DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5065#0024
IV.
THE SUBJECT, REPRESENTED ON THE BRONZES OF SIRIS.
In considering these two groups, it is seen, at the first view, that the action they exhibit is
taken from the cycle of the Amazonian fiv9o£. Every one knows generally, in what manner and
how successfully Grecian art appropriated this beautiful fable ; and we at once enter upon these
questions :—From which of the three epochs of the mythos of the Amazons has the subject
represented in the bronzes of Siris been taken ? Is it from the exploits of Hercules, from those
of Theseus, or from those of Penthesilea and her companions in arms under the walls of Troy ?
It is immediately observable that there is nothing in these groups which indicates either
Hercules or Theseus, according to the accustomed types of those heroes in the productions of
Greek art. We have neither the lion's skin, nor the club, nor the bow and quiver. Neither
Hercules nor Theseus ever appeared with helmets, or shields like these. Neither is the form
given to the heroes of our bronzes at all that of Theseus, and much less that of Hercules.
To represent a Theseus vanquisher of the Amazons, the hero of the plate No. I. has too much
beard, and is not young enough ; if it were a Hercules, the action of the muscles would be
more powerful, nor is the outline of the head (even supposing it without the helmet) that of
Hercules.
But if we call to mind the various accounts which art and poetry have transmitted to us
of the achievements of Penthesilea, and of the band of heroines which followed her to the
defence of Troy, we shall readily discover many details in these fine productions, which corres-
pond not only to that age, that is to say, to the idea which the monuments of art and poetry
have given us of it, but also to the particular circumstances of that event ; or rather the
whole manner, in which the author of these bronzes has treated the subject, corresponds precisely
with the data which remain to us upon this point of mythical story. The rhapsodists and
the cyclic poets who came after Homer, took for the frequent subject of their songs this
exploit, supposed the last of a queen of Amazons ;2 though we are only made acquainted with
these poetic fables by the feeble and spiritless copies of them, which have been handed down
to us in prose or verse, by Justin, Quintus of Smyrna, Tryphiodoros, the pretended Dictys of
Crete, Dares the Phrygian, Tzetzes, and others.3 The best which is preserved to us upon the
exploits of Penthesilea and her Amazons, is the Jirst book of the Pareleipomena of Quintus,
who, though a very affected poet, and disfigured by exaggerations and tautologies, deserved, by
his very animated style of composition, and by his rich colouring, to have lived in better times.
The plan of this part of the work is not undeserving of our attention.
2 Consult Diod. Sic. lib. II. 45, 46.
3 Many works of art which remain to us, and which represent Penthesilea, her companions and their array, are
much more ancient than any of the now existing poetical or historical evidences on the same subject. Those works
of art however were copies of more ancient monuments, just as Quintus, Tryphiodoros, and the pretended Dictys, had
also their models. The combat of the Amazons which Micon painted in the Pcecile and upon the walls of the
temple of Theseus at Athens ; that which Phidias represented in relief upon the shield of the Colossus in the Parthenon,
and on the pedestal of his Olympian Zeus (See Schol. ad Aristoph. Lysistr. 679, and Pausan. lib. I. c. 15 § 2, and c. 17, § 2,
compared with lib. V. cap. xi. § 2), were, without doubt, the models of many representations of the kind ; and were
afterwards copies on copies indefinitely multiplied. It may have been the same in respect to the Penthesilea which had
been painted by Pansenos, brother of Phidias, at Olympia, upon the throne of the great statue of Zeus (Pausan.
lib. V. cap. xi. § 2, p. 46-47, edit, of Facius) : this composition may, in all probability, be regarded as the model
of many others which represented the death of that queen of the Amazons.
THE SUBJECT, REPRESENTED ON THE BRONZES OF SIRIS.
In considering these two groups, it is seen, at the first view, that the action they exhibit is
taken from the cycle of the Amazonian fiv9o£. Every one knows generally, in what manner and
how successfully Grecian art appropriated this beautiful fable ; and we at once enter upon these
questions :—From which of the three epochs of the mythos of the Amazons has the subject
represented in the bronzes of Siris been taken ? Is it from the exploits of Hercules, from those
of Theseus, or from those of Penthesilea and her companions in arms under the walls of Troy ?
It is immediately observable that there is nothing in these groups which indicates either
Hercules or Theseus, according to the accustomed types of those heroes in the productions of
Greek art. We have neither the lion's skin, nor the club, nor the bow and quiver. Neither
Hercules nor Theseus ever appeared with helmets, or shields like these. Neither is the form
given to the heroes of our bronzes at all that of Theseus, and much less that of Hercules.
To represent a Theseus vanquisher of the Amazons, the hero of the plate No. I. has too much
beard, and is not young enough ; if it were a Hercules, the action of the muscles would be
more powerful, nor is the outline of the head (even supposing it without the helmet) that of
Hercules.
But if we call to mind the various accounts which art and poetry have transmitted to us
of the achievements of Penthesilea, and of the band of heroines which followed her to the
defence of Troy, we shall readily discover many details in these fine productions, which corres-
pond not only to that age, that is to say, to the idea which the monuments of art and poetry
have given us of it, but also to the particular circumstances of that event ; or rather the
whole manner, in which the author of these bronzes has treated the subject, corresponds precisely
with the data which remain to us upon this point of mythical story. The rhapsodists and
the cyclic poets who came after Homer, took for the frequent subject of their songs this
exploit, supposed the last of a queen of Amazons ;2 though we are only made acquainted with
these poetic fables by the feeble and spiritless copies of them, which have been handed down
to us in prose or verse, by Justin, Quintus of Smyrna, Tryphiodoros, the pretended Dictys of
Crete, Dares the Phrygian, Tzetzes, and others.3 The best which is preserved to us upon the
exploits of Penthesilea and her Amazons, is the Jirst book of the Pareleipomena of Quintus,
who, though a very affected poet, and disfigured by exaggerations and tautologies, deserved, by
his very animated style of composition, and by his rich colouring, to have lived in better times.
The plan of this part of the work is not undeserving of our attention.
2 Consult Diod. Sic. lib. II. 45, 46.
3 Many works of art which remain to us, and which represent Penthesilea, her companions and their array, are
much more ancient than any of the now existing poetical or historical evidences on the same subject. Those works
of art however were copies of more ancient monuments, just as Quintus, Tryphiodoros, and the pretended Dictys, had
also their models. The combat of the Amazons which Micon painted in the Pcecile and upon the walls of the
temple of Theseus at Athens ; that which Phidias represented in relief upon the shield of the Colossus in the Parthenon,
and on the pedestal of his Olympian Zeus (See Schol. ad Aristoph. Lysistr. 679, and Pausan. lib. I. c. 15 § 2, and c. 17, § 2,
compared with lib. V. cap. xi. § 2), were, without doubt, the models of many representations of the kind ; and were
afterwards copies on copies indefinitely multiplied. It may have been the same in respect to the Penthesilea which had
been painted by Pansenos, brother of Phidias, at Olympia, upon the throne of the great statue of Zeus (Pausan.
lib. V. cap. xi. § 2, p. 46-47, edit, of Facius) : this composition may, in all probability, be regarded as the model
of many others which represented the death of that queen of the Amazons.