A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities Part 2

The sculptures contained in the first section of this catalogue are derived from the site of Mycenae, the first four being fragments of important works of architecture. There is great uncertainty as to the date and origin of the Mycenaean monuments. A theory frequently advanced supposes that they are remains of an old civilization whose centre was Argolis, and which was swept away by Dorian invaders. If this view is accepted, Nos. 1-6 are separated by a long interval of years, and by a time of great political change, from the remaining sculptures in this volume. From No. 7 onwards we have works produced during the historical period; but the remains of Mycenae acquire interest from the consideration that they may be authentic memorials of a dynasty only dimly remembered in the Homeric Poems.

[Sidenote: =1-4.=]

Fragments of architecture from the building, commonly known as the 'Treasury of Atreus' at Mycenae. This building is a dome-covered tomb (_tholos_) of beehive shape, approached by a long pa.s.sage (_dromos_).

It is cut out from the side of a hill, and built of heavy masonry, covered with earth, so as to form a tumulus. It was partially excavated by Lord Elgin, and more completely in 1879 by the Greek Archaeological Society. The fragments Nos. 1-4 are parts of an elaborately decorated doorway to the tomb. They have been incorporated in a somewhat fanciful restoration which was made by Donaldson, and which has been much modified by later investigators.

For plans and views, see Stuart, 2nd ed., IV. pls. 1-5 (with Donaldson's restoration). Dodwell, _Pelasgic Remains_, pls. 9, 10.

_Athenische Mittheilungen_, IV., p. 177, pls. 11-13 (Thiersch); Mitch.e.l.l, p. 143. Donaldson's restoration is based on an earlier attempt by Lord Elgin's artists, which is now among the Elgin drawings in the British Museum.

[Sidenote: =1.=]

Fragment from the 'Treasury of Atreus' at Mycenae. The decoration consists of three bands of the wave pattern, separated by mouldings.

Two of these bands are in low relief; the third is in high relief, with a hole bored in the centre of each spiral for the insertion of gla.s.s or metal ornaments. Among the tools employed by the artist, the chisel, saw, and the tubular drill, were plainly included. From the fact that the end of the fragment is cut at an acute angle, it is inferred that this fragment was placed above the doorway of the building, in contact with a relief of triangular form. It is also possible that it may have formed part of a triangular slab above the door. A piece of red marble, similarly decorated, which is now at Athens, exactly fits the apex of the triangular opening (_Athenische Mittheilungen_, iv., pl. 13, fig. 1, A.).--_Elgin Coll._

Red marble. Height, 1 foot 4-1/4 inches; width, 3 feet 2-3/4 inches. Stuart, 2nd ed., IV., pl. 4, fig. 10; p. 32; cf. pl. 5; Dodwell, _Tour_, II., p. 232; Murray, I., p. 38; Wolters, No. 3.

[Sidenote: =2.=]

Fragment from the 'Treasury of Atreus' at Mycenae. The decoration consists of a band of the wave pattern, and a band of lozenges in low relief, the bands being separated by mouldings of similar character to those of No. 1. The saw and chisel were used by the artist.

This slab, according to Donaldson, formed a part of the architrave, over the entrance to the building. According to Dodwell, it was 'found by the excavators of the Earl of Elgin, near the Treasury of Atreus.'--_Elgin Coll._

Hard green limestone; height, 1 foot 6 inches; width, 3 feet 6 inches. Stuart, 2nd ed., IV., pl. 4, fig. 9; cf. pl. 5; Dodwell, _Tour_, II., p. 232; Murray, I., p. 39; Wolters, No. 2.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 1.--Restored Capital from the 'Treasury of Atreus'

(after Puchstein).]

[Sidenote: =3.=]

Fragment from the 'Treasury of Atreus' at Mycenae. This fragment, which is decorated with a portion of a wave pattern enclosed by two mouldings meeting at an acute angle, is a part of one of the columns that flanked the entrance to the building. These columns were decorated with an elaborate system of ornament, composed of zigzag bands of the wave pattern, best understood on reference to drawings of the complete column (_cf._ fig. 1). The tubular drill has been used as in No. 1.--_Presented by the Inst.i.tute of British Architects_, 1843.

Hard green limestone; height, 11 inches; width, 9 inches. For drawings of the restored column, with its capital (formerly taken for the base) compare Stuart, 2nd ed., IV., pl. 4, figs. 1-5, pl.

5. Dodwell, _Tour_, II., pl. facing p. 232; Murray, I., p. 40; Puchstein, _Das Ionische Capitell_, p. 50. For fragments of the capital, see Gell, _Itinerary_, pl. 7; Mitch.e.l.l, p. 145, fig. 70.

[Sidenote: =4.=]

Fragment from the 'Treasury of Atreus' at Mycenae. This is a part of the lower member of the capital of a pilaster flanking the great doorway (_cf._ fig. 1).--_Presented by the Inst.i.tute of British Architects_, 1843.

Hard green limestone; height, 3-1/2 inches; width, 10 inches.

Puchstein, _Das Ionische Capitell_, p. 50.

[Sidenote: =5.=]

Fragment of relief. Head and shoulder of rampant lion. From the shape of the fragment it appears to have been a part of a triangular relief filling the s.p.a.ce above a doorway. (Compare No. 1 and the Gate of Lions at Mycenae.) The lion's paw is extended as if towards another lion confronting him. A pattern is drawn in fine lines on the shoulder. Behind the lion is a branch of laurel.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 2.--Relief from Mycenae (?), No. 5.]

A part of this relief has been exposed to a corroding influence, which has acted uniformly on the surface, so that the design is sunk, but not obliterated.--_Mycenae (?)_ _Elgin Coll._

Limestone; height, 1 foot 10-1/4 inches; width, 2 feet 2 inches.

_Synopsis_, No. 204 (158). Murray (2nd ed.), I., p. 61.

[Sidenote: =6.=]

Fragment of relief. Forelegs and part of body of bull standing to left. A joint is worked in the stone, in front of the bull.--_Mycenae (?)_ _Elgin Coll._

Green limestone, closely resembling that of No. 5, but not identical with it. Both are composed princ.i.p.ally of flakes of mica, which are, however, larger and more abundant in No. 6 than in No. 5. Height, 1 foot 4-1/2 inches; width, 2 feet 5 inches.

_Synopsis_, No. 224 (160).

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 3.--Relief from Mycenae, No. 6.]

SCULPTURES FROM BRANCHIDAE.

The temple and oracle of Apollo at Didyma, near Miletus, in Asia Minor, were from time immemorial in the hands of the priestly clan of the Branchidae, whose name came to denote the place itself. This temple was destroyed by the Persians--probably by Darius on the suppression of the Ionian Revolt--about 495 B.C. (Herod. vi., 19. See, however, Strabo, xiv., p. 634; xi., p. 518.) After its destruction, the temple was not rebuilt till the time of Alexander. The temple was connected with the harbour Panormos by the Sacred Way. Along this the sculptures stood at intervals. They are dedicatory offerings made to Apollo, probably by the persons represented.

The following are the materials for fixing the period to which the sculptures of Branchidae must be a.s.signed. It is certain that none of them are later than the destruction of the temple by the Persians, and the latest of them (No. 16) appears a generation earlier than the works a.s.sociated with that period. On the other hand, there is no reason to place the oldest before the early part of the sixth century B.C. Thus these sculptures cover the period of (say) 580-520 B.C.

On epigraphic grounds, the date may be more closely defined. It is believed that the older form for [Greek: e e (TN: drawn as 2 vertical boxes)] was changed to H (TN: e =Eta) shortly before 550 B.C. By this criterion, Nos. 10, 17, belong to an older group, and No. 14 to a later group. An inscribed base now in the British Museum with the name of an artist, Terpsicles, also belongs to the older group (Roehl, _I.G.A._, 484). It has been suggested that Chares of Teichioussa (No.

14) was one of the local tyrants who were established after the destruction of the kingdom of Croesus (546 B.C.), and this agrees well with the epigraphical evidence.

The statues of Branchidae are of interest because they exhibit the process by which the grotesque coa.r.s.eness of primitive work tends towards the stiff and formal refinement that marks the later stage of archaic art. The series in the British Museum breaks off before the second stage has been completely attained, but it can be well supplemented by a seated female figure from Miletus, now in the Louvre (Rayet et Thomas, _Milet et le Golfe Latmique_, pl. 21).

The sculptures of the Sacred Way were discovered by Chandler in 1765 (_Antiqs. of Ionia_, 1st ed., I. p. 46; Chandler, _Travels in Asia Minor_, 1775, p. 152). They were more accurately examined by Gell, and the second _Dilettanti_ expedition in 1812 (_Antiqs. of Ionia_, 2nd ed., 1821, Part I., p. 29, vignette, and ch. III., pl. 1; Muller, _Denkmaeler_, I., pl. 9, fig. 33). A more accurate sketch was made by Ross (_Arch. Zeit._, 1850, pl. 13). Such of the sculptures as could be found in 1858 were removed by Sir C.

Newton; Newton, II., p. 527. On the inscriptions see Kirchhoff, _Studien_, 4th ed., pp. 19, 25.

[Sidenote: =7.=]

Female figure, seated on a chair, with her hand resting on her knees.

The head is wanting, and the upper part of the body is much mutilated.

The figure wears a long chiton, with sleeves, and a diplodion.

The feet of this figure (as of all the other figures) are bare. The drapery falls down in front of the legs in stiff conventional folds.

The sleeve, however, of the chiton is worked in a more natural manner.

There are remains of a key-pattern on the sides of the cushion of the chair.--_Sacred Way, Branchidae._

Parian marble; height, 3 feet 9 inches. Mansell, No. 607.

[Sidenote: =8.=]

Male figure, seated on a chair, with his hands resting on his knees.

The head, shoulders, left forearm, and hand are wanting. The figure wears a long chiton with sleeves and a mantle. The lower part of the chiton is entirely conventional, but parts of the mantle, and the outlines of the arms are worked after nature. On the ends of the cushion there is a pattern of zigzag lines.--_Sacred Way, Branchidae._

Parian marble; height, 3 feet 11-1/4 inches. Newton, II., p. 534; Mansell, No. 604 (left).

[Sidenote: =9.=]