DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0424
390 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
Polycleitos represented twice, — once as a leader (Hagetet) seizing his weapons,
and, again, as fighting the Hydra./26 Of his statue of an Amazon we know
somewhat more. The story is, that statues of the Amazons were required for
the Temple of Artemis at Ephesos, that spot where the conquered heroines
had taken refuge in mythic ages, when hard pressed by Dionysos.w The
most celebrated artists came together with their statues, to select from among
them the best. According to Pliny's anecdote, each gave the preference to his
own work ; but, after that, all agreed first upon the Amazon by Polycleitos, —
the one by Pheidias taking the second, that of Cresilas the third, and that of
Phradmon the fourth place. Whatever credence may be given to this tradition,
it may contain a kernel of truth, indicating the superiority of Polycleitos' repre-
sentation of these masculine females. Several types of wounded and fatigued
Amazons, incorrectly restored, exist, which doubtless go back to celebrated
originals of the time of Pheidias and Polycleitos.?28 Among them three dis-
tinct types are evident, illustrated in statues in Rome, Berlin, and Paris. One
represents an Amazon, who wears a large mantle, and seems to be staying the
blood trickling from her wounded breast, with one end of her chiton caught up
in the left hand. Her head is dropped slightly; and the arm, restored as
raised, should, according to a gem now in Paris, be resting on a long spear,
which supports the unhappy, conquered woman. The second type shows us,
not a wounded, but a wearied, Amazon. She stands resting, with the right
hand on some object, now gone, possibly her battle-axe; while her left is placed
on her head, in the attitude so often employed to express repose in Greek art.
This type wears no mantle, and has the chiton symmetrically arranged about
the limbs, as represented in statues of the Vatican and Berlin museums. As
a combination of these two types may be regarded those statues in which the
wound is retained, and the arm rests on a pillar-like support. The third type,
showing more elaborate treatment than either of the others, is as yet not
thoroughly explained; since no replica is preserved with original arms and
head. Its best known representative is the Amazon of the Vatican, once
owned by the family Mattei. Of these three types, the one of the wearied
Amazon, and its variations in the Braccio Nuovo and Berlin Museum (Fig. 178),
corresponds most closely with the style of Polycleitos, as seen by comparing
the face, pose of legs, and breadth of chest, with the Doryphoros replicas. But
all these statues have so much of the copyist's arbitrariness, and have been
so much tampered with, that they can be but cloudy suggestions of Polycleitos'
original, which won the prize over the work of all his contemporaries.
Only two representations of gods are recorded as the work of this master, —
one a Hermes, said to have been originally in Lysimachia; and the other a statue
of Hera in gold and ivory for her temple on Mount Euboia729 This very
ancient shrine to the great Argive goddess, lying but a few stadia removed
from Mykene, fell a prey to the flames in 423 B.C.: the wreaths taking fire
Polycleitos represented twice, — once as a leader (Hagetet) seizing his weapons,
and, again, as fighting the Hydra./26 Of his statue of an Amazon we know
somewhat more. The story is, that statues of the Amazons were required for
the Temple of Artemis at Ephesos, that spot where the conquered heroines
had taken refuge in mythic ages, when hard pressed by Dionysos.w The
most celebrated artists came together with their statues, to select from among
them the best. According to Pliny's anecdote, each gave the preference to his
own work ; but, after that, all agreed first upon the Amazon by Polycleitos, —
the one by Pheidias taking the second, that of Cresilas the third, and that of
Phradmon the fourth place. Whatever credence may be given to this tradition,
it may contain a kernel of truth, indicating the superiority of Polycleitos' repre-
sentation of these masculine females. Several types of wounded and fatigued
Amazons, incorrectly restored, exist, which doubtless go back to celebrated
originals of the time of Pheidias and Polycleitos.?28 Among them three dis-
tinct types are evident, illustrated in statues in Rome, Berlin, and Paris. One
represents an Amazon, who wears a large mantle, and seems to be staying the
blood trickling from her wounded breast, with one end of her chiton caught up
in the left hand. Her head is dropped slightly; and the arm, restored as
raised, should, according to a gem now in Paris, be resting on a long spear,
which supports the unhappy, conquered woman. The second type shows us,
not a wounded, but a wearied, Amazon. She stands resting, with the right
hand on some object, now gone, possibly her battle-axe; while her left is placed
on her head, in the attitude so often employed to express repose in Greek art.
This type wears no mantle, and has the chiton symmetrically arranged about
the limbs, as represented in statues of the Vatican and Berlin museums. As
a combination of these two types may be regarded those statues in which the
wound is retained, and the arm rests on a pillar-like support. The third type,
showing more elaborate treatment than either of the others, is as yet not
thoroughly explained; since no replica is preserved with original arms and
head. Its best known representative is the Amazon of the Vatican, once
owned by the family Mattei. Of these three types, the one of the wearied
Amazon, and its variations in the Braccio Nuovo and Berlin Museum (Fig. 178),
corresponds most closely with the style of Polycleitos, as seen by comparing
the face, pose of legs, and breadth of chest, with the Doryphoros replicas. But
all these statues have so much of the copyist's arbitrariness, and have been
so much tampered with, that they can be but cloudy suggestions of Polycleitos'
original, which won the prize over the work of all his contemporaries.
Only two representations of gods are recorded as the work of this master, —
one a Hermes, said to have been originally in Lysimachia; and the other a statue
of Hera in gold and ivory for her temple on Mount Euboia729 This very
ancient shrine to the great Argive goddess, lying but a few stadia removed
from Mykene, fell a prey to the flames in 423 B.C.: the wreaths taking fire