THE FOOT OF ZEUS ~ REMNANTS OF GREEK ART IN AFGHANISTAN

During excavations in the Hellenistic city of Ai- Khanoum, French archaeologists discovered a giant marble foot in the main temple, carved in exquisite detail. It was identified as a piece from a statue of Greek God Zeus- the thunder on the sandal helped further in the identification of the God. The piece measures 3 times the length of a normal human foot ,and judging by this and the height of the temple, it is clear that the statue was seated.


The details on this piece of statue are stunning. The Greek style is clearly evident,both on the decoration of the sandal and the realism of the anatomy. The artist was probably Greek ,given the aesthetic and the attention to detail.

The DAFA excavations at Ai Khanum took place from 1964 until 1978; the foot was found in 1968. Ai- Khanoum is essentialy a completely Greek city in the depths of Afghanistan; its architecture, temples and Greek inscriptions give us useful information about how the Greek colonists had created a home away from their true home, Greece.

Representation of the statue of Zeus in Olympia. The statue of Ai- Khanoum would have been similarly awe-inspiring.

The excavations in Afghan sites such as Ai- Khanum, filled the national Museum of Afghanistan with an impressive collection of items. The ancient history of this country became clearer with every new artefact.  During the 1990s, in the midst of war, the authorities of the Museum decided to take the most valuable items into government buildings for safety reasons.The Museum itself was heavily looted,of course- and the foot of Zeus was stolen.

Thunderbolts as decoration on the sandal of the statue- extra proof that the God depicted is Zeus.


  It was bought by a Japanese collector and was finally acquired by Ikuo Hirayama.In 2001,this man founded the Japan Committee for the Protection of Displaced Cultural Properties. The focus of the Committee was Afghanistan and they managed to collect 102 artefacts, which had been smuggled out of the country. 
 Through Hirayama's efforts, the foot of Zeus was exhibited in Tokyo.In 2016, the Japan Committee for the Protection of Displaced Cultural Properties returned the foot of Zeus and the other Afghan artifacts back to Afghanistan.These items are now back in their homeland, where efforts are also being made to restore other artefacts that have been brutally destroyed by extremists.

The foot of Zeus, even though it is a mere fragment of a majestic statue lost to us, is a vivid testimony of the Greek culture in Afghanistan- a culture which started with Alexander the Great and became firmly established through the Greco-Bactrian Kingdoms.