DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3332#0060
56
NAUKKATIS.
embodies. Evidently the writer had heard that
" statuettes of Aphrodite, a span high, of
archaic style," had been brought from Cyprus
and dedicated in her temple at Naukratis. Now
this description exactly fits a large number of
the statuettes that were found in the temenos
of Aphrodite, and precisely similar statuettes
are very frequently discovered in Cyprus.
They seem, indeed, to have been originally the
products of Phoenician art, and especially of
that branch of Phoenician art which was
established in Cyprus.
But, although we may thus see the origin of the
type of statuette we have now before us, neither
the subject represented nor the style of the re-
presentation can be thus summarily dismissed.
For all who have studied the earliest stages of
Greek art know that whenever the Greeks bor-
rowed a form, they always infused into it new
life and meaning. Brunn's famous analogyx
cannot be too often quoted; " from the Phoe-
nicians the Greeks borrowed only the alphabet
of art, as they did also of letters; in both alike
they spoke from the first in their own language."
But the tradition preserved by Polycharmus is
of great interest, as indicating a fact that we
learn also from a study of the statuettes them-
selves;—the fact that even at Naukratis the
Greeks did not borrow, as a rule, directly from
the Egyptians, but that even there the influence
of Cyprus was of the highest importance. To
this question we must return after some more
detailed examination of the statuettes them-
selves.
As to subject also, a simple and comprehen-
sive statement is obviously impossible. It will
perhaps be best to begin by distinguishing three
types, the standing male type, the standing
female type, and the seated type. Each of these
will require a separate discussion, first of what
seem the representative specimens, whether
earlier or later in period, and afterwards of the
many variations to which each has given rise.
1 Die Kunst bei Homer.
(45) The standing male type is represented
by some specimens reproduced upon PI. I. in
Naukratis I. Other similar statues were found
during the later excavations, and may be seen
in the plates of this volume (XV. 13).
The type is well known, especially in Cyprus
and Rhodes, where examples of it are found in
abundance. But the fact is perhaps hardly yet
clearly recognized, that from these primitive
figures up to the magnificent athletes of perfect
Greek art, we can trace an unbroken succession
of type. This type is known by many names ;
the small figures now before us are variously
interpreted; the life-size statues of the archaic
period commonly go by the title of Apollo; in
the finest period they are generally regarded as
athletes ; but it can hardly be disputed that the
last is produced from the first by the long
process of artistic evolution.
But we are anticipating. The statuettes we
are now concerned with show hardly any promise
of such a future. Yet even among them we
may perhaps distinguish various stages of de-
velopment. Not that these stages represent of
necessity a chronological sequence ; an earlier
type often survives side by side with a later one
which has been produced from it.
Sometimes these figures are draped, some-
times nude. In the former case they often
have hardly any indication of the forms of the
body ; the lines of the drapery are sometimes
mere cuts at the place where any garment ends.
This is an arrangement often found in Cyprus
and Rhodes ; a specimen that exemplifies it well
was left last year at Bulak (so too PL XIV. 1.).
But such figures can hardly be said to belong
to Greek art at all, though they show, perhaps,
the material, without form and void, which the
spirit of Greek art was afterwards to fill with
life. We may see the beginnings of this influ-
ence in two different classes of statuettes. In
the one the drapery is discarded, and thus we
have at once before us the type that afterwards
was developed into the whole series of Greek
NAUKKATIS.
embodies. Evidently the writer had heard that
" statuettes of Aphrodite, a span high, of
archaic style," had been brought from Cyprus
and dedicated in her temple at Naukratis. Now
this description exactly fits a large number of
the statuettes that were found in the temenos
of Aphrodite, and precisely similar statuettes
are very frequently discovered in Cyprus.
They seem, indeed, to have been originally the
products of Phoenician art, and especially of
that branch of Phoenician art which was
established in Cyprus.
But, although we may thus see the origin of the
type of statuette we have now before us, neither
the subject represented nor the style of the re-
presentation can be thus summarily dismissed.
For all who have studied the earliest stages of
Greek art know that whenever the Greeks bor-
rowed a form, they always infused into it new
life and meaning. Brunn's famous analogyx
cannot be too often quoted; " from the Phoe-
nicians the Greeks borrowed only the alphabet
of art, as they did also of letters; in both alike
they spoke from the first in their own language."
But the tradition preserved by Polycharmus is
of great interest, as indicating a fact that we
learn also from a study of the statuettes them-
selves;—the fact that even at Naukratis the
Greeks did not borrow, as a rule, directly from
the Egyptians, but that even there the influence
of Cyprus was of the highest importance. To
this question we must return after some more
detailed examination of the statuettes them-
selves.
As to subject also, a simple and comprehen-
sive statement is obviously impossible. It will
perhaps be best to begin by distinguishing three
types, the standing male type, the standing
female type, and the seated type. Each of these
will require a separate discussion, first of what
seem the representative specimens, whether
earlier or later in period, and afterwards of the
many variations to which each has given rise.
1 Die Kunst bei Homer.
(45) The standing male type is represented
by some specimens reproduced upon PI. I. in
Naukratis I. Other similar statues were found
during the later excavations, and may be seen
in the plates of this volume (XV. 13).
The type is well known, especially in Cyprus
and Rhodes, where examples of it are found in
abundance. But the fact is perhaps hardly yet
clearly recognized, that from these primitive
figures up to the magnificent athletes of perfect
Greek art, we can trace an unbroken succession
of type. This type is known by many names ;
the small figures now before us are variously
interpreted; the life-size statues of the archaic
period commonly go by the title of Apollo; in
the finest period they are generally regarded as
athletes ; but it can hardly be disputed that the
last is produced from the first by the long
process of artistic evolution.
But we are anticipating. The statuettes we
are now concerned with show hardly any promise
of such a future. Yet even among them we
may perhaps distinguish various stages of de-
velopment. Not that these stages represent of
necessity a chronological sequence ; an earlier
type often survives side by side with a later one
which has been produced from it.
Sometimes these figures are draped, some-
times nude. In the former case they often
have hardly any indication of the forms of the
body ; the lines of the drapery are sometimes
mere cuts at the place where any garment ends.
This is an arrangement often found in Cyprus
and Rhodes ; a specimen that exemplifies it well
was left last year at Bulak (so too PL XIV. 1.).
But such figures can hardly be said to belong
to Greek art at all, though they show, perhaps,
the material, without form and void, which the
spirit of Greek art was afterwards to fill with
life. We may see the beginnings of this influ-
ence in two different classes of statuettes. In
the one the drapery is discarded, and thus we
have at once before us the type that afterwards
was developed into the whole series of Greek