DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4266#0006
VIGNETTE IN TITLE PAGE.
SILVER TETEADEACHM OF AGBIGENTUM,
SELECTED BY PERMISSION FROM THE VALUABLE COLLECTION OF LORD NORTHWICK.
The magnificent workmanship of this coin abundantly displays the taste of the Agrigentines :
the Scylla and the Crab (above which AKPArANTINON, imperfectly expressed in the engraving, is
distinctly legible) seem aptly to designate the inaccessible coast and treacherous rocks by which
their fertile and inviting territory is defended.
In the two eagles on the obverse, the one uttering the piercing shriek so often heard by the
traveller in those regions, the other devouring its prey; the imperial dominion, affected by the ambi-
tious Agrigentines, and their triumph over their enemies, may be signified.
The Engraving is double the size of the original.
FRONTISPIECE.
In the very small portion of the ruins of this Temple at present existing, the disjointed parts of
four distinct Giants are clearly discoverable \ They were built in courses, and were exactly similar
in proportion and order of masonry. They are composed of twelve courses, alternately solid and
divided, by a vertical joint, down to the legs, and connected occasionally with the pilaster behind
them. Excepting the feet, a sufficient number of component parts were found among the ruins to
restore one entire figure; and the interest excited at Girgenti by these researches, engaged some
gentlemenb of that place to undertake the re-establishment of one of these figures, with the assistance
of the delineation given in the Frontispiece.
The colossal members of these Titans scattered about the ground are viewed with astonishment;
the head alone is 3' 10" high, and 3' 0" wide; the chest is upwards of 6 feet across; and the whole
height could not have been less than 25 feet.
The hair is disposed in exact curls ; the eyes are protruded and " half0 shut," and drawn
up at the temples ; the eye-brows are arched ; the nose is long and prominent; the mouth smiling ;
and the beard shaved, though distinctly marked on the cheek by an elevation of about an eighth of
an inch. The sculpture resembles the archaic manner, observed in the Eginetan statues and those
works commonly called Etruscand. Their forms are angular and energetic : and seem to be better
suited to the architectural purpose to which they are applied, than the more elegant forms' of which
the pediments are composed.
The style of sculpture in the pediments is of the latter description, exhibiting the refinements
of the art which were practised subsequent to the age of Phidias.
1 In a letter of Don Raffaele Politi, in the Journal of Sciences I regret to find since, that they have only been laid together on
and Arts, at Palermo, No. 29, in 1825, he states, that he has the ground,
since discovered the fragments of ten giants. c Diod. Sic. Lib. I.
b The ingenious artist abovementioned, Don Raffaele Politi, '' ccfxoXa. tjoam, op9a. Strabo, Lib. XIV.
Don Antonio Sterlini, Signor Ciantro Panattieri, and others ; but e SxoW 'ipytx,. ib.
SILVER TETEADEACHM OF AGBIGENTUM,
SELECTED BY PERMISSION FROM THE VALUABLE COLLECTION OF LORD NORTHWICK.
The magnificent workmanship of this coin abundantly displays the taste of the Agrigentines :
the Scylla and the Crab (above which AKPArANTINON, imperfectly expressed in the engraving, is
distinctly legible) seem aptly to designate the inaccessible coast and treacherous rocks by which
their fertile and inviting territory is defended.
In the two eagles on the obverse, the one uttering the piercing shriek so often heard by the
traveller in those regions, the other devouring its prey; the imperial dominion, affected by the ambi-
tious Agrigentines, and their triumph over their enemies, may be signified.
The Engraving is double the size of the original.
FRONTISPIECE.
In the very small portion of the ruins of this Temple at present existing, the disjointed parts of
four distinct Giants are clearly discoverable \ They were built in courses, and were exactly similar
in proportion and order of masonry. They are composed of twelve courses, alternately solid and
divided, by a vertical joint, down to the legs, and connected occasionally with the pilaster behind
them. Excepting the feet, a sufficient number of component parts were found among the ruins to
restore one entire figure; and the interest excited at Girgenti by these researches, engaged some
gentlemenb of that place to undertake the re-establishment of one of these figures, with the assistance
of the delineation given in the Frontispiece.
The colossal members of these Titans scattered about the ground are viewed with astonishment;
the head alone is 3' 10" high, and 3' 0" wide; the chest is upwards of 6 feet across; and the whole
height could not have been less than 25 feet.
The hair is disposed in exact curls ; the eyes are protruded and " half0 shut," and drawn
up at the temples ; the eye-brows are arched ; the nose is long and prominent; the mouth smiling ;
and the beard shaved, though distinctly marked on the cheek by an elevation of about an eighth of
an inch. The sculpture resembles the archaic manner, observed in the Eginetan statues and those
works commonly called Etruscand. Their forms are angular and energetic : and seem to be better
suited to the architectural purpose to which they are applied, than the more elegant forms' of which
the pediments are composed.
The style of sculpture in the pediments is of the latter description, exhibiting the refinements
of the art which were practised subsequent to the age of Phidias.
1 In a letter of Don Raffaele Politi, in the Journal of Sciences I regret to find since, that they have only been laid together on
and Arts, at Palermo, No. 29, in 1825, he states, that he has the ground,
since discovered the fragments of ten giants. c Diod. Sic. Lib. I.
b The ingenious artist abovementioned, Don Raffaele Politi, '' ccfxoXa. tjoam, op9a. Strabo, Lib. XIV.
Don Antonio Sterlini, Signor Ciantro Panattieri, and others ; but e SxoW 'ipytx,. ib.