is that the heads were simply destroyed by one of the many earthquakes that struck the region and toppled the statues.
The Roman gymnasium at Ancient Salamis in north-eastern Cyprus. For a description of the gymnasium see my earlier post here and for Salamis see here.
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Beautifully framed, Stevie. The b/w works really well too! 🙂
Wonderful shot. Strangely theatrical.
very impressive, also the statues were made separate to the body ( you bought the body you liked and commissioned a head to go with), so I assume easier to get knocked off with earthquakes and the like.
Gorgeous pic, Stevie! Love the classic B/W look you’ve chosen for this. Also, regarding the missing heads, it was a common practice back then for conquering armies to disfigure the statues of their conquests. So, this might be the reason they have no heads. Then again, it could have been an earthquake, too. What do I know! lol