DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26205#0027
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of Armenia and Syria in 83—68 B. C. 54 55 * * * * * * * * 64 (Fig. 30). However, the proper-
development of this type of river images falls well into the Roman period
(cf. Chapter III). It is worth remembering that Pliny (N. H. 34, 78) says that:
Eutychides {fecit) Eurotam, in quo artem ipso amne liquidioriam plurimi dicere.
We know nothing of both the vicissitudes and appearance of this work, yet
it must have been innovatory and of high artistic value, since it is mentioned
by Pliny 55. It was probably the statue representing the bust of a river emerging
from among the waves, as in the case of the Orontes at the feet of Tyche.
Summing up, it should be stated that the Greeks did indeed create the
personifications of rivers or the images of river gods, yet they did not employ
them on such a wide scale as did later the Romans. They appear most often
on coins, less frequently in sculpture 56, and sporadically in vase painting.
In comparison with literature, where the rivers (no matter whether understood
as deities or personifications indicating the venue of the action of myth)
play quite a prominent role, Greek artists drop somewhat behind, though
they deserve the credit for providing the rivers with shape and creation of the
types of their images.
54 Imhoof-Blumer, No. 471, Pi. 15, 7; Jenkins, Fig. 664.
55 The torso in Vatican Museums (Galleria Lapidaria, now in Magazzino delle Corazze,
inv. 4087) is sometimes considered as the Eurotas image. Cf. Amelung, I, 1905, p. 239, PI. 23;
G. Lippold, Griechische Plastik, HdbAW, XII, 1, 1950, p. 296, note 13; Helbig4, IV, p. 438,
No. 54 (Torso eines Flussgottes); A. Comotti, EAA, III, 1960, p. 545, s. v. Eurotas; Dohrn,
Flussgotter, p. 70.
66 According to G. v. Liicken, Die Gotter auf der Nordseite des Pergamonaltar, Jdl, 54, 1939,
pp. 97—104, on the relief from the northern side of the Altar in Pergamon, among the fighters
there is an image of the Alpheios holding a shield. It is a quite unique hypothesis, not shared by
other authors, cf. Evamaria Schmidt, Der grosse Altar zu Pergamon, Leipzig 1961, p. 97, note 216.
The present author is obliged to Professor Evamaria Schmidt from the Archaeological Institute
of the Augsburg University, for the information on v. Liicken’s thesis.
of Armenia and Syria in 83—68 B. C. 54 55 * * * * * * * * 64 (Fig. 30). However, the proper-
development of this type of river images falls well into the Roman period
(cf. Chapter III). It is worth remembering that Pliny (N. H. 34, 78) says that:
Eutychides {fecit) Eurotam, in quo artem ipso amne liquidioriam plurimi dicere.
We know nothing of both the vicissitudes and appearance of this work, yet
it must have been innovatory and of high artistic value, since it is mentioned
by Pliny 55. It was probably the statue representing the bust of a river emerging
from among the waves, as in the case of the Orontes at the feet of Tyche.
Summing up, it should be stated that the Greeks did indeed create the
personifications of rivers or the images of river gods, yet they did not employ
them on such a wide scale as did later the Romans. They appear most often
on coins, less frequently in sculpture 56, and sporadically in vase painting.
In comparison with literature, where the rivers (no matter whether understood
as deities or personifications indicating the venue of the action of myth)
play quite a prominent role, Greek artists drop somewhat behind, though
they deserve the credit for providing the rivers with shape and creation of the
types of their images.
54 Imhoof-Blumer, No. 471, Pi. 15, 7; Jenkins, Fig. 664.
55 The torso in Vatican Museums (Galleria Lapidaria, now in Magazzino delle Corazze,
inv. 4087) is sometimes considered as the Eurotas image. Cf. Amelung, I, 1905, p. 239, PI. 23;
G. Lippold, Griechische Plastik, HdbAW, XII, 1, 1950, p. 296, note 13; Helbig4, IV, p. 438,
No. 54 (Torso eines Flussgottes); A. Comotti, EAA, III, 1960, p. 545, s. v. Eurotas; Dohrn,
Flussgotter, p. 70.
66 According to G. v. Liicken, Die Gotter auf der Nordseite des Pergamonaltar, Jdl, 54, 1939,
pp. 97—104, on the relief from the northern side of the Altar in Pergamon, among the fighters
there is an image of the Alpheios holding a shield. It is a quite unique hypothesis, not shared by
other authors, cf. Evamaria Schmidt, Der grosse Altar zu Pergamon, Leipzig 1961, p. 97, note 216.
The present author is obliged to Professor Evamaria Schmidt from the Archaeological Institute
of the Augsburg University, for the information on v. Liicken’s thesis.