DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0580
544 THE HELLENISTIC AGE OF SCULPTURE.
the rank of an independent study, wielding an influence, as monuments seem
to show, on artists and art. The poets, dwelling upon the themes handed
down, elaborated them according to the new taste, sometimes emphatically
reflective, as in the idyl, and often verging on to the fantastic ; and so in art
the reflective element and the influence of a wild fantasy became prominent.
The great striving of the age to grasp reality, commencing with Aristotle in
science, showed itself in history, which was now no longer satisfied with great
general facts. When Xenophon of an older day described an historical person,
he mentioned only what was essential to his character; but now the historian's
passion was to add vividness to his picture by descriptions of personal appear-
ance, clothing, and habits. In like spirit the sculptors of this age represented
men just as they lived and walked among them, giving characteristics of form
and face with startling force and realism, quite different from the ideal gener-
alizations of their predecessors, who, to use Pliny's phrase, had made "noble
men nobler." Moreover, the closer intercourse of the nations, while it aroused
a feeling of brotherhood, must now have also awakened a keener sense of the
differences of race, and of national peculiarities. The sharp distinction between
Greek and barbarian, marking the older and more exclusive time, now disap-
pearing, the Greeks recognized many admirable traits in those they had once
despised. They were now, more than ever before, open to influences from the
Orient. Thus, even at the court of Demetrios Poliorketes, a semi-Hellenic,
semi-Oriental etiquette was introduced. The products of Oriental art were
eagerly sought after, as we learn from literary sources, and from Oriental
remains in Greek graves, such as those found in the tomb of a Greek lady in
Southern Russia. I073a Although Oriental art exercised much influence on
Greek drapery and minor decoration, as appears from vase-paintings, it seems
to have little affected sculpture directly, except, perhaps, in rousing it to more
fantastic combinations, as well as to more splendid undertakings.
The wide-spread luxuriousness of this time, and its monumental spirit, are
attested, not only by the size and magnificence of the few enduring monuments
existing, but also by the accounts of the lavishness with which art was applied
to beautify ephemeral public celebrations. In this, Alexander had set the
fashion in piling up a mountain of art to be the funeral pyre of his beloved
Hephaistion.,°/'4 Ten thousand talents were set apart for this purpose ; and an
additional two thousand were contributed by friends, high dignitaries, and the
Babylonians. A part of the wall of Babylon was torn down to furnish material
for the structure, which arose in five terraces to a height of two hundred feet.
The whole gleamed with gold, purple cloth, decorative paintings, and statuary.
Here were to be seen, about the lowest terrace, two hundred and forty golden
prows, upon each of which stood a colossal statue of an armed warrior between
two kneeling archers, conceived, doubtless, as in contest. Besides, the colossal
structure was decorated with a battle of centaurs, scenes of actual warfare,
the rank of an independent study, wielding an influence, as monuments seem
to show, on artists and art. The poets, dwelling upon the themes handed
down, elaborated them according to the new taste, sometimes emphatically
reflective, as in the idyl, and often verging on to the fantastic ; and so in art
the reflective element and the influence of a wild fantasy became prominent.
The great striving of the age to grasp reality, commencing with Aristotle in
science, showed itself in history, which was now no longer satisfied with great
general facts. When Xenophon of an older day described an historical person,
he mentioned only what was essential to his character; but now the historian's
passion was to add vividness to his picture by descriptions of personal appear-
ance, clothing, and habits. In like spirit the sculptors of this age represented
men just as they lived and walked among them, giving characteristics of form
and face with startling force and realism, quite different from the ideal gener-
alizations of their predecessors, who, to use Pliny's phrase, had made "noble
men nobler." Moreover, the closer intercourse of the nations, while it aroused
a feeling of brotherhood, must now have also awakened a keener sense of the
differences of race, and of national peculiarities. The sharp distinction between
Greek and barbarian, marking the older and more exclusive time, now disap-
pearing, the Greeks recognized many admirable traits in those they had once
despised. They were now, more than ever before, open to influences from the
Orient. Thus, even at the court of Demetrios Poliorketes, a semi-Hellenic,
semi-Oriental etiquette was introduced. The products of Oriental art were
eagerly sought after, as we learn from literary sources, and from Oriental
remains in Greek graves, such as those found in the tomb of a Greek lady in
Southern Russia. I073a Although Oriental art exercised much influence on
Greek drapery and minor decoration, as appears from vase-paintings, it seems
to have little affected sculpture directly, except, perhaps, in rousing it to more
fantastic combinations, as well as to more splendid undertakings.
The wide-spread luxuriousness of this time, and its monumental spirit, are
attested, not only by the size and magnificence of the few enduring monuments
existing, but also by the accounts of the lavishness with which art was applied
to beautify ephemeral public celebrations. In this, Alexander had set the
fashion in piling up a mountain of art to be the funeral pyre of his beloved
Hephaistion.,°/'4 Ten thousand talents were set apart for this purpose ; and an
additional two thousand were contributed by friends, high dignitaries, and the
Babylonians. A part of the wall of Babylon was torn down to furnish material
for the structure, which arose in five terraces to a height of two hundred feet.
The whole gleamed with gold, purple cloth, decorative paintings, and statuary.
Here were to be seen, about the lowest terrace, two hundred and forty golden
prows, upon each of which stood a colossal statue of an armed warrior between
two kneeling archers, conceived, doubtless, as in contest. Besides, the colossal
structure was decorated with a battle of centaurs, scenes of actual warfare,