DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.37251#0117
GALLERIA 16-18 8g
16. FRAGMENT OF RELIEF WITH BlRTH OF DIONYSUS (pi. 31).
H. 1-20 m., L. .54 m. Luna marble. Unrestored.
Fragment of a relief representing the birth of Dionysus from the
thigh of Zeus. Zeus is seated to r. Only his legs and the fragment of
his r. arm remain, the r. leg being nude, the 1. draped. He rests his
1. foot on a globe and lays his r. arm round the shoulders of a winged
female figure who stands before him clad in a Spartan which leaves
her r. leg bare and is girt over the long just below the breasts.
Her hair is brushed up into elaborate curls in front, bound with a fillet
and gathered into a knot behind. She bends forward, intent upon rolling
the bandage which she holds round the thigh of Zeus. Normally this
figure should be Eileithyia, but as she is winged it may be that on this
occasion her functions have been taken over by Iris.
The work is mediocre and is dated by C. Visconti as late as the
second century A. D., but the subject is rare and both the action of
the goddess and the detail of the foot resting upon the globe unusual (cf.
A. B. Cook, ZHy i, p. 47). This fragment is only a small portion of
the whole composition, for probably behind Zeus stood Hermes with the
new-born infant ready to hand him over to the charge of the waiting
nymphs. The myth is illustrated on various objects, the earliest being
a Corinthian vase of the sixth century (see the instances cited by Lenor-
mant in Saglio, s. v. Z?<3f<Va;y, p. 602). The nearest parallel to the present
relief is a sarcophagus at Venice (Saglio, <?/<. HA, fig. 6*79), which shows
an almost exact replica of the scene, but with the sides reversed. It is
possible, therefore, that this relief is a fragment of a sarcophagus.
Found on the Esquiline in 18*74, at the corner of the Piazza and the
Via S. Maria Maggiore. It formed the top step outside a wineshop.
A?M/A 607/2. ii (1874), PP- 89-96, pi. i, no. 3 (C. L. Visconti); P. Baur, Az'Az'A^zfz
(University of Missouri Studies, no. 4), p. 86.
iy. HEADLESS STATUE OF HERMES (pi. 30).
H. i-io m. Parian marble. Restored (in plaster) : small patches on cloak and
trunk. The statue has been put together from many fragments.
Headless statue of Hermes standing on 1. leg with r. drawn back
(foot lost). The god is nude except for a cloak fastened with a large
brooch at the r. shoulder. The cloak passes over the chest and 1.
shoulder, covers the upper part of the back, and is gathered up over the
1. arm, which is bent at the elbow and supports a winged rtz^/r^z/y (lower
half of the shaft lost). The r. arm is slightly bent and stretched out,
holding a broken object, probably a purse. There is a y5z/72AAb on the
side of the 1. thigh. By the 1. leg is the trunk of a tree. From prove-
nance, apparently sepulchral (cf. Collignon, -SAzA^yyD/Hzzzh'y, pp, gig
sqq.).
Fair smooth copy from an original of the fourth century B. c.
Found outside Porta Angelica in the ruins of a tomb.
AAz/A 607/2. xv (1887), pp. 2g, 331, no. 4.
18. YOUTH WITH SWORD-BELT (pi. 30).
H. 1-08 m. Pentelic marble. Unrestored. Shoulders (made separately) have
been lost, exposing tooled surface, in the centre of which a large dowel-hole. Top
and back of head similarly tooled : in the latter two iron-hlled drill-holes.
16. FRAGMENT OF RELIEF WITH BlRTH OF DIONYSUS (pi. 31).
H. 1-20 m., L. .54 m. Luna marble. Unrestored.
Fragment of a relief representing the birth of Dionysus from the
thigh of Zeus. Zeus is seated to r. Only his legs and the fragment of
his r. arm remain, the r. leg being nude, the 1. draped. He rests his
1. foot on a globe and lays his r. arm round the shoulders of a winged
female figure who stands before him clad in a Spartan which leaves
her r. leg bare and is girt over the long just below the breasts.
Her hair is brushed up into elaborate curls in front, bound with a fillet
and gathered into a knot behind. She bends forward, intent upon rolling
the bandage which she holds round the thigh of Zeus. Normally this
figure should be Eileithyia, but as she is winged it may be that on this
occasion her functions have been taken over by Iris.
The work is mediocre and is dated by C. Visconti as late as the
second century A. D., but the subject is rare and both the action of
the goddess and the detail of the foot resting upon the globe unusual (cf.
A. B. Cook, ZHy i, p. 47). This fragment is only a small portion of
the whole composition, for probably behind Zeus stood Hermes with the
new-born infant ready to hand him over to the charge of the waiting
nymphs. The myth is illustrated on various objects, the earliest being
a Corinthian vase of the sixth century (see the instances cited by Lenor-
mant in Saglio, s. v. Z?<3f<Va;y, p. 602). The nearest parallel to the present
relief is a sarcophagus at Venice (Saglio, <?/<. HA, fig. 6*79), which shows
an almost exact replica of the scene, but with the sides reversed. It is
possible, therefore, that this relief is a fragment of a sarcophagus.
Found on the Esquiline in 18*74, at the corner of the Piazza and the
Via S. Maria Maggiore. It formed the top step outside a wineshop.
A?M/A 607/2. ii (1874), PP- 89-96, pi. i, no. 3 (C. L. Visconti); P. Baur, Az'Az'A^zfz
(University of Missouri Studies, no. 4), p. 86.
iy. HEADLESS STATUE OF HERMES (pi. 30).
H. i-io m. Parian marble. Restored (in plaster) : small patches on cloak and
trunk. The statue has been put together from many fragments.
Headless statue of Hermes standing on 1. leg with r. drawn back
(foot lost). The god is nude except for a cloak fastened with a large
brooch at the r. shoulder. The cloak passes over the chest and 1.
shoulder, covers the upper part of the back, and is gathered up over the
1. arm, which is bent at the elbow and supports a winged rtz^/r^z/y (lower
half of the shaft lost). The r. arm is slightly bent and stretched out,
holding a broken object, probably a purse. There is a y5z/72AAb on the
side of the 1. thigh. By the 1. leg is the trunk of a tree. From prove-
nance, apparently sepulchral (cf. Collignon, -SAzA^yyD/Hzzzh'y, pp, gig
sqq.).
Fair smooth copy from an original of the fourth century B. c.
Found outside Porta Angelica in the ruins of a tomb.
AAz/A 607/2. xv (1887), pp. 2g, 331, no. 4.
18. YOUTH WITH SWORD-BELT (pi. 30).
H. 1-08 m. Pentelic marble. Unrestored. Shoulders (made separately) have
been lost, exposing tooled surface, in the centre of which a large dowel-hole. Top
and back of head similarly tooled : in the latter two iron-hlled drill-holes.