A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities Part 51

On the right of the transformed pirate is a group representing a Satyr about to strike with a branch of a tree a pirate seated on the ground, whose head he draws back with his left hand, brandishing in his right hand the branch held behind his neck; from the left arm of the Satyr hangs his panther's skin. He is bearded. In the drawing of Lusieri he has an ivy wreath and pointed ears. On the original this group is mutilated almost beyond recognition. The last group on the right is composed of a Satyr darting forward with a lighted torch, which he is about to apply to a pirate seated on a rock with his hands tied behind his back. A large serpent behind the pirate has fastened its fangs on his right shoulder, and has one coil between his right arm and his back. The pirate looks round in agony towards his a.s.sailants. The serpent suggests the form of the legend usually current, in which Dionysos is a.s.sisted by strange monsters. According to Nonnus, _Dionys._, xlv., 1. 134, the ropes of the rigging of the ship turned to serpents.

[Sidenote: =431.=]

Cast from the capital of a column of the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates.

Height, 2 feet 3/4 inches. _Synopsis_, No. 360*. See Stuart, I., ch. IV. pl. 6, fig. 1.

THE CHORAGIC MONUMENT OF THRASYLLOS.

[Sidenote: =432.=]

The statue of Dionysos, here described, originally decorated a choragic monument, of which some scanty remains may still be seen below the southern wall of the Acropolis of Athens, and immediately above the Dionysiac theatre. The monument was in the form of a portico, the architrave of which rested on three pilasters which masked the entrance to a cavern in the rock. Until removed by Lord Elgin the statue stood above the facade. Since the removal of the statue the portico itself has been destroyed, and at present only the base and lower portions of the pilasters stand in position, while fragments of the inscription lie close at hand. We learn from the inscription on the centre of the face of the monument that it was dedicated by Thrasyllos to commemorate the victory gained by his tribe in the dramatic contest in which he was himself choragos, in the archonship of Neaichmos (320 B.C.); _C. I. G._, 224; _C. I. A._, ii., 1247. On the right and left were inscriptions recording the dedication of tripods by Thrasycles, son of Thrasyllos, who was agonothetes in the archonship of Pytharatos (271 B.C.); _C. I. G._, 225, 226; _C.

I. A._, ii., 1292, 1293. At some date intermediate between these two, probably about 310 B.C., the state had a.s.sumed the burden of providing the chorus, and the agonothetes or director of the contest took the place of the choragos, or provider of the chorus. (Hermann, _Lehrb. d.

Griech. Antiq._, Muller's ed., iii., pt. ii., p. 339.)

It has commonly been supposed that the statue belongs to the dedication of Thrasyllos. Stuart made the infelicitous conjecture that it held the votive tripod on its lap. The most recent writer on the subject, Reisch (in the _Athenische Mittheilungen_, xiii., p. 383), conjectures that the monument of Thrasyllos was originally surmounted by a pediment on which was a tripod; and that the pediment was removed by Thrasycles, who placed the statue in the centre, and bases for his tripods at the sides. It is left unexplained what became of the tripod of Thrasyllos. From the style of the statue we cannot decide between the two dates. Reisch well points out that in composition and spirit there is an attempt, only partially successful, to preserve the manner of Pheidias as seen in the Parthenon pediments. The figure is majestic, but the drapery is rather heavy. The influence of the younger Attic school hardly makes itself felt.

The statue is that of a colossal seated figure, the head, arms, and right foot to the instep wanting. The body is clad in a talaric chiton, over which is a panther's skin, pa.s.sing like a scarf from the left shoulder to the right side, and bound round the waist by a broad girdle, under which is seen the panther's face and teeth; an ample mantle pa.s.ses from the back of the figure over the lower limbs, falling in rich folds across the lap. The head and left arm of this statue were of separate pieces of marble, and were originally morticed to the body. The head was wanting as early as the visit of Spon and Wheler to Athens in 1676. On the left thigh is a sinking about 6 inches deep, 5 long, and 1-1/2 wide, in which some object may have been inserted, but which may have been used when the statue was being placed in position. On the drapery of the left shoulder there is a hole for a rivet. It seems probable that the G.o.d was represented with a lyre, the base of which rested on his left thigh. This instrument was the attribute of Dionysos Melpomenos (see Gerhard, _Ant.

Bildwerke_, text, p. 240), and the costume of the figure seems a.s.similated to that of a citharist.--_Elgin Coll._

Pentelic marble; height, 6 feet 3 inches. The stone is roughly hewn out at the back to lighten the figure. Wheler, _Journey_, p.

368; Le Roy, _Ruines_, pl. 8; Stuart, II., ch. IV., pls. 3, 6; _Mus. Marbles_, IX., pl. 1; Ellis, _Elgin Marbles_, II., p. 90; Overbeck, _Gr. Plast._, 3rd ed., II., p. 94; Reisch, _Athenische Mittheilungen_, XIII. (1888) pl. 8, p. 383; _Stereoscopic_, No.

114; Brunn, _Denkmaeler_, No. 119.

THE PROPYLAEA.

The Propylaea, or gateways to the Acropolis, were constructed by Mnesicles under the administration of Pericles, in the five years 436-431 B.C.

The main portion of the building consisted of two Doric portions, facing respectively inwards to the Acropolis and outwards. These were connected by a series of Ionic columns. The entrance was flanked on each side by wings (see the plan, fig. 20). The Elgin Collection contains a few architectural remains from the building. A portion of the cedar dowels which connected the drums of the columns of the Propylaea may be seen in the Bronze Room.--_Presented by A. W. Franks, Esq._ Cf. Dodwell, _Tour_, I., p. 313.

[Sidenote: =433.=]

Capital of Doric column from the Propylaea. It is impossible to tell from the dimensions whether this capital is derived from the internal or external portico.--_Elgin Coll._

Pentelic marble; width of abacus, 5 feet 5-1/2 inches. _Synopsis_, No. 130 (206). Stuart, II., ch. V., pl. 7, fig. 1. Penrose, _Athen. Architecture_, ch. X., pl. 31; Bohn, _Die Propylaen_, pls.

11, 13, fig. 2.

[Sidenote: =434.=]

Piece of drum of Ionic column from the inner order of the Propylaea.--_Elgin Coll._

Pentelic marble; height, 1 foot 4-1/2 inches; diameter, 3 feet 1/8 inch. _Synopsis_, No. 129. Penrose, _Athen. Architecture_, ch. X., pl. 32.

[Sidenote: =435.=]

Part of band for supporting the beams of the ceiling in the central hall of the Propylaea. There are considerable remains of the painted mouldings.--_Elgin Coll._

Pentelic marble; height, 1 foot 7-1/4 inches; length, 3 feet 10-1/2 inches. _Synopsis_, No. 131 (308). Stuart, II., ch. V., pl.

8, fig. 1; Bohn, _Die Propylaen_, pl. 12, fig. 6.

MISCELLANEOUS ARCHITECTURAL FRAGMENTS.

[Sidenote: =436.=]

Capital of one of the antae from the small Ionic temple near the Ilissos seen by Stuart, but destroyed since his time in 1780.--_Elgin Coll._

Height, 1 foot 1/8 inch; breadth, 2 feet 1/2 inch. _Synopsis_, No. 170 (174). Stuart, I., ch. II., pl. 8, fig. 1. See also Leake, _Topography of Athens_, 2nd ed., p. 250.

[Sidenote: =437.=]

Moulding with anthemion, plait, maeander, and leaf, bead and reel patterns. Found near the south-east _anta_ of the Erechtheion.

--_Inwood Coll._

Height, 8-1/4 inches; breadth, 6-3/4 inches. _Synopsis_, No. 407.

Inwood, _Erechtheion_, pl. 26, p. 138.

[Sidenote: =438.=]

Antefixal ornament or acroterion from the temple of Demeter at Eleusis. For a similar ornament see Kinnard in Stuart's _Antiquities of Athens_, 2nd ed., iii., pl. 1, p. 53.--_Elgin Coll._

Pentelic marble; height, 3 feet 7-1/2 inches. _Synopsis_, No. 169 (173); Laborde, _Le Parthenon_, pl. 27.

[Sidenote: =439.=]

Ornament of roof-tile, _kalypter anthemotos_. Purchased by Inwood at Athens.--_Inwood Coll._

Pentelic marble; height, 8-3/4 inches. _Synopsis_, No. 417.

Inwood, _Erechtheion_, pl. 28, fig. 3, p. 144.

[Sidenote: =440.=]

Ornament of roof-tile. Probably purchased by Inwood at Athens.--_Inwood Coll._

Pentelic marble; height, 10-3/4 inches. _Synopsis_, No. 412.

Inwood, _Erechtheion_, pl. 28, fig. 2, p. 144.

[Sidenote: =441.=]