The bronze Zeus

The bronze statue of Zeus of Ugento is the famous bronze statue discovered by chance in 1961, during construction work, in a private house in via Fabio Pittore, just north of the current historical centre.
The bronze statue of Zeus of Ugento is the famous bronze statue that was discovered by chance in 1961, during construction work, in a private house in via Fabio Pittore, just north of the current historical centre. The episode was memorable and caused great astonishment among the workmen who, with great anxiety, unearthed "il pupo", a name given to the statue by Sofia Nicolazzo Codacci Pisanelli, then Honorary Inspector of the Superintendence of Antiquities and president of the Pro-Loco of Ugento, who immediately recognised its great historical-artistic value and kept it in her home for the days immediately following its discovery. The Superintendent of Antiquities for Apulia and Matera, Nevio Degrassi, then transferred the statue transferred to the Central Institute for Restoration in Rome.
The statue, 74 cm high and made in the lost wax casting technique, was found at the bottom of a natural pit, covered by the limestone capital that formed its support (fig. 1); it had been placed there in ancient times, after the demolition of the sacred area that housed it. Originally it was placed on a column about 1.60 m high, perhaps inside a sacred enclosure as a simulacrum of the Messapian god Zis, the Zeus of the Greeks; the exact location of this sacred area is not known, probably not far from the place of discovery, where one can imagine that sacrifices and libations were made out invoking the protection of the god with the Messapian exclamation Klaohi Zis (Listen oh God!). The voluntary concealment of the statue may date back to the first half of the 5th century BC, during the war between Messapians and the Tarentines, when we know from literary sources that the local leaders expelled from the images of deities of Hellenic origin.
The divinity is represented naked, advancing, with his right hand extended forward, perhaps holding an eagle, and his left hand raised above his head brandishing a thunderbolt. These two attributes, characteristic of the Father of the Gods, are barely recognisable, because they were almost completely lost at the time of discovery. The presence of the thunderbolt has led to the hypothesis that the statue represents Zeus Kataibàtes, the god of lightning and protector of the Iapygi, who descends from the sky holding the thunderbolt and other symbols of his power. The head is adorned with a crown of stylised laurel leaves and a ribbon with rosettes in relief. The god's hairstyle is very particular, with a series of spiral curls framing the forehead and long wavy locks falling to the shoulders. The representation of the hair, the beard, and anatomical details, characterised by a contracted and powerful musculature, refer to the Greek canons of the late archaic sculpture. The whole is enlivened by the polychromy of the eyes, originally made of glass paste, ivory or bone. The capital on which Zeus rested is made up of a single block of ”pietra leccese”, which contains a very flattened echinus and an abacus decorated with four rosettes in relief on each side, a typical Messapian decoration; on the upper side there are some small holes, where nails were inserted to hang garlands or votive tapes.
The author of the statue, the so-called "master of Zeus", must be identified as a Greek artist from Taranto, called to Ugento by the local aristocracy to create this work, of particular artistic importance, between 530 and 500 BC. It is therefore an exceptional example of bronze sculpture from Taranto, most of which has been lost due to the sacking of the city by the Romans after the conquest of Taranto.
The statue is currently on display at the National Archaeological Museum of Taranto, while the Archaeological Museum of Ugento has a copy, also in bronze, made by the Turkish artist Murat Cura.