DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18217#0086
72
CATALOGUE OF SCULPTURE.
that Pliny indicates a change of plan, and that the
pyramid, originally intended to come to a point, was
truncated, and surmounted by a chariot group, for which
a fifth artist was brought in. It is evidently dangerous
to infer so much from the use of a tense in a doubtful text.
If we read altitudinem inferiorem, ' the height below,'
this has been interpreted in many ways, but the simplest
is to understand the statement ' pyramis supra pteron
altitudinem inferiorem aequat' as meaning that ' the
pyramid above the pteron is equal to the height below
the pteron.' Taking the alternative reading altitudine,
pyramidem is a word more easily supplied than some
general term, e.g. molem, to represent the combined pteron
and base. In this case the statement would be that the
uj)per pyramid is equal in height to a pyramidal base.*
An epigram of Martial (Spectac. i.)—
Aere nec vacuo pendentia Mausolea
Laudibus immodicis Cares in astra ferant
—implies that the remarkable feature of the building was
the lightness of the colonnade, as compared with the great
weight that it supported.
* Pliny's apparently simple statement of equality lias been given the
following interpretations:—
Pyramid = Pteron (Hirt, Genelli, Texier, Falkener, Trendelenburg).
Pyramid = Pteron — chariot group (Murdoch Smith, Pulhm).
Pyramid = Pteron — pedestal of chariot group — podium of
pyramid (Adler).
Pyramid = Basement (Stevenson, Arnold).
Pyramid = Basement — chariot group (Fergusson).
Pyramid = Basement — pedestal of chariot group — podium of
Pyramid (Petersen).
Pyramid = Pteron + basement (Cockerell, 1816).
Pyramid = Pteron -f- basement — chariot group (Quatremere de
Quincy).
Pyramid = Pterou + basement — chariot group — podium of
Pyramid (Canina, Bernier).
Pyramid — Pteron -f- basement + podium of Pyramid (Caylus).
Pyramid = Pteron + podium of Pyramid (Cockerell, 1856).
Pyramid = Lower pyramid, i.e. about half the basement (Oldfield).
CATALOGUE OF SCULPTURE.
that Pliny indicates a change of plan, and that the
pyramid, originally intended to come to a point, was
truncated, and surmounted by a chariot group, for which
a fifth artist was brought in. It is evidently dangerous
to infer so much from the use of a tense in a doubtful text.
If we read altitudinem inferiorem, ' the height below,'
this has been interpreted in many ways, but the simplest
is to understand the statement ' pyramis supra pteron
altitudinem inferiorem aequat' as meaning that ' the
pyramid above the pteron is equal to the height below
the pteron.' Taking the alternative reading altitudine,
pyramidem is a word more easily supplied than some
general term, e.g. molem, to represent the combined pteron
and base. In this case the statement would be that the
uj)per pyramid is equal in height to a pyramidal base.*
An epigram of Martial (Spectac. i.)—
Aere nec vacuo pendentia Mausolea
Laudibus immodicis Cares in astra ferant
—implies that the remarkable feature of the building was
the lightness of the colonnade, as compared with the great
weight that it supported.
* Pliny's apparently simple statement of equality lias been given the
following interpretations:—
Pyramid = Pteron (Hirt, Genelli, Texier, Falkener, Trendelenburg).
Pyramid = Pteron — chariot group (Murdoch Smith, Pulhm).
Pyramid = Pteron — pedestal of chariot group — podium of
pyramid (Adler).
Pyramid = Basement (Stevenson, Arnold).
Pyramid = Basement — chariot group (Fergusson).
Pyramid = Basement — pedestal of chariot group — podium of
Pyramid (Petersen).
Pyramid = Pteron + basement (Cockerell, 1816).
Pyramid = Pteron -f- basement — chariot group (Quatremere de
Quincy).
Pyramid = Pterou + basement — chariot group — podium of
Pyramid (Canina, Bernier).
Pyramid — Pteron -f- basement + podium of Pyramid (Caylus).
Pyramid = Pteron + podium of Pyramid (Cockerell, 1856).
Pyramid = Lower pyramid, i.e. about half the basement (Oldfield).