DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14547#0030
18
mounds, crowned by Early Attic vases. And these mounds, if
only for protection against the denuding effects of the winter
rains, were bright with grass and flowers.
Such was the scene which must have been familiar to So-
lon the Lawgiver (born about 640 B. C), as he passed along
the road in his youth and early manhood. But towards the
turn of the century, he witnessed a new development: the first
great limestone or marble statues and reliefs appeared among
the vases and simple stones.
The practice was not invented in Athens. The Dorian
lands of mainland Greece and Crete have provided older
works of this kind; and we may assume the same for islands
like Naxos and Paros, rich in marble and in early sculptors.
But in Attica, the Kerameikos took the lead. Remains of two
late seventh century limestone stelce—as the Greeks called
such flat slabs—and the stepped stone base for a pillar or statue
were discovered in Mr. Oberlaender's time, both the oldest of
their kind. And the same is true of a few marbles: a sphinx,
a primitive seated statue, and one of those standing nude
youths which we call kouroi (young men), so characteristic
of the sixth century. The type is well known to all visitors of
the Archaic Room in the Metropolitan Museum, from the
splendid specimen there. The head of the Kerameikos kou-
ros, larger than life, was discovered in 1916, a hand belonging
Plate to the same statue came to light in 1927.4 To these early sculp-
17a tures we may add the upper part of a lion of the greyish-
brown limestone the Greeks call poros, the first in the long
series of Attic lions guarding tombs. Here again, Corinth
and Corfu, Dorian regions, have provided specimens that
are earlier by a few decades.
4) See Buschor, A. M. 52, 1927, pp. 205 ff. 55, 1930, pp. 163 ff. and G.
Rodenwaldt, A. A. 1935, pp. 359 ff. Beilage 3-5. The New York kouros has been
admirably published by Gisela M. A. Richter in Metropolitan Museum Studies
V, 1934 pp. 20 ff. and in Brunn-Bruckmann, Denkmaeler, Nos. 751-55, as well
as in her forthcoming comprehensive book on the kouroi, of which she has
kindly sent me proof sheets, under No. 1, pp. 63 ff., Pis. 6-8. The Dipylon head
and hand under No. 6, pp. 73 ff., Pis. 14, 20.
mounds, crowned by Early Attic vases. And these mounds, if
only for protection against the denuding effects of the winter
rains, were bright with grass and flowers.
Such was the scene which must have been familiar to So-
lon the Lawgiver (born about 640 B. C), as he passed along
the road in his youth and early manhood. But towards the
turn of the century, he witnessed a new development: the first
great limestone or marble statues and reliefs appeared among
the vases and simple stones.
The practice was not invented in Athens. The Dorian
lands of mainland Greece and Crete have provided older
works of this kind; and we may assume the same for islands
like Naxos and Paros, rich in marble and in early sculptors.
But in Attica, the Kerameikos took the lead. Remains of two
late seventh century limestone stelce—as the Greeks called
such flat slabs—and the stepped stone base for a pillar or statue
were discovered in Mr. Oberlaender's time, both the oldest of
their kind. And the same is true of a few marbles: a sphinx,
a primitive seated statue, and one of those standing nude
youths which we call kouroi (young men), so characteristic
of the sixth century. The type is well known to all visitors of
the Archaic Room in the Metropolitan Museum, from the
splendid specimen there. The head of the Kerameikos kou-
ros, larger than life, was discovered in 1916, a hand belonging
Plate to the same statue came to light in 1927.4 To these early sculp-
17a tures we may add the upper part of a lion of the greyish-
brown limestone the Greeks call poros, the first in the long
series of Attic lions guarding tombs. Here again, Corinth
and Corfu, Dorian regions, have provided specimens that
are earlier by a few decades.
4) See Buschor, A. M. 52, 1927, pp. 205 ff. 55, 1930, pp. 163 ff. and G.
Rodenwaldt, A. A. 1935, pp. 359 ff. Beilage 3-5. The New York kouros has been
admirably published by Gisela M. A. Richter in Metropolitan Museum Studies
V, 1934 pp. 20 ff. and in Brunn-Bruckmann, Denkmaeler, Nos. 751-55, as well
as in her forthcoming comprehensive book on the kouroi, of which she has
kindly sent me proof sheets, under No. 1, pp. 63 ff., Pis. 6-8. The Dipylon head
and hand under No. 6, pp. 73 ff., Pis. 14, 20.