DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1118#0185
LIONS SEIZING BULLS IN EARLY RELIEFS AT ATHENS 537
we have aa example of the taking over into sculpture of a type originally
confined to small glyptic objects like seals and coin-dies, for the subject was
repeated as the City arms in a relief1—a good deal later in date than the
archaic coin-type—that had been set up above one of the gates of Akanthos.2
The attack of lions on bulls is a commonplace of the Homeric poems,
but the description does not go much beyond generalities.3 Where, as in the
account of the Shield of Achilles, the description applies to an actual work of
Art, we find two lions attacking the bull. This scene corresponds with an
alternative Minoan form of the present scheme illustrated above in Fig. 487.'
Amongst the high reliefs in poros stone brought to light on the Athens Early
Akropolis, in addition to an example dating from about 600 B.C. of the rdiefs of
version showing two animals,5 were remains in a somewhat more advanced A^r°-
style, in which two lions take part.6 This work is the very embodiment of Athens,
primeval force. When fresh from the earth and with the colours still unfaded
—as it was my good fortune to see it—it set forth in a quite unique manner
the most vivid polychrome traditions of early Greek sculpture. The lions
have scarlet manes, their bodies being of a paler red, their eyes—as here por-
trayed between vermilion-rimmed lids—are black, with white pupils. The
bull's body is a deep blue (in places turned to green) and from the holes torn
in its hide by the lion's claws its life-blood pours in crimson streams down
its flanks.7
In a very different technique—the colours less crude and the modelling
unsurpassed by any later Age—the bull relief that adorned the North
Portico at Knossos inevitably suggest themselves for comparison. Certain
details, indeed, such as the bright red rims of the eyelids and the white pupils8
against a dark ground, might be taken to imply a real coloristic tradition.
1 Clarac, Mustfe de Sculpture, PL II, p. 223, £tirgifaven.(AtA.Mittk,ic)22(x\vii)),p.92sec]q.
no. 722 ; S. Reinach, Repertoire de la Statuaire ' Heberdey, op. tit, pp. SS, S9, Figs 67, 68.
grecque et romaine, i, p. 112. 7 Letter of A. E. to Manchester Guardian
A record of the source of the relief is pre- on recent discoveries on the Akropolis at
served in the archivesot the Louvre (Sitzungs- Athens, July .17, 1SS4. The remains of the
berichte d. Milnchencr Akad., 1877, p. T7). bull's horns, as pointed out by Wolters, are of
E.g. lb., xvi, p. 487, 4SS. In ib., xvii, a pale green, which also distinguishes his hoofs
P- 61 seqq., however, the lion is described as and fetlocks. The bull's body is almost
seizing the bull's neck in his mighty teeth and executed in the round. Heberdey, op. tit.,
gorging on its blood and entrails. restores the group as a pedimental composition
See above, p. 535. with two symmetrically grouped lions fastening
R. Heberdey, Allattische J'orosskulptur on the elongated bull, here prone. The Geneva
('919). P- 78, Fig. 64 and see Dr. Heberdey's krater (Giraudon II, PI. XIII, 2) supplies a
^constitution, p. 79, Fig. 65. On these early good black-figure parallel,
sculptures in poros stone, see, too, E. Buschor, s See /'. of M., iii, p. r 74, Fig. 118.
we have aa example of the taking over into sculpture of a type originally
confined to small glyptic objects like seals and coin-dies, for the subject was
repeated as the City arms in a relief1—a good deal later in date than the
archaic coin-type—that had been set up above one of the gates of Akanthos.2
The attack of lions on bulls is a commonplace of the Homeric poems,
but the description does not go much beyond generalities.3 Where, as in the
account of the Shield of Achilles, the description applies to an actual work of
Art, we find two lions attacking the bull. This scene corresponds with an
alternative Minoan form of the present scheme illustrated above in Fig. 487.'
Amongst the high reliefs in poros stone brought to light on the Athens Early
Akropolis, in addition to an example dating from about 600 B.C. of the rdiefs of
version showing two animals,5 were remains in a somewhat more advanced A^r°-
style, in which two lions take part.6 This work is the very embodiment of Athens,
primeval force. When fresh from the earth and with the colours still unfaded
—as it was my good fortune to see it—it set forth in a quite unique manner
the most vivid polychrome traditions of early Greek sculpture. The lions
have scarlet manes, their bodies being of a paler red, their eyes—as here por-
trayed between vermilion-rimmed lids—are black, with white pupils. The
bull's body is a deep blue (in places turned to green) and from the holes torn
in its hide by the lion's claws its life-blood pours in crimson streams down
its flanks.7
In a very different technique—the colours less crude and the modelling
unsurpassed by any later Age—the bull relief that adorned the North
Portico at Knossos inevitably suggest themselves for comparison. Certain
details, indeed, such as the bright red rims of the eyelids and the white pupils8
against a dark ground, might be taken to imply a real coloristic tradition.
1 Clarac, Mustfe de Sculpture, PL II, p. 223, £tirgifaven.(AtA.Mittk,ic)22(x\vii)),p.92sec]q.
no. 722 ; S. Reinach, Repertoire de la Statuaire ' Heberdey, op. tit, pp. SS, S9, Figs 67, 68.
grecque et romaine, i, p. 112. 7 Letter of A. E. to Manchester Guardian
A record of the source of the relief is pre- on recent discoveries on the Akropolis at
served in the archivesot the Louvre (Sitzungs- Athens, July .17, 1SS4. The remains of the
berichte d. Milnchencr Akad., 1877, p. T7). bull's horns, as pointed out by Wolters, are of
E.g. lb., xvi, p. 487, 4SS. In ib., xvii, a pale green, which also distinguishes his hoofs
P- 61 seqq., however, the lion is described as and fetlocks. The bull's body is almost
seizing the bull's neck in his mighty teeth and executed in the round. Heberdey, op. tit.,
gorging on its blood and entrails. restores the group as a pedimental composition
See above, p. 535. with two symmetrically grouped lions fastening
R. Heberdey, Allattische J'orosskulptur on the elongated bull, here prone. The Geneva
('919). P- 78, Fig. 64 and see Dr. Heberdey's krater (Giraudon II, PI. XIII, 2) supplies a
^constitution, p. 79, Fig. 65. On these early good black-figure parallel,
sculptures in poros stone, see, too, E. Buschor, s See /'. of M., iii, p. r 74, Fig. 118.