DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5294#0017
[9]
Marquis of Rockingham, who purchased Dr. Mead's bas-relief,
purchased also at the same time another bas-relief, which repre-
sented the return of Ulysses to Ithaca. (1) Dimensions 1 foot 3f
inches, by 10£ inches.
No. XIII.
A bas-relief, imperfect, representing a fragment of Medusa's head;
on one side of it is a figure of Minerva holding up her shield, on the
surface of which Medusa's head is reflected. This bas-relief, when
perfect, probably represented the figure of Perseus standing on the
other side of Medusa, and in the act of severing her head from her
body. Minerva is not only said to have been present, (2) while Per-
seus was engaged in this enterprise, but to have held up her shield,
as a mirror,(3) in order to direct his aim, and save him from the de-
struction, which the sight of Medusa would otherwise have occa-
sioned to him. The assistance, which Minerva afforded Perseus in
this particular instance, is represented on a coin (4) of Caracalla,
struck at Sebaste, in Galatia. The head of Medusa in this bas-
relief, as well as in that of No. X. is furnished with a pair of wings.
Dimensions 1 foot 3^- inches, by 1 foot j an inch.
1 There is an engraving of it in Winckelmann's Mon. Ant. Ined. Tav. 161.
1 Ipsa regit trepidum Pallas, dextraque trementem
Perseos aversi Cyllenida dirigit harpen,
Lata colubriferi rumpens confinia colli.
Lucan. lib. ix. v. 675.
5 'Emo-nx? ow avrtzig o Tltpa-ivs ^.oi^u^suMg, xa.TlvS,vi/ov<rns rnv yt~p& 'ASwa?, oLiriv-
rpxiMt&oS, x«i (3ae7twu £i? dcnriStx, x»?Mr,v, 01 j)j ryu ilxova, rn$ Topyovog i'@\nriv, btupxTofMitrw
aurw.—Apollodori Bib. lib. ii. c. 4. 2.
'H 'ASflVOt Sr\ £7T» T»1? «a"7TI(Jof U7TOrtApOU(r)lJ, CoO"7T£p £7T( XCCTOTTTpOV, TTXpeCVtl/ XVTtO WHK TTV
hhovix. Tflf MiSovirtK.—Lucian Dialog. Marin, xiv.
* See Eckhel Num. Vet. Anec. p. 174.
Marquis of Rockingham, who purchased Dr. Mead's bas-relief,
purchased also at the same time another bas-relief, which repre-
sented the return of Ulysses to Ithaca. (1) Dimensions 1 foot 3f
inches, by 10£ inches.
No. XIII.
A bas-relief, imperfect, representing a fragment of Medusa's head;
on one side of it is a figure of Minerva holding up her shield, on the
surface of which Medusa's head is reflected. This bas-relief, when
perfect, probably represented the figure of Perseus standing on the
other side of Medusa, and in the act of severing her head from her
body. Minerva is not only said to have been present, (2) while Per-
seus was engaged in this enterprise, but to have held up her shield,
as a mirror,(3) in order to direct his aim, and save him from the de-
struction, which the sight of Medusa would otherwise have occa-
sioned to him. The assistance, which Minerva afforded Perseus in
this particular instance, is represented on a coin (4) of Caracalla,
struck at Sebaste, in Galatia. The head of Medusa in this bas-
relief, as well as in that of No. X. is furnished with a pair of wings.
Dimensions 1 foot 3^- inches, by 1 foot j an inch.
1 There is an engraving of it in Winckelmann's Mon. Ant. Ined. Tav. 161.
1 Ipsa regit trepidum Pallas, dextraque trementem
Perseos aversi Cyllenida dirigit harpen,
Lata colubriferi rumpens confinia colli.
Lucan. lib. ix. v. 675.
5 'Emo-nx? ow avrtzig o Tltpa-ivs ^.oi^u^suMg, xa.TlvS,vi/ov<rns rnv yt~p& 'ASwa?, oLiriv-
rpxiMt&oS, x«i (3ae7twu £i? dcnriStx, x»?Mr,v, 01 j)j ryu ilxova, rn$ Topyovog i'@\nriv, btupxTofMitrw
aurw.—Apollodori Bib. lib. ii. c. 4. 2.
'H 'ASflVOt Sr\ £7T» T»1? «a"7TI(Jof U7TOrtApOU(r)lJ, CoO"7T£p £7T( XCCTOTTTpOV, TTXpeCVtl/ XVTtO WHK TTV
hhovix. Tflf MiSovirtK.—Lucian Dialog. Marin, xiv.
* See Eckhel Num. Vet. Anec. p. 174.