A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities Part 4

Marble; height, 9 inches.

[Sidenote: =21.=]

Relief, with figures moving to the right, in a dance. It is incomplete at both ends, and appears to have been part of a frieze formed of several slabs. On the left are a woman and a man joining hands. On the right is a woman between two men; of the man on the right only the right leg is preserved. The right hand of the woman is seen behind, while her left hand is held by the man before her. The man on the left of this group has some object, perhaps a cup, in his right hand which is stretched out behind him. Between the two groups, and in the background, a woman rushes to the right, holding branches (?) in her raised hands.

The men are considerably larger than the women. The women wear a plain chiton, the men a chiton and mantle. All have bracelets, and long hair, which falls in a peculiar manner over the forehead; one wears a taenia, the remainder have stephanae. All the limbs are indicated under the draperies, even those of the figures in the background, which are seen through their own draperies and those of their companions.--_Presented by J. Scott Tucker, Esq., R.N. Karakewi (Teichioussa), near Branchidae._

Marble; height, 1 foot 9 inches; width, 2 feet 11 inches. Rayet et Thomas, _Milet et le Golfe Latmique_, pl. 27; Brunn, _Denkmaeler_, No. 101 B.

SCULPTURES FROM LYDIA.

The following sculptures were found in 1882 by Mr. George Dennis, C.B., in one of the tumuli at Bin Tepe, near Sardes. Perrot (v., p.

904) suggests that they may have been part of a series of reliefs of a hunting scene, decorating the sepulchral chamber. The date is uncertain, but the reliefs may well be earlier than the fall of Croesus.

[Sidenote: =22.=]

Relief. Three hors.e.m.e.n moving to the right. They wear large helmets and cuira.s.ses, with shoulder plates, and carry spears.

The figures are cut in a narrow panel, and appear to have served an architectural purpose.--_Bin Tepe, Sardes._

Marble; height, 7-1/4 inches; width, 1 foot 5 inches. Perrot and Chipiez, V., p. 903, fig. 535; Murray, _Gr. Sculpt._, 2nd ed., I., p. 107.

[Sidenote: =23.=]

Relief. Three deer, moving to the right, grazing. From a panel nearly similar to the preceding.--_Bin Tepe, Sardes._

Marble; height, 6-3/4 inches; width, 1 foot 4 inches. Perrot and Chipiez, V., p. 904, fig. 536; Murray, _Gr. Sculpt._, 2nd ed., I., p. 107.

SCULPTURES FROM EPHESUS.

The great temple of Artemis (or Diana), at Ephesus, which ranked among the seven wonders of the ancient world, was built in the middle of the 4th century B.C. It was, according to tradition, the latest of a long series of buildings. Not fewer than eight successive temples have been enumerated by Falkener (_Ephesus_, p. 214; cf. Pliny, _H. N._, xvi., 213). The excavations, however, have only produced the remains of two temples. The earlier of the two, which is here described, is probably that which was begun early in the sixth century B.C., by the architects Theodoros, Chersiphron and Metagenes, was in course of construction during the reign of Croesus (Brunn, _Gr. Kunstler_, ii., p. 382), and was burnt by Herostratos on the night of Alexander's birth (356 B.C.). The later temple, the remains of which are exhibited in the Ephesus Room, was then built to replace that which had been burnt; and the excavations have proved the interesting fact that the most remarkable features of the later temple were borrowed from its predecessor.

The extant fragments of the early temple were found by the late Mr.

J. T. Wood, in excavations which he carried on at Ephesus for the Trustees of the British Museum. These fragments had, for the most part, been used as building materials, and were extracted from certain ma.s.sive piers which rested against the foundations of the walls of the temple cella. Mr. Wood a.s.signed the piers to the Byzantine period, but only adduced evidence to show that they were later than the walls of the temple. It is therefore possible that they may have been added at an early period, to strengthen the foundations.

Wood, _Ephesus_, pp. 190, 259. For the reconstruction of the archaic temple, see _Journ. of h.e.l.len. Studies_, X. (1889), p.

1 (A. S. Murray). The material is a finely-grained marble, with occasional strongly marked blue veins.

ARCHITECTURAL FRAGMENTS.

[Sidenote: =24.=]

Part of a wall-stone from the archaic temple.

Length, 2 feet 7-1/2 inches; width, 1 foot 8 inches.

[Sidenote: =25.=]

Capital of Ionic column. Several fragments have been discovered, from which it is possible to reconstruct with tolerable certainty the capitals and necking of the columns of the archaic temple.

_Journ. of h.e.l.len. Studies_, X., p. 8.

[Sidenote: =26.=]

Fragment of volute from cap of column. The groove between two mouldings is filled with two strips of lead to which gold leaf is attached.

Length, 7 inches. Wood, _Ephesus_, p. 245; _Journ. of h.e.l.len.

Studies_, X., p. 9.

[Sidenote: =27.=]

Fluted fragment of column. The drum to which this fragment belonged was 4 feet 3 inches in diameter, and had 40 flutings.

Height, 1 foot 10 inches; width, 3 feet 6 inches.

[Sidenote: =28.=]

Fragment of the base of an unfinished column, with torus moulding and horizontal flutings only partially carried out.

Height, 1 foot 4 inches; width, 3 feet. _Journ. of h.e.l.len.

Studies_, X., p. 5, part of fig. 3_b_.

[Sidenote: =29.=]

Base of sculptured column. The column has necessarily been reconstructed from various fragments, which cannot be proved to have belonged originally to the same column, but the combined fragments serve to give a general idea of the appearance of the column. (Plate I.)

[Sidenote: 1.]

The sculpture is surmounted by an egg and tongue moulding 11-1/2 inches high, which is not shown in the plate, _Journ. of h.e.l.len.

Studies_, x., pl. 3. There are considerable remains of red paint.

[Sidenote: 2.]

Immediately below the sculptures is a moulding, which contains fragments inscribed as follows:

[Greek: BA KR AN EN],

which have been restored as [Greek: Ba[sileus] Kr[oisos]

an[ethek]en.] 'King Croesus dedicated (the column).' It is known from a statement of Herodotus that Croesus gave most of the columns of the temple at Ephesus [Herod. i. 92, [Greek: Kroiso de esti kai alla anathemata en te h.e.l.ladi polla ... en de Epheso hai te boes hai chryseai kai ton kionon hai pollai]]. It is probable that the columns were inscribed with dedicatory inscriptions, of which we here have fragments. The later temple had a similar series of inscriptions. The columns offered by Croesus must be earlier than the date of his fall, 546 B.C. The inscriptions are no doubt of the same age as the columns, and they may have been seen by Herodotus (Hicks, _Greek Inscriptions in Brit. Mus._, dxviii.).