DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0284
CANACHOS' APOLLO. 251
mis of Arcadia, who distinguished himself in the service of Gelon and Hieron
of Syracuse, and gathered such great riches that he also could erect statues of
thanks at Olympia, Dionysios executed a horse and groom, which accompanied
others by Simon of /Egina; but, according to Pausanias, Dionysios' horse was
smaller and less imposing than the others, although the most lifelike.43s From
this scanty literary material we learn that the sculptors of Argos worked exclu-
sively in bronze, executing mainly athletes, horses, and charioteers, and that their
works were sought for, even by the people of far-off lands. But no such noble
monument as the /Eginetan marbles has been found in their land ; and, with a
sense of very fragmentary knowledge, we turn northward to Sikyon, the twin-
sister of Argos, and not far removed from Corinth.
Here also, as we have seen, the foreign masters, Dipoinos and Skyllis,
had worked ; but the first names of native masters that meet us are of two
brothers, Canachos and Aristocles. They were contemporaries of Gallon of
/Egina, and of Ageladas of Argos, as appears from their works, and from the
fact that these men are mentioned together by the ancients. Their activity
thus falls in the latter part of the sixth and earlier decades of the fifth cen-
tury.439 Canachos, the more celebrated of the brothers, seems to have worked
in gold, ivory, and wood, as well as bronze, and possibly in marble. Pliny tells
us that the material which he used was the/Eginetan bronze.4-)° His works,
so far as known, consisted of boys on race-horses (celetizontes pueri), a muse
grouped with two others by Ageladas and his brother Aristocles, two statues
of Apollo, and an Aphrodite.441 The latter, seen by Pausanias in Corinth, was
of gold and ivory, and seated in the old style. The goddess was crowned
with the polos, and bore in her hands her attributes,—-poppy-blossoms and the
apple. In Thebes was a wooden figure by this master, representing the Is-
menian Apollo, in size and pose exactly like a colossal Apollo by him in far-off
Ionia. This latter statue in bronze, and by far the most celebrated work by
Canachos, was carried off from the very ancient shrine of the Branchidae, near
Miletos, by the Persians under Darius, but was returned by Scleucos Nicator
at a much later date. Like most works in bronze, so tempting to the avarice
of later generations, this colossus has disappeared ; and only late coins from
Miletos, bearing an image of the great temple-deity, furnish us with an idea of
the pose of Canachos' Apollo.442 According to these, the god stood erect, with
arms advanced from the elbow, and holding in either hand a symbol,—a deer
and a bow ; thus following the type we have seen illustrated in the Naxos and
Delos colossi, the small Naxos statue of the Berlin Museum (Fig. 90), and the
ancient temple-image at Delos by Tectaios and Angelion. A small bronze in
the British Museum represents the god with the deer in one hand, the attri-
bute given him by Canachos; but the work is clearly that of a late imita-
tor. 443 The Roman works in marble, supposed imitations of Canachos, such
as one in the Vatican, and another in Paris, are so dissimilar, and so full of the
mis of Arcadia, who distinguished himself in the service of Gelon and Hieron
of Syracuse, and gathered such great riches that he also could erect statues of
thanks at Olympia, Dionysios executed a horse and groom, which accompanied
others by Simon of /Egina; but, according to Pausanias, Dionysios' horse was
smaller and less imposing than the others, although the most lifelike.43s From
this scanty literary material we learn that the sculptors of Argos worked exclu-
sively in bronze, executing mainly athletes, horses, and charioteers, and that their
works were sought for, even by the people of far-off lands. But no such noble
monument as the /Eginetan marbles has been found in their land ; and, with a
sense of very fragmentary knowledge, we turn northward to Sikyon, the twin-
sister of Argos, and not far removed from Corinth.
Here also, as we have seen, the foreign masters, Dipoinos and Skyllis,
had worked ; but the first names of native masters that meet us are of two
brothers, Canachos and Aristocles. They were contemporaries of Gallon of
/Egina, and of Ageladas of Argos, as appears from their works, and from the
fact that these men are mentioned together by the ancients. Their activity
thus falls in the latter part of the sixth and earlier decades of the fifth cen-
tury.439 Canachos, the more celebrated of the brothers, seems to have worked
in gold, ivory, and wood, as well as bronze, and possibly in marble. Pliny tells
us that the material which he used was the/Eginetan bronze.4-)° His works,
so far as known, consisted of boys on race-horses (celetizontes pueri), a muse
grouped with two others by Ageladas and his brother Aristocles, two statues
of Apollo, and an Aphrodite.441 The latter, seen by Pausanias in Corinth, was
of gold and ivory, and seated in the old style. The goddess was crowned
with the polos, and bore in her hands her attributes,—-poppy-blossoms and the
apple. In Thebes was a wooden figure by this master, representing the Is-
menian Apollo, in size and pose exactly like a colossal Apollo by him in far-off
Ionia. This latter statue in bronze, and by far the most celebrated work by
Canachos, was carried off from the very ancient shrine of the Branchidae, near
Miletos, by the Persians under Darius, but was returned by Scleucos Nicator
at a much later date. Like most works in bronze, so tempting to the avarice
of later generations, this colossus has disappeared ; and only late coins from
Miletos, bearing an image of the great temple-deity, furnish us with an idea of
the pose of Canachos' Apollo.442 According to these, the god stood erect, with
arms advanced from the elbow, and holding in either hand a symbol,—a deer
and a bow ; thus following the type we have seen illustrated in the Naxos and
Delos colossi, the small Naxos statue of the Berlin Museum (Fig. 90), and the
ancient temple-image at Delos by Tectaios and Angelion. A small bronze in
the British Museum represents the god with the deer in one hand, the attri-
bute given him by Canachos; but the work is clearly that of a late imita-
tor. 443 The Roman works in marble, supposed imitations of Canachos, such
as one in the Vatican, and another in Paris, are so dissimilar, and so full of the