DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42779#0095
THE AGE OF TRANSITION 61
right hand. The head is given a full and bristly growth of
hair. Next to this is a figure of similar scale holding in the
right hand what looks like a pomegranate. On the head is
a polos and the garment is a close-fitting chiton, full in the
skirt and narrowed at the waist. Johansen sees in this pair
the two main Corinthian deities—Athena and Aphrodite—
and he identifies the figures as those of xoana of those
deities rather than as the deities themselves. The stiff
attitude of both of them contrasts with the easy movement
of the horsemen. But, on the other hand, the figure of the
worshipper is equally stiff. Yet the worshipper would hardly
be shown in the attitude of worship except before statues,
and Johansen’s suggestion seems to me to be sound. Further,
a resemblance with the Apollo of Amyklae as rendered on
the coins is at once evident. The attitude and stiffness are
common to both.
Pausanias records1 that at Titane there was a temple of
Athena in which was an apycdov Ejoavov so that, if the identi-
fication of the vase-painting as that of a xoanon is accepted,
it can be accepted with a certain background of history.
Coins of Sikyon of the time of Caracalla2 also show a xoanon
which may be the same one. The figure identified as Aphro-
dite, on the other hand, cannot be associated with any
literary reference. This is the only convincing vase-painting
which may be identified as that of a really primitive Greek
statue. Other vases have been cited,3 but most can be ex-
plained on other grounds.
But of statues of a more advanced type there are clearer
examples. Most interesting of all, perhaps, is a volute-
crater of the fifth century,4 found in excavations on the
supposed site of Spina in the Po valley. On one part of the vase
is a votary standing before nine small statues of a type which
1 ii. 12. x. 2 Mionnet, Suppl. iv. 170. 1130.
3 As in the case of a fourth century vase from Megara which Pervanoglou
(in Arch. Zeitung, 1865, p. 68, pi. 199. 3) thought to be a figure of a xoanon of
Athena Onke. In fact the alleged xoanon is a trophy, fixed on a pole.
4 Prof. Beazley dates it about 430 B.c.
right hand. The head is given a full and bristly growth of
hair. Next to this is a figure of similar scale holding in the
right hand what looks like a pomegranate. On the head is
a polos and the garment is a close-fitting chiton, full in the
skirt and narrowed at the waist. Johansen sees in this pair
the two main Corinthian deities—Athena and Aphrodite—
and he identifies the figures as those of xoana of those
deities rather than as the deities themselves. The stiff
attitude of both of them contrasts with the easy movement
of the horsemen. But, on the other hand, the figure of the
worshipper is equally stiff. Yet the worshipper would hardly
be shown in the attitude of worship except before statues,
and Johansen’s suggestion seems to me to be sound. Further,
a resemblance with the Apollo of Amyklae as rendered on
the coins is at once evident. The attitude and stiffness are
common to both.
Pausanias records1 that at Titane there was a temple of
Athena in which was an apycdov Ejoavov so that, if the identi-
fication of the vase-painting as that of a xoanon is accepted,
it can be accepted with a certain background of history.
Coins of Sikyon of the time of Caracalla2 also show a xoanon
which may be the same one. The figure identified as Aphro-
dite, on the other hand, cannot be associated with any
literary reference. This is the only convincing vase-painting
which may be identified as that of a really primitive Greek
statue. Other vases have been cited,3 but most can be ex-
plained on other grounds.
But of statues of a more advanced type there are clearer
examples. Most interesting of all, perhaps, is a volute-
crater of the fifth century,4 found in excavations on the
supposed site of Spina in the Po valley. On one part of the vase
is a votary standing before nine small statues of a type which
1 ii. 12. x. 2 Mionnet, Suppl. iv. 170. 1130.
3 As in the case of a fourth century vase from Megara which Pervanoglou
(in Arch. Zeitung, 1865, p. 68, pi. 199. 3) thought to be a figure of a xoanon of
Athena Onke. In fact the alleged xoanon is a trophy, fixed on a pole.
4 Prof. Beazley dates it about 430 B.c.