Wordsworth, Christopher: Greece, pictorial, descriptive and historical (London, 1853)

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EAELY BAS-EELIEFS.

39

A remarkable bas-relief, probably of this period, was discovered at Samo-
thrace, which exhibits very fairly the combination of the pictorial with sculptu-
resque treatment. The re-
lief is very low ; and but for
the description affixed to it
this outline might be sup-
posed to represent a vase
painting. (Fig. 80.) The
Homeric names of Agamem-
non, Talthybius, and part of
thenameof Ebeur, the maker
of the Trojan horse, are in-
scribed close to the figures.
The first name reads from
right to left, but that of Tal-
thybius from left to right.
The form of the Theta, in
the latter name, is worthy of
observation. It is an 0
with a cross within it,—a hk,8o.-b«:k™»™h^otHb1cz.

form not at all uncommon in inscriptions of this period. These names, and
those on the Dodwell vase (Fig. 73), are fair examples of the kind of in-
scriptions Pausanias saw on the chest of Cypselus—"winding characters,
difficult to be understood." The age had its grotesque characters as well as
its more dignified features; and certain strange combinations of the human
form with that of the brute first appeared about this time. From such
monstrosities sprang that noble conception the Centaur,
which stands in rivalry with the human form among the
finest sculptures of the Parthenon—the animal form
representing brute force—irresistible strength,—as the
rushing impetuous bull best expresses headstrong might;
for 'we find a bull frequently used as the type of a

rushing river,—the Achelous for in-
stance. The coin (Fig. SI) bears a

representation of the river Gelas,

with thenamewrittenoverthe figure,

which is a combination of the human

head with the horns and body of an

ox. The eye also is here shown in full
length. Another figure of the period (Fig. 82) exhibits a man with a horse's ears,

Fig. 82.

'SIB