DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9841#0018
2
SARCOPHAGUS FOUND AT ARVI.
[chap.
While I staid at Khania, in April, I examined and
had put together the fragments of the sarcophagus found
at Arvi, and thus discovered that several considerable
gaps still existed in the monument. I thought it worth
while to endeavour to render it as perfect as possible,
and, before I left the island, I therefore caused fresh
excavations to be made, on the distant spot where it
was found, and had, ultimately, the great satisfaction
of obtaining five additional fragments. When they
were combined with those previously obtained, the sar-
cophagus was rendered almost as perfect as when it
came from the chisel of the artist2.
It is certainly interesting to see an ancient monu-
ment of Cretan sculpture. Scyllis and Dipoenos, who
are spoken of as sons or disciples of Daedalos3, were
natives of Crete4, and were among the most celebrated
of ancient artists. They flourished about the fiftieth
Olympiad, and, in their hands, the art of sculpture made
great advances towards that wonderful perfection which
it attained in ancient Greece5.
The subject represented on this sarcophagus is inte-
resting, though not of uncommon occurrence on similar
monuments. The naked Bacchante on the leftfi, whose
hair flows unconfined down her back7, is playing on a
tympanum, an instrument' common to the rites of both
2 The pieces, on their arrival in England, were joined, under the inspection
of Sir Francis Chantrey, and the sarcophagus was given, by Sir Pulteney
Malcolm, to the University of Cambridge. It will be placed in the Fitz-
William Museum.
3 Pausanias, ii. p. 143.
4 Pausanias, 1. c. Clemens Alex. Protrept. p. 31. SkuXijs koI
s Pliny, xxxvi. 4. "Marmore scalpendo primi omnium inclaruerunt
Dipoenus et Scylis, geniti in Creta insula, etiamnum Medis imperantibus,
priusque quam Cyrus in Persis regnare inciperet." Winckelmann, Werke,
Vol. viii. p. 309. Quatremere de Quincy, Le Jupiter Olympien,
p. 180. foil. Mueller, Handbuch der Archaeologie der Kunst, §. 82.
Hirt, Geschichte der bildenden Kuenste bei den Alten, pp. 77-78.
8 See the engraving below, opposite to p. 7-
• Ovid, Ars. Am. t. 541.
Ecce Mimallonides sparsis in terga capillis.
SARCOPHAGUS FOUND AT ARVI.
[chap.
While I staid at Khania, in April, I examined and
had put together the fragments of the sarcophagus found
at Arvi, and thus discovered that several considerable
gaps still existed in the monument. I thought it worth
while to endeavour to render it as perfect as possible,
and, before I left the island, I therefore caused fresh
excavations to be made, on the distant spot where it
was found, and had, ultimately, the great satisfaction
of obtaining five additional fragments. When they
were combined with those previously obtained, the sar-
cophagus was rendered almost as perfect as when it
came from the chisel of the artist2.
It is certainly interesting to see an ancient monu-
ment of Cretan sculpture. Scyllis and Dipoenos, who
are spoken of as sons or disciples of Daedalos3, were
natives of Crete4, and were among the most celebrated
of ancient artists. They flourished about the fiftieth
Olympiad, and, in their hands, the art of sculpture made
great advances towards that wonderful perfection which
it attained in ancient Greece5.
The subject represented on this sarcophagus is inte-
resting, though not of uncommon occurrence on similar
monuments. The naked Bacchante on the leftfi, whose
hair flows unconfined down her back7, is playing on a
tympanum, an instrument' common to the rites of both
2 The pieces, on their arrival in England, were joined, under the inspection
of Sir Francis Chantrey, and the sarcophagus was given, by Sir Pulteney
Malcolm, to the University of Cambridge. It will be placed in the Fitz-
William Museum.
3 Pausanias, ii. p. 143.
4 Pausanias, 1. c. Clemens Alex. Protrept. p. 31. SkuXijs koI
s Pliny, xxxvi. 4. "Marmore scalpendo primi omnium inclaruerunt
Dipoenus et Scylis, geniti in Creta insula, etiamnum Medis imperantibus,
priusque quam Cyrus in Persis regnare inciperet." Winckelmann, Werke,
Vol. viii. p. 309. Quatremere de Quincy, Le Jupiter Olympien,
p. 180. foil. Mueller, Handbuch der Archaeologie der Kunst, §. 82.
Hirt, Geschichte der bildenden Kuenste bei den Alten, pp. 77-78.
8 See the engraving below, opposite to p. 7-
• Ovid, Ars. Am. t. 541.
Ecce Mimallonides sparsis in terga capillis.