A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities Part 48

[Sidenote: =410.=]

Fragment of frieze similar to last. Joint on left. Found on the north side of the Erechtheion.--_Inwood Coll._

Height, 6 inches; breadth, 6 inches. _Synopsis_, No. 116. Inwood, _Erechtheion_, p. 138.

[Sidenote: =411.=]

Fragment of leaf, bead and reel, and egg mouldings from the capital of a pilaster at the west side of the south portico of the Erechtheion (D on plan).--_Inwood Coll._

Length, 1 foot 2-1/4 inches; height, 5-1/2 inches. _Synopsis_, No.

118.

[Sidenote: =412.=]

Cymatium moulding from inner architrave of the south portico of the Erechtheion (E on plan).

Height, 2-1/2 inches; length, 7-1/4 inches. _Synopsis_ No. 403.

Inwood, _Erechtheion_, pl. 20. See also Stuart, II., ch. II., pl.

13.

[Sidenote: =413.=]

Piece of architrave, probably part of the beam from the north angle of the east portico of the Erechtheion (F, F on plan). There is a joint on the left of this slab.--_Elgin Coll._

Height, 2 feet 1 inch; length, 8 feet 2-1/2 inches. _Synopsis_, No. 220 (85). Wilkins, _Prolusiones_, p. 29.

[Sidenote: =414.=]

Piece of the architrave from the south wall of the Erechtheion, broken at each end (G on plan). It is connected with the preceding by a piece of moulding cast in plaster.--_Elgin Coll._

Height, 2 feet 1 inch; length, 8 feet 5-1/2 inches. _Synopsis_, No. 219 (291). Wilkins, _Prolusiones_, p. 29; _Greek Inscriptions in Brit. Mus._ I., pl. 3, fig. 9.

[Sidenote: =415.=]

Piece of corona of cornice, from the north portico of the Erechtheion (H on plan). Although not derived from the same part of the temple, this fragment has been placed in connection with the slabs of the architrave, Nos. 413, 414, in order to show the original effect. The s.p.a.ce of two feet between the corona and the architrave was occupied by the sculptured frieze. This consisted of marble figures in relief attached by metal clamps on a ground of black Eleusinian marble. A few fragments are extant at Athens.

Length, 4 feet 7 inches; height, 10-1/2 inches; breadth, 1 foot 1-1/2 inches. _Synopsis_, No. 289 (165). Stuart, II., ch. II., pls. 4, 5. For the frieze, see Brunn, _Denkmaeler_, Nos. 31-33; Overbeck, _Gr. Plast._, 3rd ed., I., p. 361.

[Sidenote: =416.=]

Coffer from the _lacunaria_ of the north portico of the Erechtheion (J on plan).--_Elgin Coll._

Height, 3 feet 2 inches; breadth, 3 feet 5-1/2 inches. _Synopsis_, No. 108 (299). See Stuart, 2nd ed., II., p. 73, note.

[Sidenote: =417.=]

Part of coffer of east portico of the Erechtheion. Found near the eastern portico (K on plan).--_Inwood Coll._

Height, 1 foot 4 inches; breadth, 1 foot 1-1/4 inches. _Synopsis_, No. 117. Inwood, _Erechtheion_, pl. 20.

[Sidenote: =418.=]

Part of door jamb, perhaps from the eastern doorway of the Erechtheion (L on plan).--_Inwood Coll._

Height, 1 foot 2-3/4 inches; breadth, 6-1/2 inches. _Synopsis_, No. 115. Inwood, _Erechtheion_, pl. 20.

[Sidenote: =419.=]

Cast of console, _parotis_, from the doorway in the north portico of the Erechtheion (M on plan).

Height, 2 feet 3 inches. _Greek inscriptions in Brit. Mus._, I., p. 98, -- 14, _b_. Wilkins, _Prolusiones_, pls. 13, 14. _Journ. of h.e.l.len. Studies_, XII., pl. 1.

[Sidenote: =420.=]

Necking of Ionic column, copied from the columns of the east portico of the Erechtheion.--_Elgin Coll._

Height, 11-1/4 inches; diameter, 2 feet 2-1/2 inches. _Synopsis_, No. 120 (306*); _Elgin Room Guide_, II., No. A. 2.

TEMPLE OF NIKe APTEROS.

The temple of Nike Apteros (Victory without wings), or more correctly of Athene Nike, stood on the projecting eminence to the south of the approach to the Propylaea at Athens (Paus., i. 22, 4).

The building had remained uninjured till the close of the seventeenth century, and was seen in 1676 by the travellers Spon and Wheler.

But not long after, probably about the year 1685, the temple was demolished by the Turks, and the materials were used to build a bastion on the spot where the temple had stood.

In 1835 Ludwig Ross, and the architects Schaubert and Hansen took down the bastion and reconstructed the temple as it now stands. A sufficient amount of the lower part had remained undisturbed to enable them to proceed with certainty.

The temple consists only of a single cella, opening to the east, but has four columns at each end (_tetrastyle amphiprostyle_). It stood on a podium of three steps. The exterior was surrounded by a small frieze, 1 ft. 5-1/2 in. high, and measuring 26 ft. on its long sides, and 17 ft. 2 in. at the ends. The annexed cut (fig. 20) shows the plan of the temple. The arrangement of the slabs of the frieze has been most fully discussed by Ross, but is still uncertain in parts. The west frieze, according to Ross, consisted of the two slabs, Nos. 421, 422, in the Elgin Collection, and the return faces of two slabs of the north and south sides. Each return measures 1 ft. 7 in. The slabs, Nos. 421, 422, measure respectively 6 ft. 8-1/2 in., and 6 ft. 7-3/4 in. The total length, 16 ft. 6-1/4 in., is thus nearly equal to the estimated length of the side. The distribution of the slabs belonging to the long sides is doubtful. No. 425, cast from a corner stone, certainly belongs to the south side. Ross a.s.signs No. 423 to the south side, No. 424 to the north side, on the hypothesis that the mounted hors.e.m.e.n on the same side proceed in the same direction. Kekule (_Die Bal.u.s.trade_, ed. 1869, p. 17) places them both on the south side, in an order more probable than that suggested by Hawkins (_Mus. Marbles_, ix., p. 29). The east side consisted of two slabs and two returns arranged similarly to those of the west.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 20.--Plan of the Propylaea and Temple of Wingless Victory.]

The subject of the east side appears to be a council of G.o.ds. The long sides each contained a battle between Greeks and a series of warriors, mounted and on foot, wearing Asiatic costumes and probably intended to represent Persians. The west side is generally taken to represent a battle of Greeks with Greeks. Several attempts have been made to show that historical battles are represented on the frieze. Overbeck suggests that the three sides on which there are combatants belong to one battle, and he conjectures the battle of Plataea (479 B.C.), when Greeks defeated the Persians and their Greek adherents. Other writers, perhaps with more probability, deny that any definite battle is intended, and hold that we see merely a generalised representation of Athenians, victorious alike over Greeks and Barbarians.

It has been shown by Bohn (_Die Propylaen_, p. 31) and Doerpfeld on technical architectural grounds that the Temple of Victory was not contemplated in the first plans for the Propylaea, but that the form of the Propylaea was modified during the course of construction on account of it. The earliest date thus obtained for the beginning of the present building is about 432 B.C. There is nothing to show what time the temple took to build. In point of style there is a great resemblance between the sculptures of the frieze, and those of the frieze of the Erechtheion, of which a part was being worked, as we know from the inscription, in 409 B.C. The frieze of Nike Apteros may perhaps be placed between 430 and 420 B.C.

Spon, _Voyage_ (ed. 1679), II., p. 105; Wheler, _Journey into Greece_, p. 358; Stuart, II., ch. V., pls. 12, 13 (from drawings by Pars, now in the British Museum); Ross, Schaubert and Hansen, _Die Akropolis von Athen; Abth. I. Der Tempel der Nike Apteros_, 1839; _Mus. Marbles_, IX., pls. 7-10; Overbeck, _Gr. Plast._, 3rd ed., I., p. 363; Bohn, _Die Propylaen der Akropolis zu Athen_, 1882; Murray, II., p. 179; Kekule (and Bohn) _Die Reliefs an der Bal.u.s.trade der Athena Nike_; Wolters, Nos. 747-760. For Doerpfeld's views, see Harrison, _Mythology and Monuments of Anc.

Athens_, p. 356. For further references see Wolters, p. 284. A photographic view of the temple is given by Baumeister, fig. 1234; and of Nos. 421 to 424 in _Stereoscopic_, No. 121.

THE WEST FRIEZE.

[Sidenote: =421.=]

The return of a slab of the north side, now at Athens, formed the left end of the frieze, and contains two figures advancing to the right to join the fray (Ross, pl. 11. h.). This is followed by slab No. 421, containing a battle of Greeks. In the first group on the left two warriors are engaged in vehement combat. The warrior on the left supports with his right knee the shoulder of a wounded comrade who has fallen at his feet and leans on his right arm. In the next group are two antagonists fighting over the body of a dead combatant, then a warrior who has overthrown his adversary and treads him down with his left foot. He raises his right hand to inflict the mortal wound, and may perhaps have grasped the victim's right wrist with his left hand.

In the background is a trophy which appears to consist of a trunk of a tree, to which a helmet, s.h.i.+eld, and cuira.s.s have been attached.