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These three statues are named after the site of their discovery, the town of Herculaneum, which was buried in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. Wearing a thin undergarment ( chiton ) and abundant drapery, the ‘Large Herculaneum Woman’ stands in a calm and relaxed pose, her head tilting forward as if pausing in a conversation. The statue conforms to a statuary type that was highly popular from Hellenistic times onwards and whose precedent probably represented a noble citizen of a Greek polis.