The disappointment of the captain at Artemisio, who drew the bronze head of a horse from the bottom of the sea but stayed speechless after the assembling of the statue
In 1928, a unique bronze statue was pulled from the bottom of the sea. It was in the cargo of a ship that sank at the Cape of Artemisio in the 2nd or early 1st century BC.
It had probably started from Macedonia and was on its way through the Gulf of Evia to southern Greece when a heavy storm brought it to the bottom.
The small rider was found in 1928 in the sea area of North Evia.
The shipwreck was located in 1928 by a resident of Artemisio, Leonidas Apostolidis. After notifying the port authorities and obtaining the appropriate permit, he dived with a group of divers to a depth of 42 meters. This is how they pulled the bronze statue of Poseidon or Zeus from the bottom.
Later, the archaeologist Nikolaos Bertos extensively investigated the marine area in Artemisio Strait. The initial investigations were accompanied by difficulties due to the depth of the shipwreck and the stormy sea. At first, they discovered the head, the mane, part of the chest of a large horse and the statue of a child.
It took nine years for the archaeologists to excavate all the parts of the statue. To keep people out of the area so that the finds to not be stolen, fishing had been banned and a guard had been posted at the cape to control the sea area where the ancient shipwreck was found.
It has a length of 2.90m and a height of 2.10m. The statue was assembled in 1937.
According to the written testimony of archaeologist N. Bertos, the captain and crew seemed disappointed with the chopped sculpture that was pulled out of the boat. In fact, when one of them, Delikonstantis, saw the severed head and leg, he seems to have said: "Too bad for our efforts. Have we worked so many days for this? " But when they put the pieces together, they were impressed with the result. A small rider was depicted on a galloping horse. The rider's face grimaced intensely, and he wore sandals and a tunic that fluttered from the horse's speed.
The child, archaeologists estimated, was probably descended from a Negro, and his face reflected the agony and passion of battle. He had his two arms raised, holding the horse's reins and whip. The bronze statue dates from the Late Hellenistic Period, about 140 B.C. It was called "Artemisio Jockey" and is one of the most characteristic statues adorning the red hall of the National Archaeological Museum.