DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0831
Gradual elimination of the thunderbolt 753
deity1. The right hand probably held a long sceptre, the left a
phidle-\ and Zeus was conceived as the propitious recipient of his
worshipper's oblation. The statuette, which in style is post-Lysippian,
may well have been a votive object in the neighbouring precinct at
Dodona.
The seated types of Zeus are of interest in relation to the work
of Pheidias. That great craftsman never lost touch with the past
and knew well how to appeal to local sentiment by taking accepted
forms and transmuting them into something higher with a touch of
his own genius. A Pheidiac masterpiece is always on the one side
the last term of a creative series, on the other the first term of an
imitative series. For example, Zeus enthroned with a thunderbolt in
his right hand and a sceptre in his left was an old Attic type'5 taken
over by Pheidias from the vase-painters4 and ennobled to serve as the
centre-piece of the eastern pediment of the Parthenon (pi. xxxiii)5.
1 A. S. Murray Greek Bronzes London 1898 p. 76 ff. fig. 32 says 'Poseidon,' H. B.
Walters loc. cit. and in his British Museum : Select Bronzes London 1915 pi. 19 with text
' Poseidon (?),' H. Bulle in Roscher Lex. Myth. iii. 2885 'die Beziehung auf Poseidon
nicht...sicher... Diese Figur konnte auch fiir Zeus gehalten werden.'
2 The fore-finger and the little finger of the left hand, contracted and drawn towards
each other, might have held a phidle, but could hardly have clasped a model dolphin or
tunny. K. Wernicke loc. cit. suggests an eagle or a Nike : so far as I can judge from a cast
of the statuette, a phidle seems more likely.
E.g. (1) An early black-figured amphora with the birth of Athena {Brit. Mus. Cat.
Vases ii 103 ff. no. B 147, W. Henzen in the Ann. d. Inst. 1842 xiv. 90—103, A/on. d.
Inst. iii. pi. 44 f. = Reinach Re'p. Vases i. 115 f., Lenormant—de Witte El. mon. c4r. i.
217 ff. pi. 65 a) gives Zeus both thunderbolt and sceptre (upper part restored). In most
vase-paintings of this scene either the bolt or the sceptre is absent, though the hand is held
as if its missing attribute were present. (2) A red-figured amphora assigned to the
Nikoxenos painter, a contemporary of Euthymides (Jahn Vasensamml. Miinchen p. 137 f.
no. 405, Gerhard Atcserl. Vasenb. i. 31 ff. pi. 7=Reinach Rip, Vases ii. 21,7 f., Iloppin
Red-Jig. Vases ii. 233110. 6), shows Zeus with thunderbolt and eagle-sceptre seated among
an assemblage of deities. (3) A fine red-figured vase from Girgenti, formerly owned by
R. Politi (R. Rochette Choix de peintures de Pompei Paris 1848 p. 5 vignette, p. ir 11. 6,
Overbeck Gall. her. Bildw. i. 527 f. no. 66 Atlas pi. 22, 10, id. Gr. Kunstmyth. Zeus p. 28
no. b, Atlas pi. 1, 13 (Zeus only)), had Zeus with winged bolt and sceptre seated between
Thetis and Heos, who supplicate him on behalf of their sons. Cp. also supra p. 274
Fig. 6^2.
Fig. 693.
fig- 177-
4 Infra § 9 (h) ii (6>).
5 See pocket at end of vol. ii.
c. ii.
48
deity1. The right hand probably held a long sceptre, the left a
phidle-\ and Zeus was conceived as the propitious recipient of his
worshipper's oblation. The statuette, which in style is post-Lysippian,
may well have been a votive object in the neighbouring precinct at
Dodona.
The seated types of Zeus are of interest in relation to the work
of Pheidias. That great craftsman never lost touch with the past
and knew well how to appeal to local sentiment by taking accepted
forms and transmuting them into something higher with a touch of
his own genius. A Pheidiac masterpiece is always on the one side
the last term of a creative series, on the other the first term of an
imitative series. For example, Zeus enthroned with a thunderbolt in
his right hand and a sceptre in his left was an old Attic type'5 taken
over by Pheidias from the vase-painters4 and ennobled to serve as the
centre-piece of the eastern pediment of the Parthenon (pi. xxxiii)5.
1 A. S. Murray Greek Bronzes London 1898 p. 76 ff. fig. 32 says 'Poseidon,' H. B.
Walters loc. cit. and in his British Museum : Select Bronzes London 1915 pi. 19 with text
' Poseidon (?),' H. Bulle in Roscher Lex. Myth. iii. 2885 'die Beziehung auf Poseidon
nicht...sicher... Diese Figur konnte auch fiir Zeus gehalten werden.'
2 The fore-finger and the little finger of the left hand, contracted and drawn towards
each other, might have held a phidle, but could hardly have clasped a model dolphin or
tunny. K. Wernicke loc. cit. suggests an eagle or a Nike : so far as I can judge from a cast
of the statuette, a phidle seems more likely.
E.g. (1) An early black-figured amphora with the birth of Athena {Brit. Mus. Cat.
Vases ii 103 ff. no. B 147, W. Henzen in the Ann. d. Inst. 1842 xiv. 90—103, A/on. d.
Inst. iii. pi. 44 f. = Reinach Re'p. Vases i. 115 f., Lenormant—de Witte El. mon. c4r. i.
217 ff. pi. 65 a) gives Zeus both thunderbolt and sceptre (upper part restored). In most
vase-paintings of this scene either the bolt or the sceptre is absent, though the hand is held
as if its missing attribute were present. (2) A red-figured amphora assigned to the
Nikoxenos painter, a contemporary of Euthymides (Jahn Vasensamml. Miinchen p. 137 f.
no. 405, Gerhard Atcserl. Vasenb. i. 31 ff. pi. 7=Reinach Rip, Vases ii. 21,7 f., Iloppin
Red-Jig. Vases ii. 233110. 6), shows Zeus with thunderbolt and eagle-sceptre seated among
an assemblage of deities. (3) A fine red-figured vase from Girgenti, formerly owned by
R. Politi (R. Rochette Choix de peintures de Pompei Paris 1848 p. 5 vignette, p. ir 11. 6,
Overbeck Gall. her. Bildw. i. 527 f. no. 66 Atlas pi. 22, 10, id. Gr. Kunstmyth. Zeus p. 28
no. b, Atlas pi. 1, 13 (Zeus only)), had Zeus with winged bolt and sceptre seated between
Thetis and Heos, who supplicate him on behalf of their sons. Cp. also supra p. 274
Fig. 6^2.
Fig. 693.
fig- 177-
4 Infra § 9 (h) ii (6>).
5 See pocket at end of vol. ii.
c. ii.
48