DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0594
558 THE HELLENISTIC AGE OF SCULPTURE.
shippers by day, and with sleeping guests by night. In front of the slender
columns, and towering above the temples in the ravine, would have been seen
five pedestals, of different sizes, still having signs of the attachment of
statuary.
Overlooking the whole peaceful valley, and towering above its complex of
temples, would have been seen, standing out gloriously against the regular col-
umns of the neighboring stoa, one imposing monument, with stormy lines and
tempestuous action (Selections, Plate XIV., on the right). Although much
mutilated, this monument, in Parian marble, shows us the colossal figure of a
fully draped female, alighted on the prow of a ship, and represents a winged
Nike, who sweeps down with lightning speed ; the powerful form, with its rush-
ing drapery, seeming to force a way for the imposing goddess of victory. The
commanding position of this statue, standing of old at the end of the valley,
reveals to us with what consummate taste charms of natural landscape were
enhanced by the imposing art of this Hellenistic age. The statue itself, in an
exceedingly fragmentary condition, was discovered on the ancient site in 1867,
by the French consul Champoisseau, who sent it, with other minor marbles, to
the Louvre.HI4 It was not until 1875, however, that the massive pedestal, in the
shape of a ship's prow, was discovered, during the thorough excavations of
the Austrian expedition on the same site. Although consisting of twenty-
three fragments, many of which weigh more than two thousand kilogrammes,
the whole was safely removed to the Louvre, and is there being built up again,
the statue standing, as of yore, upon its stony prow, below which the sea-
waves are indicated by sculpture. The colossal form of
the winged goddess towers up, more than double life-size,
above this massive and lofty hulk. Not only the costly
material from abroad,—no marble being found in Samo-
thrake itself, — but also the colossal size and marine char-
acter of the monument, show that it was a thank-offering
from some royal donor, to the shrines at Samothrake, for a
flQ trt Poiiorkete/""2' Sreat naval victory. As shown by Benndorf, comparison
with coins of Demetrios Poliorketes (Fig. 229), struck, prob-
ably, between 294 and 288 B.C., makes it probable that he it was who erected
this superb gift in honor of his signal successes off Salamis in Cyprus, in 306
B.C., after which he took the title of king, and long controlled the Archipelago.
The approximate date, the first half of the third century B.C., is fixed for the
statue, not only by this coincidence with the coins, but also by its magnificent
style, very like to that of the pedimental sculptures of the new temple at
Samothrake, already mentioned, and proved by the architectural form of the
building to date from this age. But this statue is grander than they, and com-
bines intensified realism in detail with powerful ideal form and action, as will
be seen most forcibly by placing its representation alongside of those of the
shippers by day, and with sleeping guests by night. In front of the slender
columns, and towering above the temples in the ravine, would have been seen
five pedestals, of different sizes, still having signs of the attachment of
statuary.
Overlooking the whole peaceful valley, and towering above its complex of
temples, would have been seen, standing out gloriously against the regular col-
umns of the neighboring stoa, one imposing monument, with stormy lines and
tempestuous action (Selections, Plate XIV., on the right). Although much
mutilated, this monument, in Parian marble, shows us the colossal figure of a
fully draped female, alighted on the prow of a ship, and represents a winged
Nike, who sweeps down with lightning speed ; the powerful form, with its rush-
ing drapery, seeming to force a way for the imposing goddess of victory. The
commanding position of this statue, standing of old at the end of the valley,
reveals to us with what consummate taste charms of natural landscape were
enhanced by the imposing art of this Hellenistic age. The statue itself, in an
exceedingly fragmentary condition, was discovered on the ancient site in 1867,
by the French consul Champoisseau, who sent it, with other minor marbles, to
the Louvre.HI4 It was not until 1875, however, that the massive pedestal, in the
shape of a ship's prow, was discovered, during the thorough excavations of
the Austrian expedition on the same site. Although consisting of twenty-
three fragments, many of which weigh more than two thousand kilogrammes,
the whole was safely removed to the Louvre, and is there being built up again,
the statue standing, as of yore, upon its stony prow, below which the sea-
waves are indicated by sculpture. The colossal form of
the winged goddess towers up, more than double life-size,
above this massive and lofty hulk. Not only the costly
material from abroad,—no marble being found in Samo-
thrake itself, — but also the colossal size and marine char-
acter of the monument, show that it was a thank-offering
from some royal donor, to the shrines at Samothrake, for a
flQ trt Poiiorkete/""2' Sreat naval victory. As shown by Benndorf, comparison
with coins of Demetrios Poliorketes (Fig. 229), struck, prob-
ably, between 294 and 288 B.C., makes it probable that he it was who erected
this superb gift in honor of his signal successes off Salamis in Cyprus, in 306
B.C., after which he took the title of king, and long controlled the Archipelago.
The approximate date, the first half of the third century B.C., is fixed for the
statue, not only by this coincidence with the coins, but also by its magnificent
style, very like to that of the pedimental sculptures of the new temple at
Samothrake, already mentioned, and proved by the architectural form of the
building to date from this age. But this statue is grander than they, and com-
bines intensified realism in detail with powerful ideal form and action, as will
be seen most forcibly by placing its representation alongside of those of the