DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2532#0042
THE STATUE OK IIERA
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such statues existed at the west end, even if Pausanias did not distinctly limit them to
the east end.
Now, entering' the temple, Pausanias says : " In the fore-temple are ancient images of
the Graces on the left, and on the right is a couch of Hera, and a votive offering consist-
ing of the shield which Menelaus once took from Euphorhus at Ilium." He then enters the
vaos proper, and is there at once confronted by the great gold and ivory image of Hera
by Polycleitus, the culminating work of art of the whole sanctuary, of the whole Argive
district, nay, with the Olympian Zeus and the Athene Parthenos of Phidias, of the whole
of ancient Greece. For Ave must never forget that ancient authorities use terms of praise
with regard to this work (upon which the fame of Polycleitus to a great extent rested)
which correspond to those applied to the great works of Phidias,1 and that one authority,
Strabo,2 calls it " the most beautiful work of all." Though colossal in dimensions the
Fig. 10. — Foundations of the Second Temple, showing statue-bases at the eastern end.
statue of Hera was not so large as either the Zeus or the Athena of Phidias. Accord-
ing to Mr. Tilton:; the total height of the image, including the base and the top of the
throne, was about eight metres, the seated figure of the goddess alone about 5.50 metres.
Pausanias describes it as follows : —
" The statue of Hera is seated on a throne, and is of colossal size : it is made of gold and ivory,
and is a work of Polycleitus. On her head is a crown with the Graces and Seasons wrought on it
in relief: in one hand she carries a pomegranate, in the other a sceptre. The story about the
pomegranate I shall omit as it is of a somewhat mystic nature ; but the cuckoo perched on
the sceptre is explained by a story that when Zeus was in love with the maiden Hera he changed
1 See Overbeck, Schriftquellen, pp. 166 and 167. Lucian while Martial (X. 89) ssiys Phidias would have been
(Somn. 8), while referring to the four greatest artists glad to claim the Hera as his work.
(Phidias, Polycleitus, Praxiteles, and Myron), singles out 2 VIII. p. 372 (Overb. Schriftquellen, No. 933).
two works — the Zeus of Phidias and the Hera of Poly- 3 See his own account of the temple below, pp. 117 f.
cleitus. Plutarch (JPericl. 2) couples the same two statues,
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such statues existed at the west end, even if Pausanias did not distinctly limit them to
the east end.
Now, entering' the temple, Pausanias says : " In the fore-temple are ancient images of
the Graces on the left, and on the right is a couch of Hera, and a votive offering consist-
ing of the shield which Menelaus once took from Euphorhus at Ilium." He then enters the
vaos proper, and is there at once confronted by the great gold and ivory image of Hera
by Polycleitus, the culminating work of art of the whole sanctuary, of the whole Argive
district, nay, with the Olympian Zeus and the Athene Parthenos of Phidias, of the whole
of ancient Greece. For Ave must never forget that ancient authorities use terms of praise
with regard to this work (upon which the fame of Polycleitus to a great extent rested)
which correspond to those applied to the great works of Phidias,1 and that one authority,
Strabo,2 calls it " the most beautiful work of all." Though colossal in dimensions the
Fig. 10. — Foundations of the Second Temple, showing statue-bases at the eastern end.
statue of Hera was not so large as either the Zeus or the Athena of Phidias. Accord-
ing to Mr. Tilton:; the total height of the image, including the base and the top of the
throne, was about eight metres, the seated figure of the goddess alone about 5.50 metres.
Pausanias describes it as follows : —
" The statue of Hera is seated on a throne, and is of colossal size : it is made of gold and ivory,
and is a work of Polycleitus. On her head is a crown with the Graces and Seasons wrought on it
in relief: in one hand she carries a pomegranate, in the other a sceptre. The story about the
pomegranate I shall omit as it is of a somewhat mystic nature ; but the cuckoo perched on
the sceptre is explained by a story that when Zeus was in love with the maiden Hera he changed
1 See Overbeck, Schriftquellen, pp. 166 and 167. Lucian while Martial (X. 89) ssiys Phidias would have been
(Somn. 8), while referring to the four greatest artists glad to claim the Hera as his work.
(Phidias, Polycleitus, Praxiteles, and Myron), singles out 2 VIII. p. 372 (Overb. Schriftquellen, No. 933).
two works — the Zeus of Phidias and the Hera of Poly- 3 See his own account of the temple below, pp. 117 f.
cleitus. Plutarch (JPericl. 2) couples the same two statues,