DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0664
626
THE HELLENISTIC AGE OF SCULPTURE.
tians. At Delphi, he tells us, were dedicated by the Aitolians, besides figures
of many of their generals, an Artemis, two Af olios, an Athena, a trophy, and
an armed Aitolia; here the Phokians put a statue of one of their generals;
and at Patras was consecrated, on the agora, an Apollo which Pausanias tells
us was worth seeing.I2I3 Such is the shadowy background upon which fancy
has painted the origin of the Apollo Belvedere, imagining that the original
held with extended hand the cegis, and that its nostrils curled in scorn at the
impious barbarian threatening the sacred shrine. Serious objection was made
to this theory by Botticher, on the ground that an cegis of massive stone would
have been too heavy for the extended marble arm ; but this difficulty was quietly
set aside by the supposition that the cegis might have been of thin bronze.12'4
Furtwangler, in examining, in 1882, the Stroganoff statuette, came to the con-
clusion that the folds held in its right hand could not be parts of a snaky, hairy
cegis, but more probably were from the god's mantle, which has evidently been
broken off, and should, perhaps, extend over his arm to the hand.I2,5 Furt-
wangler seemed thus to have at last done away with the very theatrical and
unpleasant cegis motive. The very loose way, moreover, in which the Stroga-
noff statuette holds the supposed weapon, goes to confirm the
impression that the god cannot be fiercely shaking a dread
weapon in the enemy's face. Were Apollo thus occupied, he
could not daintily hold, as he does, the horror-striking weapon,
but he would, doubtless, have been represented as closing his
fingers over it in firm grasp. Kieseritzky, however, a believer
in Stephani's cegis theory, has once more opened up the discus-
sion ; claiming that his study of the statuette does not carry out
Furtwangler's supposition, and attempting to turn opinion into
its old channels with regard to the existence of an cegis in Apollo's hand.12'6
The Apollo Belvedere, the Stroganoff statuette, and beautiful Basle head are
thus again cumbered with this unpleasant theory; and we can only hope that
more light will be yet thrown upon the perplexing question, by a more general
familiarity with the Stroganoff statuette, which as yet exists, for the larger part
of archaeologists, only in photographic reproductions.
But, while there are such differences of opinion as to the attitude borne
by Apollo, all agree that the original must have been a creation of the Hellen-
istic age, which doubtless built on an ideal developed still earlier. Thus, the
proud head has much affinity with the glorious head of Helios, the god of
light, on Rhodian coins of the fourth century B.C. ; one of the finest of which,
dating, probably, from the first half of that century, is represented in Fig. 256.
It is sterner and more contained than the marble head of the Belvedere Apollo,
but has the same proud poise, and a dawning of its scornful expression in
eyes and lips. Between these two extremes, we may, no doubt, place the Basle
head, which is simpler than the Belvedere Apollo, and seems the work of a
Fig. 256. Rhodian
Coin with Head
of Helios. 400-
350 B.C.
THE HELLENISTIC AGE OF SCULPTURE.
tians. At Delphi, he tells us, were dedicated by the Aitolians, besides figures
of many of their generals, an Artemis, two Af olios, an Athena, a trophy, and
an armed Aitolia; here the Phokians put a statue of one of their generals;
and at Patras was consecrated, on the agora, an Apollo which Pausanias tells
us was worth seeing.I2I3 Such is the shadowy background upon which fancy
has painted the origin of the Apollo Belvedere, imagining that the original
held with extended hand the cegis, and that its nostrils curled in scorn at the
impious barbarian threatening the sacred shrine. Serious objection was made
to this theory by Botticher, on the ground that an cegis of massive stone would
have been too heavy for the extended marble arm ; but this difficulty was quietly
set aside by the supposition that the cegis might have been of thin bronze.12'4
Furtwangler, in examining, in 1882, the Stroganoff statuette, came to the con-
clusion that the folds held in its right hand could not be parts of a snaky, hairy
cegis, but more probably were from the god's mantle, which has evidently been
broken off, and should, perhaps, extend over his arm to the hand.I2,5 Furt-
wangler seemed thus to have at last done away with the very theatrical and
unpleasant cegis motive. The very loose way, moreover, in which the Stroga-
noff statuette holds the supposed weapon, goes to confirm the
impression that the god cannot be fiercely shaking a dread
weapon in the enemy's face. Were Apollo thus occupied, he
could not daintily hold, as he does, the horror-striking weapon,
but he would, doubtless, have been represented as closing his
fingers over it in firm grasp. Kieseritzky, however, a believer
in Stephani's cegis theory, has once more opened up the discus-
sion ; claiming that his study of the statuette does not carry out
Furtwangler's supposition, and attempting to turn opinion into
its old channels with regard to the existence of an cegis in Apollo's hand.12'6
The Apollo Belvedere, the Stroganoff statuette, and beautiful Basle head are
thus again cumbered with this unpleasant theory; and we can only hope that
more light will be yet thrown upon the perplexing question, by a more general
familiarity with the Stroganoff statuette, which as yet exists, for the larger part
of archaeologists, only in photographic reproductions.
But, while there are such differences of opinion as to the attitude borne
by Apollo, all agree that the original must have been a creation of the Hellen-
istic age, which doubtless built on an ideal developed still earlier. Thus, the
proud head has much affinity with the glorious head of Helios, the god of
light, on Rhodian coins of the fourth century B.C. ; one of the finest of which,
dating, probably, from the first half of that century, is represented in Fig. 256.
It is sterner and more contained than the marble head of the Belvedere Apollo,
but has the same proud poise, and a dawning of its scornful expression in
eyes and lips. Between these two extremes, we may, no doubt, place the Basle
head, which is simpler than the Belvedere Apollo, and seems the work of a
Fig. 256. Rhodian
Coin with Head
of Helios. 400-
350 B.C.