DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0556
DAMOPHON OF MESSENE. 521
Athena at Tegea was renewed with great outlay, and a costly votive offering
of many bronze figures sent to Delphi. But it is noteworthy, that, in all
this artistic activity in Arcadia, artists of the Attic school, Kephisodotos,
Praxiteles, Scopas, and others, as we have seen, were employed, besides
many sculptors of less fame of the Argos-Sikyon school. Of native talent,
but one master alone is mentioned, Samolas by name, engaged with Argos
masters in executing for Tegea the bronze votive offering of nine figures for
Delphi (p. 397).
But, besides Arcadia, its neighboring state Messene also enjoyed great
political prosperity at this time, offering sculptors many opportunities for exer-
cising their powers. Its brave and warlike people, in order to escape servitude
to Sparta, had been obliged to leave their homes, and find refuge in Sicily,
Italy, and Africa; but recalled by Epaminondas, and protected by Thebes, they
returned to their homes and sacred places. In 369 B.C. their capital Messene
sprang into existence as if by magic. Other cities — Pylos, Eira, Methonc —
were rebuilt; and their ruined battlements still exist to tell the story of this
activity. We learn that the sculptures of one Damophon abounded in the
shrines of his native town Messene, and in the neighboring Megalopolis. His
activity must, consequently, have fallen soon after the building of these cities.
In Messene were several works ascribed to this master, —a remarkable figure
of the mother of the gods; an Artemis Laphria represented as huntress ; an
Asclepios with his children ; an Apollo ; the Muses ; a Heracles; an Artemis
Phosphoros ; a Tyche ; and a figure of Thebes, doubtless put up in commemo-
ration of the help received from that city.I04' All these were in marble,—a
material, as we have seen, not used by the great Argive-Sikyon sculptors.
Megalopolis also teemed with the works of Damophon, who alone of the Mes-
senians, according to Pausanias, made worthily the statues of the gods, among
which were Core, Asclepios, Hygieia, Hermes, Aphrodite, and many others.10-*2
Of these, some were in marble, and others were acroliths, in which the main
part was of wood, but the extremities of stone. The same was true of Damo-
phon's statues of Eilytheia in Aigion, on the Gulf of Corinth, executed, it is
presumed, while he and his countrymen were in exile there. I043 Not a single
work in bronze, the favorite material of Argos-Sikyon masters, is mentioned
as by him ; but that he was skilful in the use of gold and ivory appears from
his having repaired Pheidias' Olympic Zeus to the perfect satisfaction of the
people of Elis, who, in consequence, heaped honors upon him.I0-»4 His frequent
creation of acrolithic statues, in which the gilded wood and white marble were
doubtless intended to take the place of the gold and ivory of expensive chrys-
elephantine statues, seems, moreover, to indicate, that, as far as was in his
power, he kept up the traditional method of representing the gods, to which
these imitations must have come nearer than the bronze figures of Argos and
of Sikyon, or those in marble of contemporary Attica. I0-»5 Damophon'S reli-
Athena at Tegea was renewed with great outlay, and a costly votive offering
of many bronze figures sent to Delphi. But it is noteworthy, that, in all
this artistic activity in Arcadia, artists of the Attic school, Kephisodotos,
Praxiteles, Scopas, and others, as we have seen, were employed, besides
many sculptors of less fame of the Argos-Sikyon school. Of native talent,
but one master alone is mentioned, Samolas by name, engaged with Argos
masters in executing for Tegea the bronze votive offering of nine figures for
Delphi (p. 397).
But, besides Arcadia, its neighboring state Messene also enjoyed great
political prosperity at this time, offering sculptors many opportunities for exer-
cising their powers. Its brave and warlike people, in order to escape servitude
to Sparta, had been obliged to leave their homes, and find refuge in Sicily,
Italy, and Africa; but recalled by Epaminondas, and protected by Thebes, they
returned to their homes and sacred places. In 369 B.C. their capital Messene
sprang into existence as if by magic. Other cities — Pylos, Eira, Methonc —
were rebuilt; and their ruined battlements still exist to tell the story of this
activity. We learn that the sculptures of one Damophon abounded in the
shrines of his native town Messene, and in the neighboring Megalopolis. His
activity must, consequently, have fallen soon after the building of these cities.
In Messene were several works ascribed to this master, —a remarkable figure
of the mother of the gods; an Artemis Laphria represented as huntress ; an
Asclepios with his children ; an Apollo ; the Muses ; a Heracles; an Artemis
Phosphoros ; a Tyche ; and a figure of Thebes, doubtless put up in commemo-
ration of the help received from that city.I04' All these were in marble,—a
material, as we have seen, not used by the great Argive-Sikyon sculptors.
Megalopolis also teemed with the works of Damophon, who alone of the Mes-
senians, according to Pausanias, made worthily the statues of the gods, among
which were Core, Asclepios, Hygieia, Hermes, Aphrodite, and many others.10-*2
Of these, some were in marble, and others were acroliths, in which the main
part was of wood, but the extremities of stone. The same was true of Damo-
phon's statues of Eilytheia in Aigion, on the Gulf of Corinth, executed, it is
presumed, while he and his countrymen were in exile there. I043 Not a single
work in bronze, the favorite material of Argos-Sikyon masters, is mentioned
as by him ; but that he was skilful in the use of gold and ivory appears from
his having repaired Pheidias' Olympic Zeus to the perfect satisfaction of the
people of Elis, who, in consequence, heaped honors upon him.I0-»4 His frequent
creation of acrolithic statues, in which the gilded wood and white marble were
doubtless intended to take the place of the gold and ivory of expensive chrys-
elephantine statues, seems, moreover, to indicate, that, as far as was in his
power, he kept up the traditional method of representing the gods, to which
these imitations must have come nearer than the bronze figures of Argos and
of Sikyon, or those in marble of contemporary Attica. I0-»5 Damophon'S reli-