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Cook, Arthur B.
Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 1): Zeus god of the bright sky — Cambridge, 1914

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https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14695#0089

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The Blue Nimbus

35

beside him: on it rests his eagle, the lightning-bearer, turning
towards him and spreading its wings for instant flight.

Both designs are clearly variations (the one chromatic, the
other plastic) of a common original by some sculptor of repute,
who—to judge from the abundant but not as yet exaggerated
locks of the god, his earnest deep-set eyes, his broad athletic
shoulders, the naturalistic gesture of his right hand, and the multi-
facial character of the whole work—may well have been Lysippos.
The Italian provenance of the wall-painting and the well-mouth
suggest that this Lysippean masterpiece was executed for some
city in Italy. Our only further clue is the presence of the pillar
as an essential feature of the composition. Now pillar-cults of
Zeus lasting on into the classical period are of extreme rarity.
There ,was, however, one such cult, of which I shall have more to
say1, at Tarentum in south Italy. If it could be shown that
Lysippos made an image of the Tarentine pillar-Zeus, it would
be reasonable to regard that image as the prototype of our later
figures. At this point Pliny may be brought forward as a witness.
A propos of colossal statues he says: ' Yet another is that at
Tarentum, made by Lysippos, forty cubits in height. It is note-
worthy because the weight is so nicely balanced that, though it can
be moved by the hand—so they state—, yet it is not
overthrown by any gale. The artist himself is said
to have provided against this by placing a pillar
a little way off on the side where it was most

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necessary to break the violence of the wind2.'
Lucilius3 and Strabon4 mention that the statue in
question represented Zeus and was set in a large
open market-place. Whether it was seated we are
not definitely told and cannot certainly infer5. On
the one hand/ its great height and carefully calculated balance
suggest a standing figure (cp. fig. 8)6. On the other hand, Lysippos'

1 Infra ch. ii § 3 (a) ii (5).

2 Plin. not. hist. 34. 40 talis et Tarenti factus a Lysippo, XL cubitorum. mirum in eo
quod manu, ut ferunt, mobilis ea ratio libramenti est, ut nullis convellatur procellis.
id quidem providisse et artifex dicitur modico intervallo, unde maxime flatum opus erat
frangi, opposita columna.

3 Lucil. frag. 380 Baehrens ap. Non. Ma rc. s. 7J • 'cubitus' p. 296, 14 ff. Lindsay
Lysippi Iuppiter ista | transibit quadraginta cubita altu' Tarento.

4 Strab. 278 ?xeL (sc- Tarentum) yv/jLvdaiov re KaXkiarov Kai dyopdu ev/xeyedrj, ev rj
Kai 0 rod Atos idpvrai KoXocrcrbs xaA/cous, p:eyc(TTos fxerd rbv "Poditav.

5 Overbeck Gr. Kunstmyth. Zeus p. 57.

6 Miiller-Wieseler-Wernicke Ant. Denkm. i. 58 pi. 5, ir, a brown paste of late
Roman work at Berlin (Furtwangler Geschnitt. Steine Berlin p. 122 no. 2642 pi. 24)
shows Zeus leaning his left arm on a pillar and holding a phidle in his right hand. Upon

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