DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5309#0070
FRAGMENT OF THESEUS.
This marble, which was discovered amidst some ruins in the Temple of Minerva m
the Acropolis, expresses the art of horsebreaking ; and from the testimony of Anstides,
who teUs us that Theseus brought it to perfection, we take him to be the person
meant in the present fragment; and the more so, as in various sculptures quoted in
the Remarks on the Bass-reliefs belonging to the Parthenon, that same hero appears
covered with the skin of a lion, precisely as we see him.
BASS-RELIEF IN THE FLOOR OF A COTTAGE AT EPHESUS.
T h e equestrian figure appears to be a young man invested with some military dignity,
and seems in the act of vowing the horse to some deity, and perhaps to the idol of
a tree, the fruits of which form a kind of pyramid upon a little altar. Trees were
the first temples—arborea Jnere numinum tempia. The bass-relief is in white marble,
without any marks of decay. It was discovered near the ruins of Ephesus, in Asia
Minor.
A BEARD IN MARBLE.
We cannot but consider this fragment as the greatest curiosity of the kind. The
vizards used by the Bacchanals had beards curled, and tubular, like the present ; but
the singularity of our fragment is to be remarked on the reverse, which is artfully con-
trived for the purpose of fixing the beard upon another marble. There are still to be
seen at Rome several marble heads of ancient Roman ladies, with a small wig likewise
of marble, but moveable. Some pretend to account for it, by supposing that the
women of old Rome wishing to appear fashionable, even in their portraits, the statuaries
had given them an opportunity of changing their stony decoration.1 But respecting
the beard before us, we see no ground for any like supposition ; and can only conceive
11 "e tne appendage of some odd figure, or antic, set up to spout water; and we
need but inspect the opposite part, to see that it was only employed to close the
mouth of the mask. We have observed in another place, that the faces of satyrs, and
the masques of the Bacchanals were the usual ornaments of fountains; but the reader
may acquire an ampler knowledge of the subject by consulting the sixth volume of the
Antiquities of Herculaneum. It is remarkable that Lucretius employs the word Silani,
w hich means Fauni and Sileni, as a synonymous term for the Athenian fountains ; and
it so happens that the present fragment was discovered at Athens.
39
This marble, which was discovered amidst some ruins in the Temple of Minerva m
the Acropolis, expresses the art of horsebreaking ; and from the testimony of Anstides,
who teUs us that Theseus brought it to perfection, we take him to be the person
meant in the present fragment; and the more so, as in various sculptures quoted in
the Remarks on the Bass-reliefs belonging to the Parthenon, that same hero appears
covered with the skin of a lion, precisely as we see him.
BASS-RELIEF IN THE FLOOR OF A COTTAGE AT EPHESUS.
T h e equestrian figure appears to be a young man invested with some military dignity,
and seems in the act of vowing the horse to some deity, and perhaps to the idol of
a tree, the fruits of which form a kind of pyramid upon a little altar. Trees were
the first temples—arborea Jnere numinum tempia. The bass-relief is in white marble,
without any marks of decay. It was discovered near the ruins of Ephesus, in Asia
Minor.
A BEARD IN MARBLE.
We cannot but consider this fragment as the greatest curiosity of the kind. The
vizards used by the Bacchanals had beards curled, and tubular, like the present ; but
the singularity of our fragment is to be remarked on the reverse, which is artfully con-
trived for the purpose of fixing the beard upon another marble. There are still to be
seen at Rome several marble heads of ancient Roman ladies, with a small wig likewise
of marble, but moveable. Some pretend to account for it, by supposing that the
women of old Rome wishing to appear fashionable, even in their portraits, the statuaries
had given them an opportunity of changing their stony decoration.1 But respecting
the beard before us, we see no ground for any like supposition ; and can only conceive
11 "e tne appendage of some odd figure, or antic, set up to spout water; and we
need but inspect the opposite part, to see that it was only employed to close the
mouth of the mask. We have observed in another place, that the faces of satyrs, and
the masques of the Bacchanals were the usual ornaments of fountains; but the reader
may acquire an ampler knowledge of the subject by consulting the sixth volume of the
Antiquities of Herculaneum. It is remarkable that Lucretius employs the word Silani,
w hich means Fauni and Sileni, as a synonymous term for the Athenian fountains ; and
it so happens that the present fragment was discovered at Athens.
39