A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities Part 22

[Sidenote: =179.=]

Heracles kneeling, and drawing his bow. He wears the lion's skin on his head, and had a quiver on the left side.

Restored:--Nose, some flaps of the cuira.s.s, left hand, right forearm, right foot, part of left thigh and knee. c.o.c.kerell, pl. 14, No. 5; Blouet, III., pl. 60; Rayet, _Monuments_, No. 25; Brunn, _Denkmaeler_, No. 27; Mitch.e.l.l, _Selections_, pl. 1.

[Sidenote: =180.=]

The acroterion; (181) the figures beside it; (182) the lions, and (183) the Gryphons here exhibited, are repet.i.tions of those of the west pediment. The acroterion, which originally surmounted the east pediment, was larger and more important than that of the west.

(c.o.c.kerell, pl. 13.) The figures which stood on each side of the east acroterion, are shown by the surviving fragments to have been similar to those of the western end, but were on a rather larger scale.

CASTS OF SCULPTURES FROM OLYMPIA.

The temple of Zeus at Olympia was being built from about 470-455 B.C.

(cf. Boetticher, _Olympia_, p. 247). It is certain that the metopes must have been placed in position during the process of construction.

They should therefore probably be dated about 460 B.C. (Boetticher, p.

289).

[Sidenote: =190.=]

Cast of a metope, from the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. Heracles binding the Cretan Bull.

The original is of marble. The greater part of this metope was discovered by the French expedition to the Morea, in 1829, and is now in the Louvre. The face and hind legs of the bull were discovered in the German excavations, and are now at Olympia. The parts first discovered are published in Overbeck, _Gr. Plast._, 3rd ed., I., p. 443. For the completed metope, see _Ausgrabungen zu Olympia_, V., pl. 17; Boetticher, _Olympia_, p. 279; Wolters, No. 274.

[Sidenote: =191.=]

Cast of a metope from the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. Heracles supports on his shoulders the vault of heaven, while the t.i.tan Atlas brings him the golden apples of the Hesperides. Heracles has a folded cus.h.i.+on on his shoulders to make the burden easier; Atlas stands before him with six apples in his outstretched hands. A Hesperid or nymph stands behind and raises one hand as if to share the weight.

The original is of marble, and is at Olympia, where it was discovered by the German excavators. _Ausgrabungen zu Olympia_, I., 26; _Athenische Mittheilungen_, I., pl. 11; Murray, II., pl.

13; Wolters, No. 280; Overbeck, _Gr. Plast._, 3rd ed., I., p. 445; Boetticher, _Olympia_, p. 285. (Boetticher's ill.u.s.tration is most nearly complete. That of Overbeck gives both hands of Atlas.) For the female head, see _Journ. of h.e.l.len. Studies_, V., pl. 45.

[Sidenote: =192.=]

Cast of a statue of Victory, by Paionios of Mende, Victory is supposed to be moving forward through mid-air. One foot rests lightly on the back of an eagle, beneath which is a rock. The wings and draperies that were originally spread out behind the figure are now wanting.

The statue stood on a triangular pedestal, about 19 feet high. On the pedestal was an inscription recording that the Victory was offered as a t.i.the of spoil to Olympian Zeus by the Messenians and Naupactians; and that the author was Paionios of Mende, who made the acroteria of the temple:--[Greek: Messanioi kai Naupaktioi anethen Dii Olympio dekatan apo tom polemion. Paionios epoiese Mendaios kai takroteria poion epi ton naon enika.] Mr. Murray (_Gr. Sculpt._, ii. p. 162) suggests as an explanation of the last clause of the inscription that the Victory was a replica of the acroteria (or figures above the pediments) of the Temple of Zeus. These are known to have been gilded figures of Victory (Paus., v. 10, 2). Pausanias was inclined to think that the inscription referred to a war of the Messenians against the Acarnanians (452 B.C.); but the Messenians of his time supposed that the statue was erected soon after the defeat of the Spartans at Sphacteria in 424 B.C.

Discovered by the German excavators at Olympia, and now in the Museum at Olympia.

Marble. _Ausgrabungen zu Olympia_, I., pls. 9-12; inscr. _ibidem_, pl. 32; pedestal, _ibidem_, II., pl. 34; Overbeck, _Gr. Plast._, 3rd ed., I., figs. 88, 89; Murray, II., pl. 19; Wolters, Nos. 496, 497.

STATUES OF APOLLO (?).

Of the following sculptures, Nos. 200-207 are examples of a somewhat numerous cla.s.s of nude male figures, standing constrainedly with the heads directed straight to the front, having the hands either close by the sides, or slightly raised, by a bending of the arms at the elbows.

The name of Apollo has been commonly given to sculptures of the type here described, but doubts have often been raised as to the accuracy of the t.i.tle. It seems clear that at the stage of art represented by these figures one type of nude male figure was made to serve various purposes. It cannot be doubted that the type was often used to represent Apollo, for such figures have been found in or near shrines of Apollo at Naucratis (Petrie, _Naukratis_, i., pl. 1, fig. 4), Delos (_Arch. Zeit._, 1882, p. 323), Actium (_Gaz. Arch._, 1886, p.

235), and at the temple of Apollo Ptoos in Boeotia (_Bull. de Corr.

h.e.l.lenique_, x., p. 66, Brunn, _Denkmaeler_, No. 12). The same type of Apollo occurs, _e.g._ on a vase in the Brit. Mus. (No. E, 313; _Gaz.

Arch._, 1882, p. 58), on a vase published in _Annali dell' Inst._, 1849, pl. D (cf. _Hamilton Vases_, ii., pl. 6), and on a Pompeian fresco (_Arch. Zeit._, 1882, p. 58). Compare a relief in the _Palazzo Corsini_ (Dutschke, ii., p. 114). At the same time, similar figures served to represent athletes (Paus., viii., 40) and, perhaps, were placed on tombs, to represent a deceased person.

The series of figures which have the hands by the thighs is older than that in which the hands are raised, and the invention of the type has been a.s.signed to the Cretan Daedalid School of Dipoinos and Skyllis (Furtwaengler, _Arch. Zeit._, 1882, p. 55). For an enumeration and discussion of the known examples of this series see Overbeck, _Gr.

Plast._, 3rd ed., i., p. 229, note 33; _Bull. de Corr. h.e.l.lenique_, x., p. 67; xi., p. 1; _Gaz. Arch._, 1886, p. 239; Roscher, _Lexicon_, i, p. 449; Wolters, No. 14. The second series, here represented by Nos. 206, 207, in which the hands are raised, is developed from the first, but shows a great advance in all respects. Perhaps it gives the Cretan type as developed by artists of the school of Aegina.

[Sidenote: =200.=]

Figure of Apollo (?) standing with the right leg drawn back, and with the hands pressed against the hips. He has a diadem across the forehead, and the hair falls on the shoulders and down the back.--_Naucratis._

Alabaster; height, 10-1/4 inches.

[Sidenote: =201.=]

Apollo (?) standing. Torso from the neck to the knees. The right leg is drawn back, and the hands are pressed against the thighs. The hair falls down on the shoulders and on the back.--_Naucratis._

Alabaster; height, 4-3/8 inches.

[Sidenote: =202.=]

Apollo. Torso from the neck to the middle of the thighs. The hands are pressed against the thighs. The hair falls on the shoulders and on the back. A belt crosses the body under the right arm, and over the left shoulder.--_Temenos of Apollo, Naucratis._

Marble (?); height, 3-1/8 inches. _Naukratis_, I., pl. 1, fig. 9.

The following figures, Nos. 203, 204, belong to the same series, though the type is slightly varied, and No. 203, having been found in the temenos of Aphrodite, probably does not represent Apollo:--

[Sidenote: =203.=]

Male torso from the neck to the knees. The right hand lies across the breast; the left leg is to the front. The hair is cut square at the back, and in the front falls down on the shoulders.--_Temenos of Aphrodite, Naucratis._

Alabaster; height, 6-1/4 inches. _Naukratis_, II., pl. 14, fig.

13.

[Sidenote: =204.=]

Apollo. Male torso, similar to the preceding, but having no hair on the shoulders.--_Temenos of Apollo, Naucratis._

Alabaster; height, 4-3/4 inches. _Naukratis_, I., pl. 1, fig. 3.

[Sidenote: =205.=]

Figure of Apollo (?) standing, with the right leg drawn back, and with the hands pressed against the hips. The hair falls on the shoulders, terminating in a straight line, and intersected with conventional grooves running at right angles to each other.--_From Greece, probably from Boeotia._

Marble; height, 2 feet 6-1/4 inches. Murray, I., pl. 2, p. 107; _Arch. Zeit._, 1882, pl. 4, p. 51; Mitch.e.l.l, p. 213; Brunn, _Denkmaeler_, No. 77.