Smith, William: A smaller dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities (London, 1871)

STATER.

349

STATUARIA ARS.

6pofj.o9). The name stadium was also given
to all other places throughout Greece wherever
games were celebrated. The stadium was an
oblong area terminated at one end by a straight
line, at the other by a semicircle having the
breadth of the stadium for its base. Pvound
this area were ranges of seats rising above
one another in steps.

STATER (ararrip), which means simply a
standard (in this case both of weight and
more particularly of money), was the name
of the principal gold coin of Greece, which
was also called Chrysus (xpixrois). The stater
is said to have been first coined in Lydia by
Croesus, and probably did not differ materi-
ally from the stater which was afterwards
current in Greece, and which was equal in
weight to two drachmae, and in value to
twenty. The Macedonian stater, which was
the one most in use after the time of Philip
and his son Alexander the Great, was of the
value of about 11. 3s. 6d. In calculating the
value of the stater in our money the ratio of
gold to silver must not be overlooked. Thus
the stater of Alexander, which we have
valued, according to the present worth of gold,
at 17. 3s. Qd., passed for twenty drachmae,
which, according to the present value of
silver, were worth only 16*. 3d. But the
former is the true worth of the stater, the
difference arising from the greater value of
silver in ancient times than now.

STATIOXES. [Castea.]

STATOR, a public servant, who attended
on the Roman magistrates in the provinces.
The Statores seem to have derived their name
from standing by the side of the magistrate,
and thus being at hand to execute ail his
commands; they appear to have been chiefly
employed in carrying letters and messages.

STATUARIA ARS is in its proper sense
the art of making statues or busts, whether
they consist of stone or metal or other mate-
rials, and includes the art of making the
various kinds of reliefs (alto, basso, and
mezzo relievo). These arts in their infant
state existed among the Greeks from time
immemorial. There is no material applicable
to statuary which was not used by the Greeks.
As soft clay is capable of being shaped with-
out difficulty into any form, and is easily
dried, either by being exposed to the sun or
by being baked, we may consider this sub-
stance to have been the earliest material of
which figures were made. The name plastic
art (19 Trka.crTt.Kri), by which the ancients some-
times designate the art of statuary, properly
signifies to form or shape a thing of clay.
The second material was wood, and figures
made of wood were called joai/a, from
"polish" or "carve." It was chiefly used

for making images of the gods, and probably
more on account of the facility of working in
it, than for any other reason. Stone was
little used in statuary during the early ages
of Greece, though it was not altogether un-
known, as we may infer from the relief on
the Lion-gate of Mycenae. In Italy, where
the soft peperino afforded an easy material
for working, stone appears to have been used
at an earlier period and more commonly than
in Greece. But in the historical times the
Greeks used all the principal varieties of
marble for their statues. Different kinds of
marble and of different colours were some-
times used in one and the same statue, in
which case the work is called Polylithic sta-
tuary. Bronze (x<iAxos, aes), silver, and gold
were used profusely in the state of society
described in the Homeric poems. At that
period, however, and long after, the works
executed in metal were made by means of the
hammer, and the different pieces were joined
together by pins, rivets, cramps, or other
mechanical fastenings, and, as the art ad-
vanced, by a kind of glue, cement, or solder.
Iron came into use much later, and the art of
casting both bronze and iron is ascribed to
Rhoecus and to Theodorus of Samos. Ivory
was employed at a later period than any of
the before-mentioned materials, and then was
highly valued both for its beauty and rarity.
In its application to statuary, ivory was
generally combined with gold, and was used
for the parts representing the flesh. The
history of ancient art, and of statuary in par-
ticular, may be divided into five periods.

I. First Period, from the earliest times till
about 580 b. c.—Three kinds of artists may
be distinguished in the m}-thical period.
The first consists of gods and daemons; such
as Athena, Hephaestus, the Phrygian or Dar-
danian Dactyli, and the Cabiri. The second
contains whole tribes of men distinguished
from others by the mysterious possession of
superior skill in the practice of the arts, such
as the Telchines and the Cyclopes. The
third consists of individuals who are indeed
described as human beings, but yet are
nothing more than personifications of par-
ticular branches of art, or the representatives
of families of artists. Of the latter the most
celebrated is Daedalus, whose name indicates
nothing but a smith, or an artist in general,
and who is himself the mythical ancestor of
a numerous family of artists [Dacdalids),
which can be traced from the time of Homer
to that of Plato, for even Socrates is said to
have been a descendant of this family. Smilis
(from oyn'toj, a carving-knife) exercised his
art in Samos, Aegina, and other places, and
some remarkable works were attributed to