In Islam, the creation of sculptures depicting living beings (humans and animals) is generally discouraged, often considered forbidden. So many that we see have had noses taken off to remove the humanlike nature of the sculpture. Thats one guess, could be plenty of others
6 days ago | 7
We know that in most cases, it was done to destroy the legacy of a rival leader or predecessor. There are also religious implications. In ancient times, many religions held that the nose was the entry and exit point for your immortal spirit. Sometimes as punishment, sometimes out of revenge, smashing the nose in effigy is symbolic of trapping the spirit within the dead for all eternity.
1 week ago | 34
Invasion, wars . Invaders broke the noses on purpose. They even did it to the sphinx in Egypt. It was a common thing back then
6 days ago | 6
Probably the weakest point that would have easily gotten damaged during moving it from one location to the next, either that or someone didn't like the person it was based on so tried to deface it out of spite, jealousy or anger
1 week ago | 31
Aside from the elements and/or the conditions they were discovered in DEFACING THESE ICONIC STATUES OF REVERENCE WAS TO ROB THEM OF THEIR IDENTITY AND THEREFORE DEPLETING THEM OF THE POWER IN WHICH THEY WERE WORSHIPED FOR ……the nose personified identity (ie liver/integrity) it was also the portal or gateway in which the body received the gifts from the gods themselves ……
1 week ago | 4
I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed. And on the pedestal these words appear: 'My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings: Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!' Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, The lone and level sands stretch far away. Shelly: 1818
1 week ago | 30
It is so that the spirit of the deceased does not see or smell the person who is looting the tomb.
5 days ago | 0
Smashing the noses of cultural figures and the defamation of a cultures identity was ceremonious in conquest, as the nose corresponds to the strongest sense tied to memory, this act of cutting ties represents the cultural uprooting of a perceived lesser people. It's the same playbook today except our idols are people instead of stone, celebrities instead of divine aspects of nature carved out and personified in relatable form.
3 days ago | 0
Because it is the most vulnerable part of the statue. That has most likely been handled, moved, fallen over, weathered. No conspiracy just common sense.
1 week ago | 23
It's how you disempower the images of the previous ruling class after a revolution. One shot.
5 days ago | 0
2 reasons: Weak point of the statue, and to dissuade the spirit of the person/deity depicted. Ancients believed that spirits would literally go inside of statues and continue influencing people and the world. If the nose is destroyed, the spirit will not be able to breathe, and thus be forced to return to the underworld. Statues allowed people to continue interacting with their descendants, and it gave kings and queens the power to rule after death (hence why the following king would usually destroy the noses of the prior king's statues)
1 week ago | 12
Tip a statue, when it falls forward the nose breaks off. Happened to a little one I had on an end table.
6 days ago (edited) | 5
Because they protrude.. like hands and fingers or ears or pointed pieces on statues .. often become broken.
1 week ago (edited) | 15
Statues with broken noses portray the entirely of human existence: create, destroy
1 week ago | 0
History Piece
Why the noses are missing…
youtube.com/shorts/M-lRl92Obp...
1 week ago | [YT] | 2,742