DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14144#0078
42
HOMERIC ART.
The Throne oe the Olympian Zeus.
The next important work of a similar character is the throne of
Pheidias' Zeus at Olympia, which is closely connected with the greatest
plastic achievement of the greatest artist that the human race has pro-
duced. A description of this wonderful creation, in which cost and
skill vied with one another for supremacy, is given by Pausanias.'
We mention it here as the last link of a series of strictly decorative
works which we have traced in their ever-increasing beauty from
the age of Homer to that of Pheidias.
Figures of Nike (Victory) formed the four legs of the throne, and
its arms were supported by Sphinxes. Below these again were Apollo
and Artemis in the act of shooting the Niobids. The legs were
united by four cross bars, on one of which stood eight round figures,
representing the eight different contests introduced at Olympia by
the Eleians. The spaces between the upper part of the legs of the
throne and the cross bars were filled up by slabs of costly wood,
which were adorned by the painter Panaenus, a nephew of Pheidias,
with representations of heroic myths. On the back of the throne,
which rose above the head of the god, stood the Charitcs and the Horce,
whom the Epic poets call daughters of Zeus, and who had charge of
the gates of Heaven. On the broad edge of the basis of the throne
were groups of figures in relief: Helios (the sun god) mounting his
Chariot; Zens and Here ; Hephaestus and Char is ; Hermes and Hestia
(Vesta). The centre of the composition was probably occupied by
Aphrodite, who is welcomed by Eros (Love), and crowned by Pothos
(Desire), as she rises from the sea. By these, her constant attendants,
she is introduced to the assembled Deities of Olympus, who pay their
glad homage to the new-born goddess, whose resistless power they
all acknowledge.
1 v. ii. I. Conf. lininn, Kunst bei Homer.
HOMERIC ART.
The Throne oe the Olympian Zeus.
The next important work of a similar character is the throne of
Pheidias' Zeus at Olympia, which is closely connected with the greatest
plastic achievement of the greatest artist that the human race has pro-
duced. A description of this wonderful creation, in which cost and
skill vied with one another for supremacy, is given by Pausanias.'
We mention it here as the last link of a series of strictly decorative
works which we have traced in their ever-increasing beauty from
the age of Homer to that of Pheidias.
Figures of Nike (Victory) formed the four legs of the throne, and
its arms were supported by Sphinxes. Below these again were Apollo
and Artemis in the act of shooting the Niobids. The legs were
united by four cross bars, on one of which stood eight round figures,
representing the eight different contests introduced at Olympia by
the Eleians. The spaces between the upper part of the legs of the
throne and the cross bars were filled up by slabs of costly wood,
which were adorned by the painter Panaenus, a nephew of Pheidias,
with representations of heroic myths. On the back of the throne,
which rose above the head of the god, stood the Charitcs and the Horce,
whom the Epic poets call daughters of Zeus, and who had charge of
the gates of Heaven. On the broad edge of the basis of the throne
were groups of figures in relief: Helios (the sun god) mounting his
Chariot; Zens and Here ; Hephaestus and Char is ; Hermes and Hestia
(Vesta). The centre of the composition was probably occupied by
Aphrodite, who is welcomed by Eros (Love), and crowned by Pothos
(Desire), as she rises from the sea. By these, her constant attendants,
she is introduced to the assembled Deities of Olympus, who pay their
glad homage to the new-born goddess, whose resistless power they
all acknowledge.
1 v. ii. I. Conf. lininn, Kunst bei Homer.