DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0316
CHAPTER XVI.
ADVANCED ARCHAIC SCULPTURE {concluded).—ATTICA.
Prominence of Attica. — Character of its Population. — National Customs, etc. — Influence of these on
Art. — Themistocles. — Kimon. — Polygnotos. — Statues of Tyrant-slayers. — Critios and Nesiotes.
— llegias. — Notices of Artistic Activity. — Existing Monuments. — Relief of Charioteer mounting
Chariot. — Relief of Hermes Criophoros. — Calamis and his Works. — Myron and his Works.—
His Marsyas. — His Animals.— Myron's Cow. — The Discobolos. — The Athlete dropping Oil.—
Athlete of the Vatican. — General Characteristics of the Art of this Period.
The interest of this fifth century culminates in Attica. During the Persian
war, Athens had been the stronghold of patriotism. Athenians had fortified
their city, and fallen on many battle-fields; while other states had lingered in
the background, or fraternized with the enemy. It is not strange, then, that
Athens reaped in time the richest harvest, and that the Attic state, although
overrun, plundered, and twice burned, by the Persians, during the early part
of the fifth century, was the seat of an artistic activity which should surpass
that of its senior sisters of the Peloponnesos. From time immemorial the
Ionian Athenians had, unlike the exclusive Spartans, hospitably received all
new-comers, whether from the Peloponnesos, or Ionia in the East. Thus fresh
life was poured into the state, and its civilization became a rich blossom of all
that had gone before. The banished nobility of other states, the cream of the
people, had been welcomed here; and, intermingling with the old Athenian aris-
tocracy, these independent and more experienced families had formed a happy
union with the old, native, conservative stock. From such union sprang men
like Pericles and Alkibiades ; and to this spirit was due the broad, generous
policy so strongly contrasted to that of their exclusively mercantile neighbor
Corinth, and the narrow-minded peoples of other parts of the Peloponnesos. A
wise ordering of the state, and great regard for public and private duty, had pre-
pared the Athenians for the stern ordeal of the Persian war, and brought them
.successfully through it. Children had been taught that obedience was a
religious duty ; and parents and guardians who neglected the children's wel-
fare were called to account before the Areopagus, and subjected to public
dishonor. The physical well-being of the youth was cared for by daily exer-
cise in the palastra and gymnasium, in which generations of robust, beauti-
ful, and well-trained men were reared. Soul and mind were moulded by the
283
ADVANCED ARCHAIC SCULPTURE {concluded).—ATTICA.
Prominence of Attica. — Character of its Population. — National Customs, etc. — Influence of these on
Art. — Themistocles. — Kimon. — Polygnotos. — Statues of Tyrant-slayers. — Critios and Nesiotes.
— llegias. — Notices of Artistic Activity. — Existing Monuments. — Relief of Charioteer mounting
Chariot. — Relief of Hermes Criophoros. — Calamis and his Works. — Myron and his Works.—
His Marsyas. — His Animals.— Myron's Cow. — The Discobolos. — The Athlete dropping Oil.—
Athlete of the Vatican. — General Characteristics of the Art of this Period.
The interest of this fifth century culminates in Attica. During the Persian
war, Athens had been the stronghold of patriotism. Athenians had fortified
their city, and fallen on many battle-fields; while other states had lingered in
the background, or fraternized with the enemy. It is not strange, then, that
Athens reaped in time the richest harvest, and that the Attic state, although
overrun, plundered, and twice burned, by the Persians, during the early part
of the fifth century, was the seat of an artistic activity which should surpass
that of its senior sisters of the Peloponnesos. From time immemorial the
Ionian Athenians had, unlike the exclusive Spartans, hospitably received all
new-comers, whether from the Peloponnesos, or Ionia in the East. Thus fresh
life was poured into the state, and its civilization became a rich blossom of all
that had gone before. The banished nobility of other states, the cream of the
people, had been welcomed here; and, intermingling with the old Athenian aris-
tocracy, these independent and more experienced families had formed a happy
union with the old, native, conservative stock. From such union sprang men
like Pericles and Alkibiades ; and to this spirit was due the broad, generous
policy so strongly contrasted to that of their exclusively mercantile neighbor
Corinth, and the narrow-minded peoples of other parts of the Peloponnesos. A
wise ordering of the state, and great regard for public and private duty, had pre-
pared the Athenians for the stern ordeal of the Persian war, and brought them
.successfully through it. Children had been taught that obedience was a
religious duty ; and parents and guardians who neglected the children's wel-
fare were called to account before the Areopagus, and subjected to public
dishonor. The physical well-being of the youth was cared for by daily exer-
cise in the palastra and gymnasium, in which generations of robust, beauti-
ful, and well-trained men were reared. Soul and mind were moulded by the
283