Was there really a statue of a three or four headed Hermes in central Athens?

[Kyriakos]

I recall reading of this statue in the 10th century Byzantine encyclopedia, the 'Suida'. Apparently it was a very notable work, placed in the epicenter of the city, below the hill of the Acropolis, and was overseeing a crossroad with its three or four heads. The title of the work seems to have been "Hermes trikarinos" or "Hermes tetrakarinos", respectively meaning three and four-headed. It already existed in the time of Aristophanes (who is said to have mocked it in one of his lost comedies where the statue had three of another organ..)

Anyone here know of more info on this?

 

[BaronNoir]

Ok, here are the two statues of Hermes descriped by Pausanias... (in Athens)

(...) As you go to the portico which they call painted, because of its pictures, there is a bronze statue of Hermes of the Market-place, and near it a gate. On it is a trophy erected by the Athenians, who in a cavalry action overcame Pleistarchus, to whose command his brother Cassander had entrusted his cavalry and mercenaries (...)


(...) Right at the very entrance to the Acropolis are a Hermes (called Hermes of the Gateway) and figures of Graces, which tradition says were sculptured by Socrates, the son of Sophroniscus, who the Pythia testified was the wisest of men, a title she refused to Anacharsis, although he desired it and came to Delphi to win it. (...) (it seems to be yours)

Third one, in wood.

In the temple of Athena Polias (Of the City) is a wooden Hermes, said to have been dedicated by Cecrops, but not visible because of myrtle boughs.

 

[Kyriakos]

Seems to be the second one indeed, in the area called Kerameikos. But the Encyclopedia of Photios (1 century earlier than the Suida, an error on my part ) attributes it to the sculptor Telesarchides:

（Τελεσαρχίδης), an Athenian sculptor, who is mentioned by Eustathius (ad Il. 24.333, p. 1358. 8). as the maker of a Hermes with four heads (Ἑρμῆς τετρακέφαλος), which stood in the Cerameicus at Athens, and bore the following inscription:

Ἑρμῆ τετρακάρηνε, καλὸν Τελεσαρχίδον ἔργον,
πανθ᾽ ὁράας.

(Comp. Heyne, Prisc. Art. Opp. ex Epigyr. Illus' p. 84.) It is also mentioned in the Lexicon of Photius in the following terms, Ἑρμῆς τετρακέφαλος : ἐν Κεραμεικῷ Τελεσαρχίδου ἔργον. There are some grounds for thinking that Raoul-Rochette may be right in his conjecture, that this statue was the celebrated Hermes which stood in the Cerameicus, at the junction of three roads, which is spoken of by the ancient writers both as Ἑρμῆς τετράκεφαλος and as Ἑρμῆς τρικέφαλος, and which is an object of some interest on account of the allusion to it in the Τριφάλης of Aristophanes. It is impossible here to discuss the question at length; those who wish to pursue it may consult the following authorities. (Phot. l.c. and s.v. Τρικέφαλοι; Harpocrat. s.v. Τρικέφαλος Ἑρμῆς, with the note of Valesius; Hesych. s. v. Ἑρμῆς τρικέφαλος; Etym. May. s. v. Τρικέφαλος; Aristoph. Frag. Triphal. No. 11, ed. Bergk, apud Meineke, Frag. Com. Graec. vol. ii. p. 1168, ed. Dindorf, in Didot's Bibliotheca, p. 510; Süvern on the Clouds of Aristophanes, p. 87.) This Hermes was set up by Procleides or Patrocleides, the friend of Hipparchus ; and therefore, if Raoul-Rochette be right, Telesarchides must have flourished under the Peisistratids, and probably before the murder of Hipparchus in B. C. 514. (R. Rochette, Lettre à M. Schorn, pp. 412, 413, 2d ed.)

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper...ter=T:entry+group=3:entry=telesarchides-bio-1