DOI Artikel:
Waldstein, Charles: [Excavations and discoveries at Eretria, 1891-1895]
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8681#0187
THE GYMNASIUM AT ERE TBI A.
175
if they existed, being near the surface, might have disappeared like
the upper layers of the tank itself, but the latter could hardly
have escaped us.
3. A more probable guess than either of the two mentioned
is that it was a vapor-bath. This vapor-bath was called by many
ancient writers tholos (cf. Athenaeus, 501 d). We found, to be
sure, no traces of any heating apparatus here; but portable braziers
might have been used.
Eufus B. Richardson.
Athens, March, 1896.
SCULPTURE FROM THE GYMNASIUM AT ERETRIA.
In the excavation of the gymnasium at Eretria in the summer
of 1895, were found three pieces of sculpture which deserve
description. They are all of Pentelic marble and of life size.
No. 1. Figures 1, 2. This is a head of the type already very
familiar under the name of the " Indian Bacchus." A descrip-
tion is hardly necessary except to recall the peculiarities of the
type, the most striking features of which are a long wedge-shaped
beard made of flowing ringlets systematically balanced, and hair
encircled with a band and arranged in three superimposed rows
of corkscrew curls over the forehead. Less striking but equally
important are the dreamy eyes, and cheeks somewhat puffed out,
giving the appearance of a kindly being of a sensual nature.
The examples of the type are so numerous already that the
publication of this might seem superfluous were it not an unusually
good one. Nearly every museum in Europe has one or more
examples, the Athenian Central Museum having twenty or more,
and the Naples Museum a good number. This year a similar head
was found in the excavations of the German Institute near the
Theseum, and another in the clearing out of the Stadion—a dupli-
cate of the head on the double herm found by Ziller in his exca-
vations in the Stadion in 1869-70. But the heads from the Stadion-
175
if they existed, being near the surface, might have disappeared like
the upper layers of the tank itself, but the latter could hardly
have escaped us.
3. A more probable guess than either of the two mentioned
is that it was a vapor-bath. This vapor-bath was called by many
ancient writers tholos (cf. Athenaeus, 501 d). We found, to be
sure, no traces of any heating apparatus here; but portable braziers
might have been used.
Eufus B. Richardson.
Athens, March, 1896.
SCULPTURE FROM THE GYMNASIUM AT ERETRIA.
In the excavation of the gymnasium at Eretria in the summer
of 1895, were found three pieces of sculpture which deserve
description. They are all of Pentelic marble and of life size.
No. 1. Figures 1, 2. This is a head of the type already very
familiar under the name of the " Indian Bacchus." A descrip-
tion is hardly necessary except to recall the peculiarities of the
type, the most striking features of which are a long wedge-shaped
beard made of flowing ringlets systematically balanced, and hair
encircled with a band and arranged in three superimposed rows
of corkscrew curls over the forehead. Less striking but equally
important are the dreamy eyes, and cheeks somewhat puffed out,
giving the appearance of a kindly being of a sensual nature.
The examples of the type are so numerous already that the
publication of this might seem superfluous were it not an unusually
good one. Nearly every museum in Europe has one or more
examples, the Athenian Central Museum having twenty or more,
and the Naples Museum a good number. This year a similar head
was found in the excavations of the German Institute near the
Theseum, and another in the clearing out of the Stadion—a dupli-
cate of the head on the double herm found by Ziller in his exca-
vations in the Stadion in 1869-70. But the heads from the Stadion-