DOI Artikel:
Wheeler, James Rignall: The Theatre of Dionysus
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8560#0156
i38
THE THEATRE OF DIONYSUS.
figure of a Silenus has been found, which undoubtedly was once the
companion of the other, but now lies disengaged upon the ground.
There can be no question that these reliefs are of older and better
workmanship than the stage, and the clumsy way in which they have
been introduced into their present position is clear proof that they
were not originally intended for it. Julius points out that the edges
of the separate sla*bs are so dressed that we must suppose them to
have been originally set up contiguously, without niches or dividing
spaces.* Further, the slabs have evidently been cut down at the top,
so that the heads of the figures are now higher than the background
to which they belong as reliefs. The Silenus, too, is still more evidently
out of place ; and the fact (which can be observed on the disengaged
figure) that both Sileni are completely finished at the back perhaps
argues that they were not designed to stand in niches.
These reliefs have been specially treated in an able article by
F. Matz,f which presents so reasonable a theory of their various
subjects that I propose in the main to follow it in what I have to say
about them.
The first two groups almost immediately suggest their own sub-
jects. In the group on the left J a seated male figure first attracts
our notice. Above the waist it is naked, but the lower part of the
body is covered by a loosely draped garment. The figure, like all
the others except the Silenus, is headless, and the left arm is broken
off near the shoulder, while the right arm is wanting from the elbow.
Before the seated figure is a standing one, evidently of a younger
man, over whose left shoulder a garment is thrown, which falls down
behind as far as the knee-joint, and in front covers the left breast
and most of the left arm. His right arm is wanting below the elbow,
and the right leg also is gone. Upon his left arm he bears the
figure of an infant, which is much mutilated, the lower part of the
body, slightly draped, being alone preserved.
* Zeitschr. fiir bild. Kunst, XIII. p. 239: Als technische Grund fur eine
ursprunglich andere Verwendung ist -anzufuhren, dass die Seitenflachen Stoss-
kanten tragen, also nicht, wie jetzt, die Seitenwande von Nischen gebildet haben
konnen.
f Annali delP Insiituto, 1S70.
% Throughout this description the terms "left" and "right," when applied to
the position or arrangement of the groups, refer to the spectator as he stands
facing the reliefs, unless it is otherwise specified.
THE THEATRE OF DIONYSUS.
figure of a Silenus has been found, which undoubtedly was once the
companion of the other, but now lies disengaged upon the ground.
There can be no question that these reliefs are of older and better
workmanship than the stage, and the clumsy way in which they have
been introduced into their present position is clear proof that they
were not originally intended for it. Julius points out that the edges
of the separate sla*bs are so dressed that we must suppose them to
have been originally set up contiguously, without niches or dividing
spaces.* Further, the slabs have evidently been cut down at the top,
so that the heads of the figures are now higher than the background
to which they belong as reliefs. The Silenus, too, is still more evidently
out of place ; and the fact (which can be observed on the disengaged
figure) that both Sileni are completely finished at the back perhaps
argues that they were not designed to stand in niches.
These reliefs have been specially treated in an able article by
F. Matz,f which presents so reasonable a theory of their various
subjects that I propose in the main to follow it in what I have to say
about them.
The first two groups almost immediately suggest their own sub-
jects. In the group on the left J a seated male figure first attracts
our notice. Above the waist it is naked, but the lower part of the
body is covered by a loosely draped garment. The figure, like all
the others except the Silenus, is headless, and the left arm is broken
off near the shoulder, while the right arm is wanting from the elbow.
Before the seated figure is a standing one, evidently of a younger
man, over whose left shoulder a garment is thrown, which falls down
behind as far as the knee-joint, and in front covers the left breast
and most of the left arm. His right arm is wanting below the elbow,
and the right leg also is gone. Upon his left arm he bears the
figure of an infant, which is much mutilated, the lower part of the
body, slightly draped, being alone preserved.
* Zeitschr. fiir bild. Kunst, XIII. p. 239: Als technische Grund fur eine
ursprunglich andere Verwendung ist -anzufuhren, dass die Seitenflachen Stoss-
kanten tragen, also nicht, wie jetzt, die Seitenwande von Nischen gebildet haben
konnen.
f Annali delP Insiituto, 1S70.
% Throughout this description the terms "left" and "right," when applied to
the position or arrangement of the groups, refer to the spectator as he stands
facing the reliefs, unless it is otherwise specified.