DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0592
556 THE HELLENISTIC AGE OF SCULPTURE.
Polybios, who won the, gratitude of his countrymen for the pacifying part he
played in the troublous times after the destruction of Corinth, 146 B.C."°8
Pausanias speaks of four honorary monuments put up to him by the Arcadians ;
and this one forms a fifth, which, on account of its certain date, site of execu-
tion, and general pose and style, is of great importance in helping to fill up the
yawning gap in the monuments from Greece, for the second century B.C. Its
artistic rendering, as might be expected, is feeble when compared, not only with
sculptures of earlier days in Greece, but also with contemporary monuments
from Pergamon ; although the armor is that of the Hellenistic age. The relief,
in general, seems a link between that time and the coming Roman period,
which it especially resembles in the treatment of the beardless face. The ges-
ture of the raised right arm, besides, offers proof that the Romans followed a
Greek original in their representations of the emperor, as general-in-chief,
addressing his army (adlocutid).
In Northern Greece, the Macedonian court must have patronized sculpture
more or less, but in what direction we do not know. Pyrrhos of Epeiros, as
Polybios tells us, owned great collections at Ambrakia; but of them he gives us
only a most summary notice. II09 In honor of the repulse of the Galatians be-
fore Delphi, numerous thank-offerings, according to Pausanias, were put up to
Apollo and to Artemis.
Bronze statuettes, bearing the stamp of this age, have been found together
in numbers in Paramythia in Epeiros ; but of marbles from that part, we, as
yet, have none. These bronzes, numbering twenty or more, and representing
different gods, were found in a cave ; but are now widely scattered in different
museums, the British Museum owning not a few, and others being in St. Peters-
burg. Their small heads and slender proportions mark them as belonging to
the age after Lysippos ; while their excellent workmanship, and rendering of
form, as well as grace of pose, indicate a date before the prevalence of Roman
dominion.
Should we cast a glance at the potter's graceful wares from this age, in
Greece itself, we should see that many were executed of exquisite bearing, but
of growing luxury and softness. Many are found in Corinth and Boeotia; and
many were exported from Attica to the Crimea, where they are always in
strong contrast to the barbarous imitative Scythian work. But this field of the
minor arts is altogether too vast to be entered upon here, although, doubt-
less, to some degree, a reflex of the sculpture of the time, and calculated to
throw light upon its spirit.
Taking it all in all, Greece itself is exceedingly poor in large existing monu-
ments from this late stage of its history; although we know that the rulers of
the Hellenistic age remembered its ancient shrines at Olympia, Delphi, and
Athens. There is one shrine on a neighboring island, however, which, during
Polybios, who won the, gratitude of his countrymen for the pacifying part he
played in the troublous times after the destruction of Corinth, 146 B.C."°8
Pausanias speaks of four honorary monuments put up to him by the Arcadians ;
and this one forms a fifth, which, on account of its certain date, site of execu-
tion, and general pose and style, is of great importance in helping to fill up the
yawning gap in the monuments from Greece, for the second century B.C. Its
artistic rendering, as might be expected, is feeble when compared, not only with
sculptures of earlier days in Greece, but also with contemporary monuments
from Pergamon ; although the armor is that of the Hellenistic age. The relief,
in general, seems a link between that time and the coming Roman period,
which it especially resembles in the treatment of the beardless face. The ges-
ture of the raised right arm, besides, offers proof that the Romans followed a
Greek original in their representations of the emperor, as general-in-chief,
addressing his army (adlocutid).
In Northern Greece, the Macedonian court must have patronized sculpture
more or less, but in what direction we do not know. Pyrrhos of Epeiros, as
Polybios tells us, owned great collections at Ambrakia; but of them he gives us
only a most summary notice. II09 In honor of the repulse of the Galatians be-
fore Delphi, numerous thank-offerings, according to Pausanias, were put up to
Apollo and to Artemis.
Bronze statuettes, bearing the stamp of this age, have been found together
in numbers in Paramythia in Epeiros ; but of marbles from that part, we, as
yet, have none. These bronzes, numbering twenty or more, and representing
different gods, were found in a cave ; but are now widely scattered in different
museums, the British Museum owning not a few, and others being in St. Peters-
burg. Their small heads and slender proportions mark them as belonging to
the age after Lysippos ; while their excellent workmanship, and rendering of
form, as well as grace of pose, indicate a date before the prevalence of Roman
dominion.
Should we cast a glance at the potter's graceful wares from this age, in
Greece itself, we should see that many were executed of exquisite bearing, but
of growing luxury and softness. Many are found in Corinth and Boeotia; and
many were exported from Attica to the Crimea, where they are always in
strong contrast to the barbarous imitative Scythian work. But this field of the
minor arts is altogether too vast to be entered upon here, although, doubt-
less, to some degree, a reflex of the sculpture of the time, and calculated to
throw light upon its spirit.
Taking it all in all, Greece itself is exceedingly poor in large existing monu-
ments from this late stage of its history; although we know that the rulers of
the Hellenistic age remembered its ancient shrines at Olympia, Delphi, and
Athens. There is one shrine on a neighboring island, however, which, during