DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0432
THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
distant horizon, knotty oaks making up the foreground. In 1812 excavations
were made on this glorious spot by the discoverers of the ^Egina marbles; and
pieces of the great temple-statue, as well as much of the sculptural decoration
of the building itself, were brought to light.?63 The marbles were afterwards
bought by the British Museum for sixty thousand piasters.
Of the great temple-statue of Apollo Epicurios, only parts of the hands
and feet in marble were found, suggesting the possibility that the statue was
an acrolith, of which the wooden framework of the body must have perished.
This statue occupied the end of a chapel adjoining the cclla, unlike any thing
in other known Greek temples. The temple itself strangely faced the north ;
but this chapel adjoining it, and opening into the cclla, like all other shrines,
faced the east, where it had an entrance opposite to the sacred image of
Apollo. This temple, of the Doric order, by Ictinos, was richly adorned,
Fig. 179. A Part of the Amazon Frieze from the Interior of Temple to Apollo at Bassai near Phigaleia.
British Museum.
having sculptured metopes on its front and rear. These are so sadly ruined,
that their subjects can no longer be recognized ; but the fragments show a skill
superior to that manifested in the much better preserved frieze. The pedi-
ments seem to have had no sculptures ; but in the interior of the cclla, sur-
rounding its four walls, above Ionic semi-columns, ran a narrow frieze .76
centimeters high (2i feet), and elevated 6.86 meters (22J feet) from the floor,
and consisting of twenty-three slabs, having a total length of nearly 31 meters
(101 feet, 3 inches). This complete frieze is carved in a yellowish-gray coarse-
grained marble, thought to be from the neighborhood. It is not arranged in
the British Museum exactly as it stood in the temple, as recent studies by
Ivanoff and Lange of certain technical peculiarities have shown.?64 Here were
represented, in unequal lengths, two great mythic combats, the contest of
Greeks with centaurs being somewhat shorter than that with the Amazons.
Between the two appeared Apollo the deliverer himself, drawing his bow at
the wild centaur hosts in front of him, towards whom he hastened mounted on
a chariot drawn by deer, and guided by his sister Artemis. This slab, it has
distant horizon, knotty oaks making up the foreground. In 1812 excavations
were made on this glorious spot by the discoverers of the ^Egina marbles; and
pieces of the great temple-statue, as well as much of the sculptural decoration
of the building itself, were brought to light.?63 The marbles were afterwards
bought by the British Museum for sixty thousand piasters.
Of the great temple-statue of Apollo Epicurios, only parts of the hands
and feet in marble were found, suggesting the possibility that the statue was
an acrolith, of which the wooden framework of the body must have perished.
This statue occupied the end of a chapel adjoining the cclla, unlike any thing
in other known Greek temples. The temple itself strangely faced the north ;
but this chapel adjoining it, and opening into the cclla, like all other shrines,
faced the east, where it had an entrance opposite to the sacred image of
Apollo. This temple, of the Doric order, by Ictinos, was richly adorned,
Fig. 179. A Part of the Amazon Frieze from the Interior of Temple to Apollo at Bassai near Phigaleia.
British Museum.
having sculptured metopes on its front and rear. These are so sadly ruined,
that their subjects can no longer be recognized ; but the fragments show a skill
superior to that manifested in the much better preserved frieze. The pedi-
ments seem to have had no sculptures ; but in the interior of the cclla, sur-
rounding its four walls, above Ionic semi-columns, ran a narrow frieze .76
centimeters high (2i feet), and elevated 6.86 meters (22J feet) from the floor,
and consisting of twenty-three slabs, having a total length of nearly 31 meters
(101 feet, 3 inches). This complete frieze is carved in a yellowish-gray coarse-
grained marble, thought to be from the neighborhood. It is not arranged in
the British Museum exactly as it stood in the temple, as recent studies by
Ivanoff and Lange of certain technical peculiarities have shown.?64 Here were
represented, in unequal lengths, two great mythic combats, the contest of
Greeks with centaurs being somewhat shorter than that with the Amazons.
Between the two appeared Apollo the deliverer himself, drawing his bow at
the wild centaur hosts in front of him, towards whom he hastened mounted on
a chariot drawn by deer, and guided by his sister Artemis. This slab, it has