after visiting pompeii and paestum in italy i am bemused as to why there are many beautiful statues but 99% of them are headless.
2006-11-09 03:36:24 · 15 answers · asked by lion of judah 5 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Visual Arts ➔ Sculpture
Somebody knocked their block off.
2006-11-09 03:37:53 · answer #1 · answered by bor_rabnud 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
the head were not reinforce right, and after years in the elements and the volcanic eruption in Pompeii, they just fell off. Also, Rome had a lot of earth quakes during the late empire. this is why the Colosseum lost so much of its walls
2006-11-09 11:45:12 · answer #2 · answered by Jenny 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
often warfare caused the destruction of sculptures. when one group conquered another. in the case of rome once the christians came to power they would not tolerate images of roman gods. as for pompeii, the city was destroyed by volcano before the christians became too powerful. this is somewhat of a diiferent period but during the period of iconoclasm, religious sculptures throughout europe were intentionally beheaded.
2006-11-11 12:58:30 · answer #3 · answered by NM 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Erosion over time... same as rock formations.
The head is basically a boulder on a smaller formation, the most likely part to drop off first.
Also the first to get vandalized in a time of war.
2006-11-09 11:39:11 · answer #4 · answered by artisticallyderanged 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
because they are around 2000 years old and things get damaged either by accident, natural events, vandalism or deliberate damage for religious reasons. The surprise is that there are so many in good condition
2006-11-09 11:40:14 · answer #5 · answered by Maid Angela 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think these were defaced by conquering peoples after the fall of the Roman Empire
2006-11-09 11:39:57 · answer #6 · answered by trebs 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Stolen by thieves and sold to private ownership, if not initially beheaded by the barbarians of their time. There is a bunch of art work in private hands.
2006-11-09 11:40:24 · answer #7 · answered by RDRD 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm sure at the time of their creation they did have heads. Time, vandalism, erorison have made them fall off/be taken etc.
2006-11-09 11:47:45 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Either someone went on a beheading rampage or they fell off for whatever reason.
2006-11-09 11:38:30 · answer #9 · answered by Bear 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because they are so old and people defaced them through the years.
2006-11-09 11:38:49 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋