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EXCAVATIONS ON THE WEST SLOPE OF THE ACROPOLIS. V.
Sculpture: Individual Findings (Part 1).
Article originally published in 1901in the journal Communications of the German Imperial Archaeological Institute, Athenian Section, vol. 26 (Ath.Mitt. XXVI), pp. 305-336.
Of the sculptures found in the course of the
excavations on the western slope of the Acropolis, only those have been
discussed which, because they belonged to a certain district, had to
demand special consideration: the finds from the areas of the Dionysion and
Asklepieion. The remaining monuments, not located with certainty, which
were found in the rubble of the houses or built into later walls,
should be presented here in a summary description, insofar as they
deserve mention at all.
First
of all, two of the sculptures found in the area of the Dionysion should be
added. One is a female head of mediocre workmanship, dating from about
the end of the IVth century BC, tilted to the right and perhaps
belonging to a statue of Aphrodite. Height 14 cm [1]. The hair, which
is not worked out on the back, is plaited into two plaits that begin at
the back of the head, are arranged in three rows in a row in front and
are knotted together at the ends over the forehead. The ears are not
covered by hair. This coiffure is particularly popular in Praxitelian
circles in the fourth century; agrees that the work of the eyes, the
soft, blurred gaze, also refers us to the same time. Most closely
related to this head is a female head from Sunion(?), which is
artistically higher, but which Gardner published in 1HS 1895 p. 188 f.,
plate VI. (Photographs of the Institute: Athens Varia 158).
Built into
a wall of the Baccheion was an (p.306) unfinished group on an irregular
base, height 37 cm (fig.1). On the left, a slender youth with long curls
is half carved out of the ground, laying his right forearm on his head.
The surface has not yet been evenly processed. On the right, the stone
block that was only pecked at remained standing, from which a second,
smaller figure was apparently to be carved.
The group then accords with a likewise
unfinished monument found on the Olympieion in Athens, but in which the
second figure has already been worked from the rough [2]. We shall have
to recognize in both groups Dionysus in association with a satyr and
trace them back to the same original as that to which the statue in
Venice closest to them and the statues in Mantua and Villa Ludovisi
derive [3].
Of the other quite numerous unfinished sculptures
that came to light on the west slope and which prove that there must
have been quite a few sculpting workshops here in Greek times, only a
few should be mentioned, since the majority are of no historical value.
Of particular note is a female head, H. 23 cm, whose forehead and right
half of the face are mostly finished. Space is left in the hair for a
bandage that encloses the entire top of the head. The hair is parted in
the middle above the forehead and brushed towards the ears, which it
leaves free; it hung long at the back. In spite of this coiffure, the
facial features of the head must be taken for female. It probably belongs to the fourth century BC.
Another female head, height 10.5 cm, is
notable for its coiffure (fig.2). The hair parts in the middle above
the forehead and is held together with a bandage at the back of the
head. Long twisted curls hang over the ears, which also come out from
under the bandage and surround the whole back of the head. This
hairstyle is reminiscent of the Hellenistic portraits such as the
so-called Berenice T from the Villa Ercolanese, only with the
difference that the forehead is surrounded by short, artificial curls
(p.308).
Fig.1: female head with Hellenistic hairstyle.
Precursors to it can already be found on vases from the
beginning of the fourth century BC, where Schrieber a. a. 0. p. 95
wrongly thinks of relations with Alexandria. A life-size head of
Athena, only the main outlines of which were executed, h. 40 cm, was
intended to be placed in a statue. At the bottom of the neck there is a
hole in the front, which was probably used to take a dowel to connect
the head more firmly to the torso. The head was turned to the left and
slightly upwards; the helmet is pushed up to reveal the long strands of
hair combed to the sides. The head appears to be closest to the
Giustinian Athena type, both in posture and shape.
Fig.3: Relief sculpture of man with staff, probably 2nd century BC.
Upper right above his back
are engraved the head and forelegs of a lion-like animal, which
probably means a ram. In the picture a farmer can be seen in the
field.The closest analogy to this depiction I can only name is the
relief on a vessel handle from Bazzano, which shows a farmer having his
feet washed [4]. Based on the somewhat sketchy, suggestive, but nevertheless
skilful work, one would like to think that the relief was created
around the II century BC (Phot. i.e. Inst. A.V. 194).
Very little of household equipment has
been found in the Roman houses, which essentially belong to the 1st
century before and after (p.309) Christ, which of course can hardly
offer anything new compared to the finds from Pompeii. A piece of a
round table top and a series of differently decorated table bases are
worth mentioning. The surface of the tabletop is profiled, the
underside is recessed so that a ring that is hollow on the inside
remains and is rough-picked. Only three pieces that unite in the middle
and widen to form a shovel towards the edge are polished. This top is a
detailed reproduction of a wooden tabletop in marble. One of the table
legs is decorated with a head of Dionysus on which a top with a mortise
hole in the middle rests. In imitation of the archaic manner so popular
in decorative (p.310) art, the forehead is surrounded by three rows of
humpback curls. Long artificially twisted curls that fell to the
shoulders emerge from behind the ears. The beard is treated more
freely. The back is not finished. H. 25.5 cm (A.V. 198).
Another table
foot ends at the top in a head of Attis with a Phrygian cap, under
which the curly hair gushes out. A thick bush of pine branches and
fruit rises above the cap, ending in a smooth surface with a mortise in
the middle. Traces of red paint can still be seen on the pine cones. H.
30 cm (A.V. 199). A small three-sided herm with three female heads at
the top, height 24.5 cm, width of one side 7 cm, can also be explained
as a table base. Under the heads there are holes on all three sides for
receiving three supports, probably made of metal, which together with
the herm, in whose surface there are three holes, carried the metal
table top.
A table base in the form of a lion's paw with a
lion's head rising from acanthus leaves, with which perfectly preserved
marble tables from Pompeii (cf. Mau-Kelsey Pompeii, its life and art p.
362, fig. 181) can be compared, should also be mentioned here.
As
a fountain-decoration in the Roman house in which it is found, the
small statuette of a bearded river-god resting on a low unworked base
may have been used. Its. height is 28 cm, length 37 cm, and width 14 cm. On the underside
of the base runs from back to front a groove for holding a water pipe.
The god wears a cloak wrapped around his lower body and left arm and
holds a large cornucopia in his left hand. The right hand rests on the
right knee and holds a now lost object, perhaps a bundle of corn as seen in
the statuette in the Capitoline Museum at Reinach Repertoire I 432, 4.
On his head he wears a polos, under which the hair is combed to the
sides and in two long, twisted curls falls on the shoulder (A. V. 42.
Reinach Repertoire II 41, 2).
At the foot of a large marble
vessel or candelabra belonged perhaps a round broken (p.311) marble
pillar, having a shallow cavity at the top. It is decorated with three
strips in relief, which are separated from each other by thick beads.
At the top there is a band of simple, lanceolate leaves; on the bulge
below is a twig with small leaves. This is followed by a strip
decorated with a running dog and a donkey standing in front of a tree,
and then again a bead with an egg stick. On the lower strip is an altar
with a burning fire and decorated with garlands and bucrania. On the
right and left is a palm branch, and on the right there is also a
short-legged bird lying on its back with its legs tied together and a
standing, ostrich-like bird. H. 33 cm.
From the roofs of late
Greek houses come a large number of front tiles with relief decoration
and inscriptions from the manufacturers, among which the following
different types can be mentioned:
2. Palmette (fig.4B) on volutes enclosing a large pelta-shaped flower (A. V. 189).
.
Fig.4: (A) Tile palmette relief with name "Apolloniou".
(B) Tile palmette relief with large enclosed flower
3. Palmette on tendrils and acanthus leaves, with a gorgon's head in the centeer (fig.5). Below is the incised name "Lenaiou". (A.V. 190) (p.312).
Fig.5: Tile with gorgon's head.
4. Palmette on tendrils enclosing a helmeted head of Athena.
5.
Above a pelta-shaped shield, the ends of which are formed by volutes
and in the center of which an eagle sits, rises a small palmette with a
small pine cone in the middle (fig.6).
Fig.6: Tile with shield, eagle, and pine cone relief.
(p.313) Several
names appear on palmette types 1-3, which are more or less completely
pressed in: (fig.7)
Fig.7: List of names which appear on roof tiles with relief decorations.
End
bricks with corresponding decoration and the same names are common in
the Piraeus; Without the inscriptions of the manufacturer's name, the
same pieces have often been found in Greece and Asia Minor, e.g. B. in
Olympia (monuments II p. 143 Taf. XCI, 7), in Samothrake (research on
Samothrake I p.76 Taf. 50 Fig. 2), in Gyölbaschi (Benndorf Heroon von
Gyölbaschi p. 38 Fig. 27), in Lusoi (Reichel-Wilhelm Österr.
Jahreshefte 1901 p. 63 Fig. 137-141). One may assume with Benndorf that
they all come from a large manufacturing center.
This should be followed by the list of the other monuments that cannot be located more precisely:
Fig.8: Female head, dating near the end of the 4th century BC.
The shape of the forehead and the eyes point the lovingly
executed head to the post-Praxitelian period. The interpretation of
Aphrodite is confirmed by the comparison with the head of the Medicean
and Aphrodite crouching in the bath, with whom he shares the hairstyle.
However, after the simpler treatment of the hair and the less developed
facial expression, the head is thought to be older than this and is as
close as possible to the 4th century BC.
2.
Head of Aphrodite. Height 20 cm; the face is badly bumped. The
hair is swept to either side in
waves, covering the top half of the ears. At the back it is united in
an artificially looped knot. A narrow bandage is placed around the hair
at the top. The head belongs to the series of heads grouped around that
of the Cnidian Aphrodite, a sculpture by Praxitiles of Athens dating
from the 4th century BC, but is quite a bulky work (A. V. 183).
3.
Torso (abdomen and thighs) of a dancing satyr. Height 23 cm. The tail at
the back is broken off. The right leg is withdrawn, the left one
advanced; it was perhaps placed in front of the right leg. The upper
right side of the body rotates forward. Good work; the back is
particularly well preserved. For the motif of the torso, compare the
torso of the dancing satyr in Berlin and the statues related to it,
about which Furtwängler Satyr from Pergamon p. 12 ff. (40 Berl.
Winckelmannsprogr.) has acted.
4. Larger-than-life hand holding
three apples. L. 15.5 cm. It probably comes from the colossal statue of
Heracles with the apples of the Hesperides: compare the statue from the
theater of Pompeius Monum. dell'Inst. VIII 50, plus Furtwangler
Roschers Lexikon Sp. 2179.
5. Statuette of a headless man. H. 19
cm. He is dressed in a long chiton that falls down to her feet, is
belted broadly under the breast and hangs down in front in broad, deep
folds, while it lies firmly against the legs. The left leg is straight,
the right one is (p.315) drawn back. The right arm was raised, the left
lowered; the left shoulder is slightly inclined. On the left thigh,
below the belt, there is a small round hole that was probably used to
insert or fasten a metal object held in the left hand. Inferior work.
The pose is reminiscent of Apollon Musagetes, who holds the lyre in his
left hand and the plectrum in his right (cf. the statue in
Ny-Carlsberg, Reinach Repertoire II 105, 9).
6.
Female head meant for insertion into a statue of Artemis (fig.9),
height. 23.5 cm, dating from the Roman period. The nose and left
cheek are heavily bumped. Her hair is combed to the sides with a small
bow over the forehead. The hair is tied at the back of the head and
then falls in three braids at the nape of the neck. A long,
artificially twisted curl is behind each ear. Traces of red paint on
the eyes. (A.V. 179).
Fig.9: Head of Artemis from the Roman period.
Footnotes:
1. Unless otherwise stated, the material is always Pentelic marble.
2 Cf. Kavvadias 1888, 67.
3 Cf. Dutschke Antiquity Bildwerke in Oberitalien V, 149 and the literature cited there
4. Cf. Furtwängler Arch. Yearbook 1889 p. 83; Schrieber Saxon treatises 1897 p. 95 anm.122.
.
[Continue to part 2]
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