A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities Part 14

Lioness, couching for a spring, but with right paw raised.

Prachov, pl. vi. A, e.

[Sidenote: 4.]

Lion devouring deer. This group is of an established conventional form.

Fellows, _Lycia_, pl. facing p. 174; Wolters, No. 148; Prachov, pl. vi. B, d.; Dieulafoy, _L'Art Ant. de la Perse_, III., pl. 16; Brunn, _Denkmaeler_, No. 104.

[Sidenote: 5.]

Lynx to left, with right paw raised.

Prachov, pl. vi. A, b.; Wolters, No. 147.

[Sidenote: 6, 7.]

Bull contending with Satyr, who appears to be in a position similar to Satyr on slab 1; but a joint cuts off the right leg, and the left arm is wanting.

Prachov, pl. vi. A, f; vi. B, g. Coa.r.s.e limestone. The height of the frieze is 2 feet 6-3/4 inches; the lengths of the slabs are: (1) 4 feet 9 inches; (2) 6 feet; (3) 5 feet 9 inches; (4) 5 feet 1-1/2 inches; (5) 4 feet 11 inches; (6) 4 feet 9-1/2 inches; (7) 3 feet 1 inch.

[Sidenote: =82.= 1-8.]

Frieze of c.o.c.ks and hens. Six c.o.c.ks and five hens represented as standing still, picking up food, or fighting. The work is carefully studied from nature.--_Built into the walls of the Acropolis at Xanthos._

Coa.r.s.e limestone; height, 1 foot 4-1/2 inches; combined length of eight slabs, 28 feet 8 inches; Fellows, _Lycia_, pl. facing p. 174 (two slabs); Wolters, Nos. 136-144; Brunn, _Denkmaeler_, No. 103.

[Sidenote: =83.=]

Part of a tomb (?). From each of two opposite sides, the head and forepaws of a lioness project. The heads are slightly turned towards the front.--_Found at the foot of the Inscribed Monument, Xanthos._

Limestone; height, 1 foot 5 inches; length, 4 feet 1-3/4 inches.

Fellows, _Lycia_, pl. facing p. 174.

[Sidenote: =84.=]

Head and neck of a lion, from a tomb (?). Several pieces of the mane were separately worked and attached.--_Xanthos._

Limestone; height, 1 foot 10 inches.

[Sidenote: =85.=]

Fragment of unfinished relief, with two legs of a seat or couch (?).--_Xanthos._

Limestone; height, 2 feet 4 inches. Compare Perrot and Chipiez, V., p. 304, fig. 211.

[Sidenote: =86.=]

A frieze representing a procession moving from left to right. The figures beginning from the right are:--

[Sidenote: 1.]

An old man, seated in a car, driving two horses. Behind him stood an attendant, of whose figure a piece of drapery on the next slab alone remains.

[Sidenote: 2.]

A youth, leading a horse, saddled and bridled. He wears a short chiton, and carries a whip. Details of the hair were probably indicated with paint.

[Sidenote: 3, 4.]

A venerable old man, seated in a chair, placed in a war chariot drawn by two horses. He has long hair, bound with a taenia, and a long pointed beard. He wears a chiton with sleeves, and a mantle.

He holds a pomegranate flower in his left hand, and a cup (?) in his right hand. Beside him is a charioteer treated like the youth of the preceding group. The reins, now lost, were made of bronze.

Youth riding a spirited horse, equipped like the horse of the second group. The rider wears a chiton with short sleeves, and a himation. He has long hair falling on the shoulders.

[Sidenote: 5.]

A group of draped persons moving to right, and composed of the following figures:--

Man (much mutilated) standing to right and turning to front. He holds a whisk in the right hand, and a spear in the left hand.

Man, carrying a spear over the left shoulder, supporting it with both hands clasped.

Man moving to right but looking back. He carries a spear on the left shoulder; right hand holds a fold of the drapery.

Man with spear on left shoulder and whisk in right hand.

Man with spear on right shoulder; left hand holds an edge of the himation.

Man with spear on left shoulder. The front part only of this figure is preserved.

The standing figures all wear a long chiton, with long sleeves, and a himation which is wrapped closely about the body, pa.s.sing under the right arm and over the left shoulder.

The size and treatment of the horses on the frieze, and the use of whisks by the standing figures, show Oriental influences, although the artistic style is distinctly Greek. The upright crest on the head of the horse in the fourth group is seen on the horses of Persepolitan sculpture. Compare the Persepolitan casts in the British Museum, a.s.signed to 500 B.C., and Fellows, _Lycia_, p.

173. The ends of the horses' tails are also tied with ribbon in the same way as here. Saddle-cloths occur on early vases from Daphnae (Petrie, _Nebesheh and Defenneh_, pl. 29, fig. 4), and on painted sarcophagi from Clazomenae (_Journ. of h.e.l.len. Studies_, iv., p. 19, fig. 14).

The traces of Persian fashion make it probable that this relief is later than the Persian conquest of Xanthos by Harpagos (about 545 B.C.).

The architectural disposition of the frieze has not been ascertained. The slabs were found by Fellows, inserted in a wall of late date on the Acropolis of Xanthos (Benndorf, _Reisen in Lykien_, i., p. 86), but it is clear from the square holes that occur at intervals of 4 ft. 8 in., that stone beams, imitating wood construction, must once have projected, and from the raised border round the holes it is seen that this was the intention of the artist. It is probable that the frieze belonged to a tomb, and perhaps represented a funeral procession. It is not possible to say whether it was on the outside or on the inside of the building. (Compare Nos. 87, 88, and the tomb of Giol-Baschi.

Compare also the casts of reliefs from Pinara, Nos. 761-4, for the projecting beam ends.)--_Acropolis of Xanthos._

A similar procession occurs on a sarcophagus from Amathus.

(Cesnola, _Cyprus_, pl. 14.)

Height, 2 feet 9-1/2 inches; combined length of five slabs, 17 feet 4 inches; height of relief, 2 feet 5 inches; but in parts, upper margin is cut into. Fellows, _Lycia_, pls. facing pp.

173, 177; Prachov, pl. 3; Cesnola, _Cyprus_, pls. 16, 17; Murray, I., pls. 4-6; Wolters, Nos. 131-134; Wolters in _Jahrbuch des Arch. Inst._, I., p. 84; Brunn, _Denkmaeler_, No. 102.

[Sidenote: =87.=]