DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15099#0103
79
PLATE XV.
[Height 2 f. 9£ in. Length 6 f. 6 in. Old Nos. A 61. A 62. A 63.
New Nos. 142, 143, 144.]
On this plate are represented two warriors fleeing, who appear
to belong to the group mentioned in the description of the pre-
ceding plate; and the three other divinities who have been
already alluded to, as spectators of the contest taking place before
them. The two warriors are furnished with shields, but the heads
and right arms of both are missing; one is entirely without
clothing, the other is dressed in a chiton which descends to the
knees, is bound round the waist, and fastened only upon the left
shoulder in order to leave the right hand entirely at liberty; the
right breast and side are thus exposed to view. Both these
warriors are in the act of flight, and apparently from the attack
and pursuit of the robust naked figure seen in the preceding
plate. The group indeed appears to consist of four figures ; that
is, one apparently unclothed and unprotected by any defensive
armour, attacking and putting to flight three armed warriors.
The combat represented in this and the preceding plate is, we
may be assured, a scene from some contest in which the chief
deities of Olympus took more than usual interest, but probably
not one in which any of them are recorded to have been per-
sonally engaged. In the present mutilated state of the marble,
where all the weapons have disappeared, and the heads of all the
figures have been destroyed, we are deprived of most of the
means of detecting those characteristics which would have enabled
us to discern the peculiar event intended to be represented.
If this group were meant to represent any scene from the
Gigantomachia, we should have little difficulty in supposing that
PLATE XV.
[Height 2 f. 9£ in. Length 6 f. 6 in. Old Nos. A 61. A 62. A 63.
New Nos. 142, 143, 144.]
On this plate are represented two warriors fleeing, who appear
to belong to the group mentioned in the description of the pre-
ceding plate; and the three other divinities who have been
already alluded to, as spectators of the contest taking place before
them. The two warriors are furnished with shields, but the heads
and right arms of both are missing; one is entirely without
clothing, the other is dressed in a chiton which descends to the
knees, is bound round the waist, and fastened only upon the left
shoulder in order to leave the right hand entirely at liberty; the
right breast and side are thus exposed to view. Both these
warriors are in the act of flight, and apparently from the attack
and pursuit of the robust naked figure seen in the preceding
plate. The group indeed appears to consist of four figures ; that
is, one apparently unclothed and unprotected by any defensive
armour, attacking and putting to flight three armed warriors.
The combat represented in this and the preceding plate is, we
may be assured, a scene from some contest in which the chief
deities of Olympus took more than usual interest, but probably
not one in which any of them are recorded to have been per-
sonally engaged. In the present mutilated state of the marble,
where all the weapons have disappeared, and the heads of all the
figures have been destroyed, we are deprived of most of the
means of detecting those characteristics which would have enabled
us to discern the peculiar event intended to be represented.
If this group were meant to represent any scene from the
Gigantomachia, we should have little difficulty in supposing that