DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42779#0099
64 THE AGE OF TRANSITION
indeed, nothing to prevent us from assuming that the statue
which remained in the Lindian shrine until its destruction
in the fourth century somewhere between 350 and 3301 b.c.
was that which had been there before the arrival of the
Dorians. It was certainly a figure deeply revered, since
Kleoboulos, the Rhodian equivalent and contemporary of
Polycrates of Samos, Lygdamis of Naxos and Peisistratos of
Athens, went to the trouble to rehouse it in the sixth century
in a new temple.2
Blinkenberg’s suggestion that we can see the statue re-
flected in certain terra-cottas found at Lindos3 and in others
from the Lindian colonies of Akragas and Gela, whither the
type had been taken, is attractive but unconvincing. Terra-
cottas in general afford but the vaguest clues as to larger
works in stone or wood. There is no certain instance of an
archaic terra-cotta repeating the type of a known statue with
accuracy. The fact that the terra-cottas in question are of
seated figures may suggest that the general attitude of the
xoanon was copied. But the face and figure in general in
each case are those of the sixth century, while, on Blinken-
berg’s own admission, the original wooden Lindia statue
cannot date after 690 B.c., when the type of statue must have
been totally different in detail.
The Lindian seated goddess must be associated with the
seated Athena of Troy of which Homer speaks (see above,
p. 53), but this statue seems to have been replaced by a later,
though still primitive work. Strabo, with his critical mind,
observes that the wooden statue of Athena to be seen in his
day was upright, whereas that described by Homer was
seated.4 From this we can assume that the earliest statue
had been replaced at an early date, for some reason which
remains unknown.
But the existence at the very earliest times, Hellenic or
pre-Hellenic, of seated statues seems amply attested. The
1 Lindos, Fouilles, 8cc., p. 17.
3 L’Image d'Athana, pp. 27 ff.
2 Id., p. 14.
4 loc. cit.
indeed, nothing to prevent us from assuming that the statue
which remained in the Lindian shrine until its destruction
in the fourth century somewhere between 350 and 3301 b.c.
was that which had been there before the arrival of the
Dorians. It was certainly a figure deeply revered, since
Kleoboulos, the Rhodian equivalent and contemporary of
Polycrates of Samos, Lygdamis of Naxos and Peisistratos of
Athens, went to the trouble to rehouse it in the sixth century
in a new temple.2
Blinkenberg’s suggestion that we can see the statue re-
flected in certain terra-cottas found at Lindos3 and in others
from the Lindian colonies of Akragas and Gela, whither the
type had been taken, is attractive but unconvincing. Terra-
cottas in general afford but the vaguest clues as to larger
works in stone or wood. There is no certain instance of an
archaic terra-cotta repeating the type of a known statue with
accuracy. The fact that the terra-cottas in question are of
seated figures may suggest that the general attitude of the
xoanon was copied. But the face and figure in general in
each case are those of the sixth century, while, on Blinken-
berg’s own admission, the original wooden Lindia statue
cannot date after 690 B.c., when the type of statue must have
been totally different in detail.
The Lindian seated goddess must be associated with the
seated Athena of Troy of which Homer speaks (see above,
p. 53), but this statue seems to have been replaced by a later,
though still primitive work. Strabo, with his critical mind,
observes that the wooden statue of Athena to be seen in his
day was upright, whereas that described by Homer was
seated.4 From this we can assume that the earliest statue
had been replaced at an early date, for some reason which
remains unknown.
But the existence at the very earliest times, Hellenic or
pre-Hellenic, of seated statues seems amply attested. The
1 Lindos, Fouilles, 8cc., p. 17.
3 L’Image d'Athana, pp. 27 ff.
2 Id., p. 14.
4 loc. cit.