DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4326#0019
14
C N I D U S.
them represented the taking of Troy and the return of the Greeks ; the other the descent of
Ulysses into the infernal regions. At Olympia on the occasion of some victory obtained by the
Cnidians, the inhabitants of the Triopian quarter of the city [oi kv Kviha yfppovkoioi) dedicated three
statues, representing Jupiter standing between Pelops and Alpheius.*
In their own city the Cnidians possessed a marble statue of Bacchus by Bryaxis a sculptor of
Athens, who flourished in the middle of the fourth century, b. c, and who was employed together
with Scopas, Timotheus and Leocharis on the celebrated tomb of Mausolus ; they had another
Bacchus by Scopas, and a Minerva by the same artist. One particular statue, however, has con-
tributed more to the fame of Cnidus than all its other monuments, either abroad or at home, where
every work of art was eclipsed by the Venus of Praxiteles, so that, as Pliny remarks, it was for the
sake of this statue that strangers undertook a voyage to Cnidus ; and in its presence the works of
Bryaxis and Scopas were scarcely noticed. + Praxiteles flourished in the early part of the
fourth century b. c, or a few years before the time of Alexander the Great, and consequently
in the most brilliant, though perhaps not in the purest period of ancient art.
Although Praxiteles was the author of many exquisite works in brass, he was considered to excel
more especially in marble. X He was almost the earliest artist who represented Venus without
drapery. \ Having made two statues of this goddess, one of which was veiled or partially
clothed, || the other naked, the Coans who had the option of the two, preferred the former, both
being valued at the same price. The naked one was purchased by the Cnidians. It had been in
their possession nearly three hundred years, when Nicomedes king of Bithynia offered in exchange
for it to take upon himself the whole public debt of Cnidus. But the Cnidians declined the offer,
preferring, as Pliny remarks, to submit to any inconvenience rather than to lose the chief glory of
their city. The same degree of reputation still continued to be attached to this celebrated statue
of the " Regina Cnidi Paphique " in the second century of our era. The best description of it at
that period is in the Dialogue of Lucian, called " The Loves," and as it contains some interesting
particulars of the temple of the Cnidian Venus, as well as of the statue, which according to
Athenaeus was a portrait of Phryne,! we subjoin a translated extract from that work.**
" We then determined to enter the port of Cnidus, in order to see the place, and from an
anxiety to visit the temple of Venus celebrated for its statue, the exquisite production of the skill
* Pausan. Eliac. prior. 24, 1.
f Sunt in Cnido et alia signa marmorea illustrium artificum,
Liber Pater Bryaxidis ; et alter Scopas, et Minerva : nee majus
aliud Veneris Praxiteliae specimen, quam quod inter haec sola
memoratur. Plin. H. N. XXXVI, 5 (5).
I Praxiteles quoque marmore felicior ideo et clarior fuit: fe-
cit tamen ex aere pulcherrima opera.—Pliny then adds an enu-
meration of his principal works, many of which were then at
Rome. A Venus equal in beauty to the Cnidian had been
burnt in the temple of Fortune in the reign of Claudius.
Plin. H. N. XXXIV, 8. (19. 10.)
§ In the most ancient figures of this goddess, she is like all
the female deities entirely clothed in a long garment, after-
wards her bosom was more displayed than that of other god-
desses : and this seems to have been the beginning of that
mode of representation, which was carried to the extreme by
Praxiteles, though according to Pliny he was preceded in this
by Scopas a cotemporary.....in templo Bruti Callaici apud
circum eundem (Flaminium). Praeterea Venus in eodem loco
nuda, Praxiteliam illam antecedens, et quemcunque alium
locum nobilitatura. H. N. XXXVI, 4 (7).
|| velata specie: ib. 5. (5.)Sillig reads velatam speciose.p.381.
1 Lib. XIII. p. 591.
** Lucian "Epwrec c. 11,18.
C N I D U S.
them represented the taking of Troy and the return of the Greeks ; the other the descent of
Ulysses into the infernal regions. At Olympia on the occasion of some victory obtained by the
Cnidians, the inhabitants of the Triopian quarter of the city [oi kv Kviha yfppovkoioi) dedicated three
statues, representing Jupiter standing between Pelops and Alpheius.*
In their own city the Cnidians possessed a marble statue of Bacchus by Bryaxis a sculptor of
Athens, who flourished in the middle of the fourth century, b. c, and who was employed together
with Scopas, Timotheus and Leocharis on the celebrated tomb of Mausolus ; they had another
Bacchus by Scopas, and a Minerva by the same artist. One particular statue, however, has con-
tributed more to the fame of Cnidus than all its other monuments, either abroad or at home, where
every work of art was eclipsed by the Venus of Praxiteles, so that, as Pliny remarks, it was for the
sake of this statue that strangers undertook a voyage to Cnidus ; and in its presence the works of
Bryaxis and Scopas were scarcely noticed. + Praxiteles flourished in the early part of the
fourth century b. c, or a few years before the time of Alexander the Great, and consequently
in the most brilliant, though perhaps not in the purest period of ancient art.
Although Praxiteles was the author of many exquisite works in brass, he was considered to excel
more especially in marble. X He was almost the earliest artist who represented Venus without
drapery. \ Having made two statues of this goddess, one of which was veiled or partially
clothed, || the other naked, the Coans who had the option of the two, preferred the former, both
being valued at the same price. The naked one was purchased by the Cnidians. It had been in
their possession nearly three hundred years, when Nicomedes king of Bithynia offered in exchange
for it to take upon himself the whole public debt of Cnidus. But the Cnidians declined the offer,
preferring, as Pliny remarks, to submit to any inconvenience rather than to lose the chief glory of
their city. The same degree of reputation still continued to be attached to this celebrated statue
of the " Regina Cnidi Paphique " in the second century of our era. The best description of it at
that period is in the Dialogue of Lucian, called " The Loves," and as it contains some interesting
particulars of the temple of the Cnidian Venus, as well as of the statue, which according to
Athenaeus was a portrait of Phryne,! we subjoin a translated extract from that work.**
" We then determined to enter the port of Cnidus, in order to see the place, and from an
anxiety to visit the temple of Venus celebrated for its statue, the exquisite production of the skill
* Pausan. Eliac. prior. 24, 1.
f Sunt in Cnido et alia signa marmorea illustrium artificum,
Liber Pater Bryaxidis ; et alter Scopas, et Minerva : nee majus
aliud Veneris Praxiteliae specimen, quam quod inter haec sola
memoratur. Plin. H. N. XXXVI, 5 (5).
I Praxiteles quoque marmore felicior ideo et clarior fuit: fe-
cit tamen ex aere pulcherrima opera.—Pliny then adds an enu-
meration of his principal works, many of which were then at
Rome. A Venus equal in beauty to the Cnidian had been
burnt in the temple of Fortune in the reign of Claudius.
Plin. H. N. XXXIV, 8. (19. 10.)
§ In the most ancient figures of this goddess, she is like all
the female deities entirely clothed in a long garment, after-
wards her bosom was more displayed than that of other god-
desses : and this seems to have been the beginning of that
mode of representation, which was carried to the extreme by
Praxiteles, though according to Pliny he was preceded in this
by Scopas a cotemporary.....in templo Bruti Callaici apud
circum eundem (Flaminium). Praeterea Venus in eodem loco
nuda, Praxiteliam illam antecedens, et quemcunque alium
locum nobilitatura. H. N. XXXVI, 4 (7).
|| velata specie: ib. 5. (5.)Sillig reads velatam speciose.p.381.
1 Lib. XIII. p. 591.
** Lucian "Epwrec c. 11,18.