DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14144#0428
392
She is preparing to follow Thanatos ; and behind her comes Hermes,
on whose right side is a richly robed matron (Cora, Proserpine ?). Next
to Cora is Hades (Pluto) ?, who wears richly ornamented sandals. The
scene is in the lower world, and may represent either the myth of
Orpheus and Eurydice, or more probably that of Alcestis, in which
case the figure to the left, quietly waiting for her, will be, not
Orpheus, but Heracles, who has fought and defeated Death.
Dionysus and Athene in Cnidos. Among other works of illustrious
artists existing in Cnidos Pliny mentions Dionysus and Athene
by Scopas,1 of which, however, he gives no description or criticism.
Some coins of Cnidos bear the helmed head of Athene, and a full-
length figure of Dionysus in a long robe, with a goblet in his right hand
and a thyrsos, held crosswise, in his left. He is beardless, and the
type lies between that of the Indian Bacchus and that of a later period
of Greek art.
Aphrodite in Pergamon (?). Pliny mentions a nude statue of Aphro-
dite by Scopas as standing in the Temple of Brutus Galla;cus, near the
Flaminian Circus at Rome. There is nothing in his words which enables
us to form an idea of the motif of this figure, but he adds that it
' surpassed the famous Cnidian Aphrodite, and would have rendered
any other place (but Rome) illustrious.' He then goes on to account
for the little attention which so great a work received. It is possible,
of course, to understand the word antecedens as referring to time, but
it is evident from the following words, 'and would have rendered any
other place illustrious,' that high praise is intended to be conveyed.
Junius Brutus Galla:cus built a temple of Venus from the spoils of the
Gallajci and Lusitani, whom he conquered in 138-136 B.C. It was
customary with the Roman consuls and generals to bring back works
of Greek art from their provinces, and it has been plausibly con-
jectured that Brutus obtained the Aphrodite of Scopas from Attalus
III. of Pergamon, and used it to adorn his magnificent triumph in 136
or 132 B.C.- In the natural anxiety of antiquarians to form a concep-
tion of so renowned a work, and at the same time to affix a worthy
1 Plin. N. II. xxxvi. 22. Vid. marble earn, iii.-v. p. 375. Conf. Brunn.
liead of Dbnysos in Leydcn (Urliclis, '' (Jrliohs, SAo/as, 119.
Scopas, 160-2). Newton, Diuov. at Hali-
She is preparing to follow Thanatos ; and behind her comes Hermes,
on whose right side is a richly robed matron (Cora, Proserpine ?). Next
to Cora is Hades (Pluto) ?, who wears richly ornamented sandals. The
scene is in the lower world, and may represent either the myth of
Orpheus and Eurydice, or more probably that of Alcestis, in which
case the figure to the left, quietly waiting for her, will be, not
Orpheus, but Heracles, who has fought and defeated Death.
Dionysus and Athene in Cnidos. Among other works of illustrious
artists existing in Cnidos Pliny mentions Dionysus and Athene
by Scopas,1 of which, however, he gives no description or criticism.
Some coins of Cnidos bear the helmed head of Athene, and a full-
length figure of Dionysus in a long robe, with a goblet in his right hand
and a thyrsos, held crosswise, in his left. He is beardless, and the
type lies between that of the Indian Bacchus and that of a later period
of Greek art.
Aphrodite in Pergamon (?). Pliny mentions a nude statue of Aphro-
dite by Scopas as standing in the Temple of Brutus Galla;cus, near the
Flaminian Circus at Rome. There is nothing in his words which enables
us to form an idea of the motif of this figure, but he adds that it
' surpassed the famous Cnidian Aphrodite, and would have rendered
any other place (but Rome) illustrious.' He then goes on to account
for the little attention which so great a work received. It is possible,
of course, to understand the word antecedens as referring to time, but
it is evident from the following words, 'and would have rendered any
other place illustrious,' that high praise is intended to be conveyed.
Junius Brutus Galla:cus built a temple of Venus from the spoils of the
Gallajci and Lusitani, whom he conquered in 138-136 B.C. It was
customary with the Roman consuls and generals to bring back works
of Greek art from their provinces, and it has been plausibly con-
jectured that Brutus obtained the Aphrodite of Scopas from Attalus
III. of Pergamon, and used it to adorn his magnificent triumph in 136
or 132 B.C.- In the natural anxiety of antiquarians to form a concep-
tion of so renowned a work, and at the same time to affix a worthy
1 Plin. N. II. xxxvi. 22. Vid. marble earn, iii.-v. p. 375. Conf. Brunn.
liead of Dbnysos in Leydcn (Urliclis, '' (Jrliohs, SAo/as, 119.
Scopas, 160-2). Newton, Diuov. at Hali-