DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0593
THE SHRINES AT SAMOTHRAKE. 557
this age, came to enjoy a great significance, and has, fortunately, been so
admirably explored by the Austrians, that we may form a very vivid picture of
its artistic ensemble, and of the part that sculpture now played.1110 This is the
sacred island of Samothrake, its rocky cliffs facing the shores of Thrace, and
separated from them by a stormy sea, swept by the north-winds which rush up
the island valley in the midst of these cliffs. Cyclopean walls, in admirable
preservation, testify to the antiquity of these revered seats ; and fragments of
a small Doric temple in stone, with very archaic painted forms and bronze
ornaments, show the existence of a humble shrine in the depths of the sacred
valley in the fifth century B.C.11" Although, in the following age, this
ancient temple seems to have been supplanted by a more luxurious marble
structure of the Ionic order, for which Scopas doubtless worked, it was not
until the third century B.C., when the island had sheltered royal refugees,
that it enjoyed greatest prosperity by reason of its right of asylum. Crowds
gathered, from different parts of the ancient world, to its sacred mysteries;
numerous temples were built to its gods, by grateful princes and princesses ;
and sculptured monuments were put up in thanks for victory. Could we
picture to ourselves the valley, as it then appeared to the stranger approach-
ing from the sea, with its wealth of architecture and sculpture glistening among
the verdure, how different the spectacle from its now bare ruins, scattered
marbles, and destructive lime-kilns, clinging like parasites to every site of
classic ruins ! First to attract attention would have been a building dedicated,
as its inscription teaches us, by Arsinoe, the unhappy wife of Ptolemy, to
the Great Gods. In the bottom of the ravine we should then have seen the
older temple of the fourth century, with its covered pit to receive the blood
of offering; and, close behind it, a more sumptuous new one, having a similar
sacred pit, and with pediments decorated with sculptures now in Vienna.11"
These sculptures show that bold, naturalistic treatment, combined with negli-
gent ease of pose, which we have come to recognize as among the striking fea-
tures of Hellenistic works. So fragmentary, however, are these marbles, that
their subjects can scarcely be divined. The drapery of one of these figures,
in rapid motion, consisting of a finely ribbed undergarment, brought out in
magnificent contrast to the heavier outer robes, is worthy to exist in sculpture
for its own intrinsic merit. The form it covers is probably Demeter, seeking
her lost daughter Persephone ; this goddess appearing thus on the coins of
Kyzicos, where the same cult existed as at Samothrake. IM3 Another graceful
figure, but seated, holds a large bunch of grapes, showing her relationship to
the worship of Dionysos, which in Samothrake was blended, after the manner
of Asia-Minor rites, with that of Kybele. To the left of these central temples,
in the sacred valley, we should have seen an imposing temple, built by Ptole-
my ; and to the right, but high above the rest, the stately colonnade of a
long Ionic stoa, which, doubtless, once was thronged with promenading wor-
this age, came to enjoy a great significance, and has, fortunately, been so
admirably explored by the Austrians, that we may form a very vivid picture of
its artistic ensemble, and of the part that sculpture now played.1110 This is the
sacred island of Samothrake, its rocky cliffs facing the shores of Thrace, and
separated from them by a stormy sea, swept by the north-winds which rush up
the island valley in the midst of these cliffs. Cyclopean walls, in admirable
preservation, testify to the antiquity of these revered seats ; and fragments of
a small Doric temple in stone, with very archaic painted forms and bronze
ornaments, show the existence of a humble shrine in the depths of the sacred
valley in the fifth century B.C.11" Although, in the following age, this
ancient temple seems to have been supplanted by a more luxurious marble
structure of the Ionic order, for which Scopas doubtless worked, it was not
until the third century B.C., when the island had sheltered royal refugees,
that it enjoyed greatest prosperity by reason of its right of asylum. Crowds
gathered, from different parts of the ancient world, to its sacred mysteries;
numerous temples were built to its gods, by grateful princes and princesses ;
and sculptured monuments were put up in thanks for victory. Could we
picture to ourselves the valley, as it then appeared to the stranger approach-
ing from the sea, with its wealth of architecture and sculpture glistening among
the verdure, how different the spectacle from its now bare ruins, scattered
marbles, and destructive lime-kilns, clinging like parasites to every site of
classic ruins ! First to attract attention would have been a building dedicated,
as its inscription teaches us, by Arsinoe, the unhappy wife of Ptolemy, to
the Great Gods. In the bottom of the ravine we should then have seen the
older temple of the fourth century, with its covered pit to receive the blood
of offering; and, close behind it, a more sumptuous new one, having a similar
sacred pit, and with pediments decorated with sculptures now in Vienna.11"
These sculptures show that bold, naturalistic treatment, combined with negli-
gent ease of pose, which we have come to recognize as among the striking fea-
tures of Hellenistic works. So fragmentary, however, are these marbles, that
their subjects can scarcely be divined. The drapery of one of these figures,
in rapid motion, consisting of a finely ribbed undergarment, brought out in
magnificent contrast to the heavier outer robes, is worthy to exist in sculpture
for its own intrinsic merit. The form it covers is probably Demeter, seeking
her lost daughter Persephone ; this goddess appearing thus on the coins of
Kyzicos, where the same cult existed as at Samothrake. IM3 Another graceful
figure, but seated, holds a large bunch of grapes, showing her relationship to
the worship of Dionysos, which in Samothrake was blended, after the manner
of Asia-Minor rites, with that of Kybele. To the left of these central temples,
in the sacred valley, we should have seen an imposing temple, built by Ptole-
my ; and to the right, but high above the rest, the stately colonnade of a
long Ionic stoa, which, doubtless, once was thronged with promenading wor-