Metal plate beneath Linothorakes or Spolades

[Paullus Scipio]

Ruben wrote:

So, the Mesopotamian provenance is not simply a scholarly assumption, but the provenance of the seller or dealer. The misidentification of it as a Syrian artefact in subsequent publications is probably a mistake based on this erroneous caption.

To say that this object has 'provenance' is something of a leap too far. Its actual origin is, as I said, unknown. One needs to understand that when a museum is said to have "acquired" an object, it usually means 'bought from a seller or dealer' as you have rightly observed ( often the dealer has illegally acquired the object of course - witness the current troubles of the Getty Museum in this regard, though museums back then cared little for this - which some might describe as unscrupulous - but it was a different time....)

Because of this museums/archaeologists then use 'code' in its description thus "said to have come" means no more than "this is what we are told by the seller, but there is considerable doubt, and it may or may not be true."

Evidently, the Louvre drew their own conclusions, and their best guess was 'Seleucid' origins, hence 'Syria', but we will never know for sure where the two (don't forget!) similar statues truly originated.

Lysimachus wrote:

Maybe everyone is right. It could be that the statuette is from that part of Syria that is in between the Euphrates and Tigris. Dura itself is often considered to be in northern Mesopotamia, even though it is on the west bank of the Euphrates. Perhaps Rostovtzeff was being as specific as possible by referring to the Mesopotamian portion of Syria, while the caption simply mentions the country (or French Mandate) of origin. In any case, depending on exactly where and when the statue was made it could easily be either Parthian or Seleucid. Chances are their cataphracts could have looked very similar at the time; indeed many of the Seleucid cataphracts were probably of Iranian origin.

I think this is a very sensible suggestion, and quite a likely one, in all respects .