Inv. Scu 1151

The group is depicting two young girls playing.

The game consisted in hitting a rock stuck in the ground with a ball: whoever missed had to carry the winner on his shoulders who would cover the loser’s eyes until he had reached the rock.

The young girls are wearing a thin tunic (chiton) that leaves their chest partially uncovered and a cloak draped around their waist, characterized by beautiful drapery with wide and wavy folds.

The group is probably a 4th century BC original; it has been reassembled from numerous fragments. According to an interesting hypothesis, the group was brought to Rome as spoils of war from the city of Tegea in Greece.

There are many Hellenistic replicas of the motif, especially in terra-cotta.

The sculpture, coming from Piazza Dante on the Esquiline Hill, was perhaps originally used as decoration in the top of a Temple pediment (acroterion).