DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0840
760 Gradual elimination of the thunderbolt
cited by J. Overbeck1 as nearer akin to the Pheidiac original than
any other extant figure, can claim, if not the calm of conquest, at
least a quiet dignity of its own, and must doubtless be classed as a
later representative of the Olympian type. The left hand was raised
to hold a sceptre. The right, to which the restorer has given a globe,
very possibly, as Overbeck suggests, carried a Victory. And the
thunderbolt is nowhere to be seen, unless we may detect a stylised
form of it in the throne-legs and in the relief-pattern that connects
them behind (pi. xxxv)2. The once dreaded missile of the sky-
god could hardly undergo further attenuation without vanishing
altogether.
When Alexander the Great placed upon his silver coinage the
design of a seated Zeus, it might have been expected that he would
choose for the purpose the great cult-statue at Olympia—and the
more so as Mount Olympos was a prominent feature of his own
domain. In point of fact, he did nothing of the sort. He set aside
all the improvements introduced by Pheidias and deliberately re-
verted to the old pre-Pheidiac type. A comparison of his tetra-
drachms (fig. 704)3 on the one hand with the federal coins of Arkadia,
on the other with the Olympian statue, is instructive :
Arcadian coins Pheidias' statue I Alexander's coins
Right hand has eagle. Right hand has Nike. Right hand has eagle.
Left hand has sceptreheld Lefthand has sceptre held Left hand has sceptreheld
high. low. high.
Right leg is in advance of 1 Left leg is in advance of , Right leg is in advance of
left leg. right leg. left leg.
Himdtion is wrapped ' Himdtion covers left Himdtion is wrapped
about lower limbs only. | upper arm as well. about lower limbs only.
Throne has at first no
back.
Throne has at first no
back.
Throne has high back.
1 Overbeck Gr. Kunstmyth, Zeus p. 123 f. no. 18.
2 PI. xxxv is from a couple of photographs kindly procured for me by Mr S. C. Cockerell.
I add, for comparison, four throne-legs of white marble formerly in the collection at
Deepdene [Hope Sale Catalogue 1917 p. 32 no. 205) and now in the Fitzwilliam Museum
(fig. 703 from a photograph by Mr W. H. Hayles). Greatest height: 365 ins. They are
of similar design, but vary in detail and workmanship, and here and there have been
patched by a modern restorer. Such legs are frequent in representations of ancient couches
and thrones (L. Heuzey—H. Uaumet Mission Arche'ologique de MacMoijie Paris 1876
Texte p. 261 fig. (eight examples), C. L. Ransome Studies in Ancient Furniture Chicago
1905 pp. 20 tt., 44 ff., 72 ff., 90 ff. (with numerous figs.)), and their resemblance to a
thunderbolt, though fortuitous in origin, would make them peculiarly suitable to a throne
of Zeus (cp. the marble throne-leg at Palermo in Durm Baukunst der Griechen2 p. 253
fig. 175, id.3 p. 239 fig. 209). The closest parallel to the Cambridge legs is afforded by
Ant. Skulpt. Berlin p. 429 f. no. 1092 a. b., a marble leg which shows traces of red colour
and gilding.
;i From a specimen in my collection.
cited by J. Overbeck1 as nearer akin to the Pheidiac original than
any other extant figure, can claim, if not the calm of conquest, at
least a quiet dignity of its own, and must doubtless be classed as a
later representative of the Olympian type. The left hand was raised
to hold a sceptre. The right, to which the restorer has given a globe,
very possibly, as Overbeck suggests, carried a Victory. And the
thunderbolt is nowhere to be seen, unless we may detect a stylised
form of it in the throne-legs and in the relief-pattern that connects
them behind (pi. xxxv)2. The once dreaded missile of the sky-
god could hardly undergo further attenuation without vanishing
altogether.
When Alexander the Great placed upon his silver coinage the
design of a seated Zeus, it might have been expected that he would
choose for the purpose the great cult-statue at Olympia—and the
more so as Mount Olympos was a prominent feature of his own
domain. In point of fact, he did nothing of the sort. He set aside
all the improvements introduced by Pheidias and deliberately re-
verted to the old pre-Pheidiac type. A comparison of his tetra-
drachms (fig. 704)3 on the one hand with the federal coins of Arkadia,
on the other with the Olympian statue, is instructive :
Arcadian coins Pheidias' statue I Alexander's coins
Right hand has eagle. Right hand has Nike. Right hand has eagle.
Left hand has sceptreheld Lefthand has sceptre held Left hand has sceptreheld
high. low. high.
Right leg is in advance of 1 Left leg is in advance of , Right leg is in advance of
left leg. right leg. left leg.
Himdtion is wrapped ' Himdtion covers left Himdtion is wrapped
about lower limbs only. | upper arm as well. about lower limbs only.
Throne has at first no
back.
Throne has at first no
back.
Throne has high back.
1 Overbeck Gr. Kunstmyth, Zeus p. 123 f. no. 18.
2 PI. xxxv is from a couple of photographs kindly procured for me by Mr S. C. Cockerell.
I add, for comparison, four throne-legs of white marble formerly in the collection at
Deepdene [Hope Sale Catalogue 1917 p. 32 no. 205) and now in the Fitzwilliam Museum
(fig. 703 from a photograph by Mr W. H. Hayles). Greatest height: 365 ins. They are
of similar design, but vary in detail and workmanship, and here and there have been
patched by a modern restorer. Such legs are frequent in representations of ancient couches
and thrones (L. Heuzey—H. Uaumet Mission Arche'ologique de MacMoijie Paris 1876
Texte p. 261 fig. (eight examples), C. L. Ransome Studies in Ancient Furniture Chicago
1905 pp. 20 tt., 44 ff., 72 ff., 90 ff. (with numerous figs.)), and their resemblance to a
thunderbolt, though fortuitous in origin, would make them peculiarly suitable to a throne
of Zeus (cp. the marble throne-leg at Palermo in Durm Baukunst der Griechen2 p. 253
fig. 175, id.3 p. 239 fig. 209). The closest parallel to the Cambridge legs is afforded by
Ant. Skulpt. Berlin p. 429 f. no. 1092 a. b., a marble leg which shows traces of red colour
and gilding.
;i From a specimen in my collection.