DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15098#0047
37
an examination of his authorities converts us to his opinion.
He considers a certain female figure in a bas relief, (Mus. Pio-
Clem. torn. v. tav. 26.) to be Minerva, because upon another an-
cient monument that Goddess is represented similarly occupied.5
These figures rather lead us to an opposite conclusion ; viz. that
when the ancients represented Minerva engaged even in an occu-
pation exclusively pacific, they still assigned to her the costume
and implements of war. Nor do we recollect an instance of a
figure which can with any strong probability be named a Mi-
nerva, which is without the segis, or helmet, or some indication
of the costume in which she sprang from the brain of her
father. Visconti refers to Spoil's description of Minerva in the
pediment of the Parthenon, " rather as the Goddess of Learning
than war, without helmet, buckler, or a Medusa's head on her
breast, as Pausanias describes her image within the Temple."6 But
this authority is not worth much, for Spon gives the name of Vic-
tory to that figure which was undoubtedly Minerva, and is conspi-
cuously armed with her segis; and the passage just quoted is
the description of a figure in the car, which cannot, therefore, be
Minerva. In this figure then we do not recognise the form, or
features, or costume of Minerva, nor, under our view of the object
of the composition, should we expect to find the figure of that
Goddess in this place. It was to her splendid statue that the
whole procession was advancing through an avenue of person-
ages, in whose presence the ceremonies of the festival were to be
performed ; and upon such an occasion, and in such a place, she
would not occupy a situation so secondary as even at the right of
Jupiter himself. She was the great object of attraction, and her
chryselephantine statue, which was within the temple itself, would
be too gorgeous in its material, and too much exceeding all other
figures in dimensions, to allow of her being represented in this
5 Tischbein, vol. ii. tav. 22. Winckelman, Mon. inedit. 159.
6 Spon and Wheler's Journey into Greece, p. 361.
an examination of his authorities converts us to his opinion.
He considers a certain female figure in a bas relief, (Mus. Pio-
Clem. torn. v. tav. 26.) to be Minerva, because upon another an-
cient monument that Goddess is represented similarly occupied.5
These figures rather lead us to an opposite conclusion ; viz. that
when the ancients represented Minerva engaged even in an occu-
pation exclusively pacific, they still assigned to her the costume
and implements of war. Nor do we recollect an instance of a
figure which can with any strong probability be named a Mi-
nerva, which is without the segis, or helmet, or some indication
of the costume in which she sprang from the brain of her
father. Visconti refers to Spoil's description of Minerva in the
pediment of the Parthenon, " rather as the Goddess of Learning
than war, without helmet, buckler, or a Medusa's head on her
breast, as Pausanias describes her image within the Temple."6 But
this authority is not worth much, for Spon gives the name of Vic-
tory to that figure which was undoubtedly Minerva, and is conspi-
cuously armed with her segis; and the passage just quoted is
the description of a figure in the car, which cannot, therefore, be
Minerva. In this figure then we do not recognise the form, or
features, or costume of Minerva, nor, under our view of the object
of the composition, should we expect to find the figure of that
Goddess in this place. It was to her splendid statue that the
whole procession was advancing through an avenue of person-
ages, in whose presence the ceremonies of the festival were to be
performed ; and upon such an occasion, and in such a place, she
would not occupy a situation so secondary as even at the right of
Jupiter himself. She was the great object of attraction, and her
chryselephantine statue, which was within the temple itself, would
be too gorgeous in its material, and too much exceeding all other
figures in dimensions, to allow of her being represented in this
5 Tischbein, vol. ii. tav. 22. Winckelman, Mon. inedit. 159.
6 Spon and Wheler's Journey into Greece, p. 361.