The Apotheosis of Homer
apotheosis: the process or act of becoming a god

The Apotheosis of Homer is a marble carving which since 1805 has been kept at the British Museum in London. The carving was discovered in the 17th Century on the outskirts of Rome in the historic precinct where goddess groves and grottos were once the scene of processions and seasonal rituals. The work is by a sculptor, Archelaos, who was born in Priene in the Ionia in Asia Minor, who worked in the second and first centuries BC. It was commissioned by a poet who wished to thank the goddess and her priestesses for his success in a poetry competition. This means to us that we have a glimpse of the relationship between Roman poets and the goddess beliefs, and also a record of the way the Romans pictured the workings and theology of a goddess temple.

The carving has three main sections:

• the lower level shows the ordinary people, with a king in a place of honour, and women performing religious rites
• the middle section shows the interior of the goddess temple, and (l to r) Homer being honoured, the priestesses, the goddess (or her statue), the high priestess Sappho, a line representing the border between the realms of the living and the dead, and the god Hermes, who conducted souls to their place in the afterlife
• at top, the goddess in heaven, her guest Zeus (seated)