Copies of the statue were displayed in a number of venues around Great Britain and the United States; it quickly became one of Powers' most famous works, and held symbolic meaning for some American abolitionists, inspiring an outpouring of prose and poetry.

She is now among barbarian strangers, under the pressure of a full recollection of the calamitous events which have brought her to her present state; and she stands exposed to the gaze of the people she abhors, and awaits her fate with intense anxiety, tempered indeed by the support of her reliance upon the goodness of God.

He provided his own description of the piece: The ostensible subject is merely a Grecian maiden, made captive by the Turks and exposed at Istanbul, for sale.

Thus the Greek Slave is an emblem of the trial to which all humanity is subject, and may be regarded as a type of resignation, uncompromising virtue, or sublime patience.

[7]Before the exhibition of Hiram Power's The Greek Slave, many artists had unsuccessfully attempted to display artwork and sculpture in America that featured nude figures.

When the work was first exhibited, many people were scandalized by the figure's nudity; Powers countered much of this criticism by suggesting that the young woman was a perfect example of Christian purity and chastity, because even in her unclothed state she was attempting to shield herself from the gaze of onlookers.

Additionally, the statue inspired a sonnet by Elizabeth Barrett Browning called "Hiram Powers' Greek Slave".

Abolitionist Maria White Lowell wrote that The Greek Slave "was a vision of beauty that one must always look back to the first time of seeing it as an era".

[10] In 1848, while walking through Boston Common, Lucy Stone stopped to admire the statue and broke into tears, seeing in its chains the symbol of man's oppression of the female sex.

[11] A great deal of organization and logistics were conducted to ensure that Powers' The Greek Slave was viewed by spectators from across the country.

[8]: 190  Kellogg was a knowledgeable and trustworthy showman who managed everything from securing venues to purchasing fabrics and having a platform built to display the sculpture.

Powers, who remained in Italy while his sculpture toured the US, compensated Kellogg for the exhibition by giving him 20% of the work's net profits with the understanding that if travel expenses rose above $10,000, he was responsible for the difference.

For example, he reprinted an essay by the Reverend Orville Dewey that emphasized the work's formal and iconographic qualities in a more pure and unadulterated light.

Power described it stating, are not satisfied with designating its material perfection, but eloquently claim for its high moral and intellectual beauty.

Powers conceived of the Greek Slave as an artwork that would be produced in one or more finished marble statues, a common practice in nineteenth-century sculpture studios.

He and his contemporaries rarely carved the final marble products themselves, relying instead on teams of skilled artisans to produce the finished works on their behalf.

The Smithsonian American Art Museum holds the original 1843 pointed-plaster mold, along with numerous smaller casts from Powers' studio.

An Englishman purchased the first of the large marble versions (now at Raby Castle), and it was exhibited publicly in London in 1845 at Graves' Pall Mall.

[19] In 2004, Vermont Governor Jim Douglas ordered the removal from his office of a small lamp replicating the artwork, citing fears that schoolchildren might see it.

Ultimately, their relationship fell apart due to their financial differences, legal disputes, and shared legacy of The Greek Slave.