DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42779#0093
THE AGE OF TRANSITION 59
sleeves or arms) may have been either painted on the wood
or an actual garment worn by the statue. In this case the
features are clearly rendered and the curls of the hair, as
would have been the case with the Knossian figure. But it
is abundantly clear in the case of the Amyklaean Apollo
that the body is in no way sculptured in detail: it remained
a simple shaft of wood or metal or both.
Other representations of xoana on coins are rare. We find
the head of the olive-wood Dionysos on coins of Methymna,
a primitive statue which was reputed to have been dredged
from the sea,1 and the whole statue can be seen represented
on the coins of Mytilene.2 From these it seems that this
primitive statue was a terminal figure fixed to a square
basis. On the coins it is also shown as draped round the
term. There is no absolute certainty that this Mytilenean
figure was of great antiquity, but it resembles in structure
the Amyklaean Apollo as shown on the later Lacedaemonian
coins.
It might have been thought that bronze statuettes would
have preserved xoanon types at the earlier"dates. But this
is not the case. There is no surviving statuette which shows
this particular columnar body, devoid of detail in quite the
same way. The earliest known geometric bronze statuettes
of human forms always have legs as carefully rendered as the
rest of the body. It is not till the sixth century that bronzes,
always of females, have rigid and hieratic bodies that suggest
comparison with the Amyklaean figure.3 But the comparison
is fortuitous and reflects only the conventions of the day in
stone sculpture, which have an origin independent from the
conventions of wooden xoana. A curious terra-cotta figure
from the Argive Heraeum4 seems to preserve the early
1 Paus. x. 19; Zeitschrift fiir Numismatik, xx. 285; Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins,
Troas, p. lxxvi. 2 Head, Hist. Num., p. 562.
3 See W. Lamb, op. cit., pi. xxvii c (Sparta) and xxv b (Boston) for two
characteristic examples.
4 Argive Heraeum, ii, p. 27, No. 107, fig. 41. A similar comparison may be
made with the strange terra-cotta figures recently found in Lemnos. Here
sleeves or arms) may have been either painted on the wood
or an actual garment worn by the statue. In this case the
features are clearly rendered and the curls of the hair, as
would have been the case with the Knossian figure. But it
is abundantly clear in the case of the Amyklaean Apollo
that the body is in no way sculptured in detail: it remained
a simple shaft of wood or metal or both.
Other representations of xoana on coins are rare. We find
the head of the olive-wood Dionysos on coins of Methymna,
a primitive statue which was reputed to have been dredged
from the sea,1 and the whole statue can be seen represented
on the coins of Mytilene.2 From these it seems that this
primitive statue was a terminal figure fixed to a square
basis. On the coins it is also shown as draped round the
term. There is no absolute certainty that this Mytilenean
figure was of great antiquity, but it resembles in structure
the Amyklaean Apollo as shown on the later Lacedaemonian
coins.
It might have been thought that bronze statuettes would
have preserved xoanon types at the earlier"dates. But this
is not the case. There is no surviving statuette which shows
this particular columnar body, devoid of detail in quite the
same way. The earliest known geometric bronze statuettes
of human forms always have legs as carefully rendered as the
rest of the body. It is not till the sixth century that bronzes,
always of females, have rigid and hieratic bodies that suggest
comparison with the Amyklaean figure.3 But the comparison
is fortuitous and reflects only the conventions of the day in
stone sculpture, which have an origin independent from the
conventions of wooden xoana. A curious terra-cotta figure
from the Argive Heraeum4 seems to preserve the early
1 Paus. x. 19; Zeitschrift fiir Numismatik, xx. 285; Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins,
Troas, p. lxxvi. 2 Head, Hist. Num., p. 562.
3 See W. Lamb, op. cit., pi. xxvii c (Sparta) and xxv b (Boston) for two
characteristic examples.
4 Argive Heraeum, ii, p. 27, No. 107, fig. 41. A similar comparison may be
made with the strange terra-cotta figures recently found in Lemnos. Here