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- Description
- Pottery: red-figured hydria (water-jar). Judgment of Paris. On the right Paris, a beardless youth with long hair, a fringe of wavy locks around his forehead, a fillet, and an himation, is seated on Mount Ida playing on the chelys; at the foot of the mountain a ram is drawn in outline, standing to the right; its wool is indicated by <-shaped marks. To him the three goddesses advance in single file: first comes Hera in a bordered chiton with long sleeves and v-shaped marks, an himation, a saccos with flap beside the ear, and earrings; on her right arm her sceptre, surmounted with a honeysuckle flower, and in her left the Golden Apple of Discord. Next comes Athene, in long chiton, mantle hanging in pteryges, aegis dotted and bordered, with a fringe of snakes, a fillet, hair passed through a circular object, and earrings; on her right she carries her spear; her left is hidden behind the back of Hera. She turns her head to look at Aphrodite, who wears a long chiton, a mantle which covers her arms and the back of her head, and a dotted fillet. Each of the goddesses has a wavy loop of hair brought forward over the temples. Later stage of severe style; characteristic features are the full, nearly semicircular chin, the pouting lips, and the eye sloping downward towards the outer angle. Purple (nearly white) tuning-pegs of lyre. Brown wavy lines for hair against face, for markings of rock, and entire drawing of sheep. On the left the vase has received a large semicircular crack, which has been (anciently?) painted over with a thin line of purple. The design curves up over the shoulder. Above and below it, strips of pairs of maeander separated by red cross squares. Around the lip, egg pattern. --The British Museum, Walters, H B; Forsdyke, E J; Smith, C H, Catalogue of Vases in the British Museum, I-IV, London, BMP, 1893; Walters, H B; Forsdyke, E J, Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum: Great Britain 7, British Museum 5, London, BMP, 1930
- Description
- Pottery: black-figured amphora. On the neck, double honeysuckle. (a) Aeneas carrying off Anchises from Troy: In the centre is Aeneas to right, fully armed, with Boeotian shield and two spears, carrying Anchises on his shoulders; the latter has white hair and beard, long embroidered chiton, and sceptre. In front of them is Creusa (?) advancing to right and looking back at them, veiled in an embroidered himation. On the right is an old man to left, partly bald, with white hair and beard, long chiton and himation, holding a staff. Behind Aeneas is Aphrodite (?) retreating to left and looking back, with long hair, fillet, long chiton, and embroidered himation. On the left is an archer to right, beardless, with high-peaked cap, cuirass, short purple chiton, and quiver. (b) Combat of three warriors (perhaps Achilles defending Antilochos against Memnon): On the left is a bearded warrior, fully armed, with short white chiton and embroidered chlamys, thrusting with spear at a retreating warrior also fully armed, who looks back at him; he has two white plumes on his helmet, short purple chiton, Boeotian shield with device of a thunderbolt and defends himself with spear. On the right is another warrior defending the latter, fully armed, with short purple chiton, and shield with device of a dolphin to left, thrusting with spear. --The British Museum, A Catalogue of the Greek and Etruscan Vases in the British Museum, London, William Nicol, 1851; Walters, H B; Forsdyke, E J; Smith, C H, Catalogue of Vases in the British Museum, I-IV, London, BMP, 1893; Walters, H B, Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum: Great Britain 5, British Museum 4, London, BMP, 1929
- Description
- Pottery: black-figured neck-amphora. Rather coarse style. On the neck, (a) double honeysuckle, and (b) chain of palmettes. (a) Ajax carrying off Achilles' body: Ajax to left, fully armed, with Boeotian shield, on which are two snakes as device, with rosette between for the boss, is carrying the body of Achilles on his shoulder, bending down beneath its weight. Achilles is armed as Ajax; on his Boeotian shield is the device of a bull's head. Before them is Thetis (?) retreating to left, with long hair, fillet, long chiton and himation, both embroidered, looking back and beckoning to Ajax with left hand. (b) Dionysos seated on an okladias to right, looking back at a Maenad, who retreats to left, looking back. She has long hair with sphendonè, long chiton and himation, both embroidered, in left hand a crotalon (castanet). Dionysos has a long beard, ivy-wreath, long white chiton and embroidered himation, in left hand a keras, in right vine-branches with grapes. --The British Museum, A Catalogue of the Greek and Etruscan Vases in the British Museum, London, William Nicol, 1851; Walters, H B; Forsdyke, E J; Smith, C H, Catalogue of Vases in the British Museum, I-IV, London, BMP, 1893; Walters, H B, Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum: Great Britain 5, British Museum 4, London, BMP, 1929
114. Recovery of Helen
- Description
- Pottery: black-figured amphora. Designs black on red panels, with borders of lotus-buds along the top; accessories of white and purple. (a) Departure of Aeneas from Troy: In the centre is Aeneas to right, bearded, with visored helmet and short chiton, carrying two spears; on his shoulders is Anchises, whose legs he supports with his hands. The latter has white beard and tresses, and wears a himation; in left hand he holds a sceptre. In front of them is a female figure, either Creusa, or Aphrodite, hastening to right, and looking back as if encouraging them. She wears a long embroidered chiton and himation with purple stripes; her right hand holds up her dress, her left is raised. On the left is a Trojan archer running to left and looking back; he wears a pointed cap, close-fitting jerkin and shoulder-belt, his hair is looped up under a fillet, and a quiver, with a wing attached to it, hangs at his left side. (b) Acamas and Demophon conducting Aithra: In the centre is Aithra to right, in long chiton and himation over her head, both embroidered with white rosettes; with left hand she draws forward the edge of the himation. On the right is Demophon, moving to right, and looking back at her; he has a short embroidered chiton, chlamys, helmet, sword at side, spear, and shield with ΑΘΕ painted on it. On the left is Acamas, departing to left and looking back; he has a short embroidered chiton, cuirass, visored helmet, sword at left side, two spears in right hand, and shield with three crescents painted round the rim. --The British Museum, A Catalogue of the Greek and Etruscan Vases in the British Museum, London, William Nicol, 1851; Walters, H B; Forsdyke, E J; Smith, C H, Catalogue of Vases in the British Museum, I-IV, London, BMP, 1893; Walters, H B, Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum: Great Britain 4, British Museum 3, London, BMP, 1927
- Description
- Marble reliefs from the Harpy Tomb. Chest with reliefs on all four sides which originally surmounted a Lycian sepulchral tower. 1. North side. In the centre a young armed man stands on the left offering a helmet to a bearded man seated on the right. The former wears sandals, greaves, short chiton with sleeves of crinkled material, the lower part in flat pleats with high zigzag edge, and cuirass with leathern flaps; at his left side is a short broad sword, the scabbard ending in a knob; in front of his chest projects a bird's head and neck, the sword-handle; it is higher than the scabbard, the blade being curved. The back of the head is broken away and the face is weathered. His left hand supports a large shield which stands on edge on the ground before him; with his right hand he extends a plumed Corinthian helmet to the seated figure, who raises his right hand to receive it. The latter wears sandals, sleeved Ionic chiton and mantle thrown over his back, left shoulder and knees. His right hand holds a spear or sceptre sloped against the left shoulder. He has a moustache and pointed beard, long nose and almond-shaped eyes, the inner angle curving, the upper lid prolonged in an incised line. The head is disproportionately large and is lost at the back. The outline of the hair is waved. The seat is a stool with turned legs, upon which is a cushion; underneath it is a small quadruped with thick body, short legs, and pointed snout lowered to the ground to left, possibly a bear (the identification by some writers as a pig is wrong, as the animal has paws). On the angle-slabs, facing outwards, are the figures formerly known as Harpies, but which are now identified as Sirens. They have the head, breasts and arms of women; the body ends like an egg, with a bird's spreading tail and talons attached. Long wings spring from the shoulders and under the arms; the ends are continued on the centre slab. The figures are shown as nude save that on the elbows are the crinkled sleeves of chitons. The hair is worked in small waves and confined by a pointed diadem; it falls in long tresses on the left figure, and is looped up at the back on the right. Their features wear a soft smile, as they fly off carrying diminutive female figures in their arms clasped against their breasts by both hands and talons. The latter wear long crinkled chitons with sleeves and long overfolds; the feet are bare, their hair is long and falls loosely; on the right, the hair is waved, with a diadem; on the left it is treated as a plane with horizontal grooves. Each raises the inner hand to the chin of the Harpy, the outer hand hangs down; the one on the right holds in the hanging hand an object now broken, perhaps a patera. On the extreme right in the corner squats a diminutive woman in an attitude of grief, her chin resting on both hands, her head turned upwards towards the siren. She wears a long crinkled chiton with large loose sleeves and a diadem on her hair, which hangs loose at the back. The mouth and front edge of forearms and legs are broken away. 2. South side. The angle-slabs are practically replicas of those on the North side; in each is a Siren carrying off a female. On the left slab the hair of the Siren is looped up-behind, two, short curls falling in front of the ear; the female raises its right hand, while the left arm hangs limply; it is clasped more tightly than the other. On the right slab the woman raises both hands, and the hair of the Siren falls in long plaits. Both women have waved hair with diadems. The right bottom corner of the left angle slab is missing; there is no seated mourner. The central group consists of a man enthroned on the left, before whom stands a figure of uncertain sex. The seated man is beardless, with full features and heavy forms; he wears Ionic chiton, mantle over the left shoulder, and shoes with turned-up toes, and is seated on a throne with turned legs, cushion and high back. A spear, or sceptre, leans against his left shoulder. His hands are extended before him, the right holding an apple, the left holding aloft a pomegranate. The back of his head and the back leg of the throne are missing. The head and shoulders of the standing figure are broken off, but the outline of the nose and chin, which was beardless, may be traced on the slab; it has generally been interpreted as male; the left hand holds a fluttering dove in front by the wing, the right hand is raised with fingers extended in an attitude of adoration; the dress consists of Ionic chiton, mantle and sandals. 3. East side. This side has suffered most from weathering. The central group consists of a bearded man enthroned on the left to whom a youth brings offerings. The throne has legs terminating in animal's feet, a high sloping back, a brace and a handrail supported by a small Triton who is extended with body to front and bearded head to right, the hands outstretched as supporters; a cushion is indicated. The details of the man's face are weathered; he has a long pointed beard, and wears Ionic chiton and mantle, the end of the latter falling over the back of the chair; his feet, which seem to be bare, rest on a cushion the front of which, with the toes, is broken away, as is also the back leg of the chair. His left hand rests on the staff of a spear or sceptre his right holds a poppy (?) before his face. Before him is a diminutive draped boy, holding out to him a cock held in the right hand, and in the left a fruit. The lower part of this figure is missing; it may have been shown as kneeling. On the left angle slab two draped figures advance towards the centre, both wearing Ionic chitons and mantles; the first has sandals, the second is barefoot. The first holds a pomegranate suspended from the left hand and in the right holds up a flower (?). The second draws up an edge of the mantle with the left hand, and with the right raises a poppy-head (?) to the face. The sex of these two persons has been much disputed; the pose of the hands, the attributes and the arrangement of the drapery compare with the women on the West side; on the other hand, the contours are indefinite, and therefore probably male; the hair is short like the man on the right angle slab, and the second of the two appears to have a short pointed beard; this figure is remarkably corpulent. On the right angle slab, a youth advances towards the centre. His feet are broken away; on his farther side is a dog looking up at him, its tail on the right edge of the slab. He wears Ionic chiton and mantle over the left shoulder and his hair is short at the back. He holds a stick with a curved handle in his left hand; his right hand holds up an object, which is broken away save for a handle underneath his fingers, but which was in part of metal separately attached, for which the rivet hole remains; it may have been a cup on a tall stem. The feet are missing. All the persons on this side, save the boy in the centre, had metal circlets about their hair; the rivet holes remain at the back of the heads. 4. West side. In each angle slab an enthroned woman faces the centre. The woman on the left has a broad pointed diadem round her hair, which is waved over the forehead and tied in a knot behind, the ends falling on her shoulders. She wears Ionic chiton with long full sleeves down which runs a broad flat seam-strip, and a mantle over the left shoulder and knees; the end of the chiton falls like a bird's wing under the seat; on her wrists are bracelets. Her right hand is extended holding a libation-bowl on her knee; her left was raised holding some object which is now broken away. On her feet are shoes with upturned toes; she is seated on a throne with high back (the top broken), turned legs, a handrail supported by a seated sphinx to right and ending in a ram's head, cushion and footstool (a fragment rejoined and the right side missing). The footstool is in one piece with the throne, as on the Branchidae statues. The woman on the right is similar save that the hair is looped up; in her left hand she holds out a pomegranate, with her right she raises a poppy flower to her face. Her throne is of different design; the back is curved and ends in swan's head; there is no Sphinx under the handrail, which ends in a ram's head; the legs are rectangular with volute indents and terminate above in volutes. The left bottom corner of the footstool is missing; it is thicker than the other and independent of the throne. On the centre slab, three women move to right in procession towards the right seated figure. They are similar save in the attitude of the hands, and have diadems round the hair, which falls on back and breast in long tresses, Ionic sleeved chitons and mantles, the ends of which fall at the side on the first figure, down back and front on the other two. The first two have shoes with turned-up toes, the feet and legs below knees of the third are broken away, save for one bare toe. The first draws the side of her mantle in front of her face with the left hand and supports a fold in front of her hips with the right. The second holds a pomegranate in front of her with the right, while the left raises a poppy to her nose. The third holds up an egg before her face, while the left holds up the drapery. All wear bracelets. On the left the centre slab is prolonged above to form a lintel for the door, and the left angle slab is correspondingly cut back over the libation-bowl of the left seated figure to receive it. Above the door is a flat moulding and above this a relief of a cow to left suckling a calf. The shaft was of limestone, the reliefs of large-grained marble, now weathered; they are made up of central slabs and angle-pieces. The subjects are set in a frame; at the sides and at the top is a flat moulding, curving below into the relief-ground and projecting 0.023m; the relief of the figures occasionally projects beyond it. At the bottom is a straight base-line below which is a cyma recta. The north, south and east sides are similar in composition; in the central slab a seated figure receives offerings, while angle-pieces are filled by subsidiary figures. The western side contained the entrance to the chamber and shows seated figures in the angle-pieces and a procession in the centre, with an independent relief in the space over the door. The reliefs are worked with elaboration of detail, fleshy smiling faces and soft draperies that reveal the contours. The west side is not only the best preserved and most important, but is superior in style; the proportions are better, the scale smaller, the heads being kept below the moulding. On the North and East (and possibly the South) sides, all heads cut into the moulding, except the Siren groups which, however, extend over the side border, as if to emphasise the idea of departure. On these three sides the figures are thick and clumsy. The hair is, with one exception, delicately worked in rows of waved lines, cut short on the neck for the men, loose or looped up on the women. The eye shows a raised eyeball and raised lashes, the inner angle sometimes blunted. The drapery is carefully finished; on the chitons of the children the crinkling is convex, on the other figures it is worked in narrow concave bands. The wider folds of the mantles are also curved. The lower edges of the sleeves are formally drawn forward. --The British Museum, Pryce, F N; Smith, A H, Catalogue of Greek Sculpture in the British Museum, I-III, London, BMP, 1892
- Description
- Marble reliefs from the Harpy Tomb. Chest with reliefs on all four sides which originally surmounted a Lycian sepulchral tower. 1. North side. In the centre a young armed man stands on the left offering a helmet to a bearded man seated on the right. The former wears sandals, greaves, short chiton with sleeves of crinkled material, the lower part in flat pleats with high zigzag edge, and cuirass with leathern flaps; at his left side is a short broad sword, the scabbard ending in a knob; in front of his chest projects a bird's head and neck, the sword-handle; it is higher than the scabbard, the blade being curved. The back of the head is broken away and the face is weathered. His left hand supports a large shield which stands on edge on the ground before him; with his right hand he extends a plumed Corinthian helmet to the seated figure, who raises his right hand to receive it. The latter wears sandals, sleeved Ionic chiton and mantle thrown over his back, left shoulder and knees. His right hand holds a spear or sceptre sloped against the left shoulder. He has a moustache and pointed beard, long nose and almond-shaped eyes, the inner angle curving, the upper lid prolonged in an incised line. The head is disproportionately large and is lost at the back. The outline of the hair is waved. The seat is a stool with turned legs, upon which is a cushion; underneath it is a small quadruped with thick body, short legs, and pointed snout lowered to the ground to left, possibly a bear (the identification by some writers as a pig is wrong, as the animal has paws). On the angle-slabs, facing outwards, are the figures formerly known as Harpies, but which are now identified as Sirens. They have the head, breasts and arms of women; the body ends like an egg, with a bird's spreading tail and talons attached. Long wings spring from the shoulders and under the arms; the ends are continued on the centre slab. The figures are shown as nude save that on the elbows are the crinkled sleeves of chitons. The hair is worked in small waves and confined by a pointed diadem; it falls in long tresses on the left figure, and is looped up at the back on the right. Their features wear a soft smile, as they fly off carrying diminutive female figures in their arms clasped against their breasts by both hands and talons. The latter wear long crinkled chitons with sleeves and long overfolds; the feet are bare, their hair is long and falls loosely; on the right, the hair is waved, with a diadem; on the left it is treated as a plane with horizontal grooves. Each raises the inner hand to the chin of the Harpy, the outer hand hangs down; the one on the right holds in the hanging hand an object now broken, perhaps a patera. On the extreme right in the corner squats a diminutive woman in an attitude of grief, her chin resting on both hands, her head turned upwards towards the siren. She wears a long crinkled chiton with large loose sleeves and a diadem on her hair, which hangs loose at the back. The mouth and front edge of forearms and legs are broken away. 2. South side. The angle-slabs are practically replicas of those on the North side; in each is a Siren carrying off a female. On the left slab the hair of the Siren is looped up-behind, two, short curls falling in front of the ear; the female raises its right hand, while the left arm hangs limply; it is clasped more tightly than the other. On the right slab the woman raises both hands, and the hair of the Siren falls in long plaits. Both women have waved hair with diadems. The right bottom corner of the left angle slab is missing; there is no seated mourner. The central group consists of a man enthroned on the left, before whom stands a figure of uncertain sex. The seated man is beardless, with full features and heavy forms; he wears Ionic chiton, mantle over the left shoulder, and shoes with turned-up toes, and is seated on a throne with turned legs, cushion and high back. A spear, or sceptre, leans against his left shoulder. His hands are extended before him, the right holding an apple, the left holding aloft a pomegranate. The back of his head and the back leg of the throne are missing. The head and shoulders of the standing figure are broken off, but the outline of the nose and chin, which was beardless, may be traced on the slab; it has generally been interpreted as male; the left hand holds a fluttering dove in front by the wing, the right hand is raised with fingers extended in an attitude of adoration; the dress consists of Ionic chiton, mantle and sandals. 3. East side. This side has suffered most from weathering. The central group consists of a bearded man enthroned on the left to whom a youth brings offerings. The throne has legs terminating in animal's feet, a high sloping back, a brace and a handrail supported by a small Triton who is extended with body to front and bearded head to right, the hands outstretched as supporters; a cushion is indicated. The details of the man's face are weathered; he has a long pointed beard, and wears Ionic chiton and mantle, the end of the latter falling over the back of the chair; his feet, which seem to be bare, rest on a cushion the front of which, with the toes, is broken away, as is also the back leg of the chair. His left hand rests on the staff of a spear or sceptre his right holds a poppy (?) before his face. Before him is a diminutive draped boy, holding out to him a cock held in the right hand, and in the left a fruit. The lower part of this figure is missing; it may have been shown as kneeling. On the left angle slab two draped figures advance towards the centre, both wearing Ionic chitons and mantles; the first has sandals, the second is barefoot. The first holds a pomegranate suspended from the left hand and in the right holds up a flower (?). The second draws up an edge of the mantle with the left hand, and with the right raises a poppy-head (?) to the face. The sex of these two persons has been much disputed; the pose of the hands, the attributes and the arrangement of the drapery compare with the women on the West side; on the other hand, the contours are indefinite, and therefore probably male; the hair is short like the man on the right angle slab, and the second of the two appears to have a short pointed beard; this figure is remarkably corpulent. On the right angle slab, a youth advances towards the centre. His feet are broken away; on his farther side is a dog looking up at him, its tail on the right edge of the slab. He wears Ionic chiton and mantle over the left shoulder and his hair is short at the back. He holds a stick with a curved handle in his left hand; his right hand holds up an object, which is broken away save for a handle underneath his fingers, but which was in part of metal separately attached, for which the rivet hole remains; it may have been a cup on a tall stem. The feet are missing. All the persons on this side, save the boy in the centre, had metal circlets about their hair; the rivet holes remain at the back of the heads. 4. West side. In each angle slab an enthroned woman faces the centre. The woman on the left has a broad pointed diadem round her hair, which is waved over the forehead and tied in a knot behind, the ends falling on her shoulders. She wears Ionic chiton with long full sleeves down which runs a broad flat seam-strip, and a mantle over the left shoulder and knees; the end of the chiton falls like a bird's wing under the seat; on her wrists are bracelets. Her right hand is extended holding a libation-bowl on her knee; her left was raised holding some object which is now broken away. On her feet are shoes with upturned toes; she is seated on a throne with high back (the top broken), turned legs, a handrail supported by a seated sphinx to right and ending in a ram's head, cushion and footstool (a fragment rejoined and the right side missing). The footstool is in one piece with the throne, as on the Branchidae statues. The woman on the right is similar save that the hair is looped up; in her left hand she holds out a pomegranate, with her right she raises a poppy flower to her face. Her throne is of different design; the back is curved and ends in swan's head; there is no Sphinx under the handrail, which ends in a ram's head; the legs are rectangular with volute indents and terminate above in volutes. The left bottom corner of the footstool is missing; it is thicker than the other and independent of the throne. On the centre slab, three women move to right in procession towards the right seated figure. They are similar save in the attitude of the hands, and have diadems round the hair, which falls on back and breast in long tresses, Ionic sleeved chitons and mantles, the ends of which fall at the side on the first figure, down back and front on the other two. The first two have shoes with turned-up toes, the feet and legs below knees of the third are broken away, save for one bare toe. The first draws the side of her mantle in front of her face with the left hand and supports a fold in front of her hips with the right. The second holds a pomegranate in front of her with the right, while the left raises a poppy to her nose. The third holds up an egg before her face, while the left holds up the drapery. All wear bracelets. On the left the centre slab is prolonged above to form a lintel for the door, and the left angle slab is correspondingly cut back over the libation-bowl of the left seated figure to receive it. Above the door is a flat moulding and above this a relief of a cow to left suckling a calf. The shaft was of limestone, the reliefs of large-grained marble, now weathered; they are made up of central slabs and angle-pieces. The subjects are set in a frame; at the sides and at the top is a flat moulding, curving below into the relief-ground and projecting 0.023m; the relief of the figures occasionally projects beyond it. At the bottom is a straight base-line below which is a cyma recta. The north, south and east sides are similar in composition; in the central slab a seated figure receives offerings, while angle-pieces are filled by subsidiary figures. The western side contained the entrance to the chamber and shows seated figures in the angle-pieces and a procession in the centre, with an independent relief in the space over the door. The reliefs are worked with elaboration of detail, fleshy smiling faces and soft draperies that reveal the contours. The west side is not only the best preserved and most important, but is superior in style; the proportions are better, the scale smaller, the heads being kept below the moulding. On the North and East (and possibly the South) sides, all heads cut into the moulding, except the Siren groups which, however, extend over the side border, as if to emphasise the idea of departure. On these three sides the figures are thick and clumsy. The hair is, with one exception, delicately worked in rows of waved lines, cut short on the neck for the men, loose or looped up on the women. The eye shows a raised eyeball and raised lashes, the inner angle sometimes blunted. The drapery is carefully finished; on the chitons of the children the crinkling is convex, on the other figures it is worked in narrow concave bands. The wider folds of the mantles are also curved. The lower edges of the sleeves are formally drawn forward. --The British Museum, Pryce, F N; Smith, A H, Catalogue of Greek Sculpture in the British Museum, I-III, London, BMP, 1892
- Description
- Marble reliefs from the Harpy Tomb. Chest with reliefs on all four sides which originally surmounted a Lycian sepulchral tower. 1. North side. In the centre a young armed man stands on the left offering a helmet to a bearded man seated on the right. The former wears sandals, greaves, short chiton with sleeves of crinkled material, the lower part in flat pleats with high zigzag edge, and cuirass with leathern flaps; at his left side is a short broad sword, the scabbard ending in a knob; in front of his chest projects a bird's head and neck, the sword-handle; it is higher than the scabbard, the blade being curved. The back of the head is broken away and the face is weathered. His left hand supports a large shield which stands on edge on the ground before him; with his right hand he extends a plumed Corinthian helmet to the seated figure, who raises his right hand to receive it. The latter wears sandals, sleeved Ionic chiton and mantle thrown over his back, left shoulder and knees. His right hand holds a spear or sceptre sloped against the left shoulder. He has a moustache and pointed beard, long nose and almond-shaped eyes, the inner angle curving, the upper lid prolonged in an incised line. The head is disproportionately large and is lost at the back. The outline of the hair is waved. The seat is a stool with turned legs, upon which is a cushion; underneath it is a small quadruped with thick body, short legs, and pointed snout lowered to the ground to left, possibly a bear (the identification by some writers as a pig is wrong, as the animal has paws). On the angle-slabs, facing outwards, are the figures formerly known as Harpies, but which are now identified as Sirens. They have the head, breasts and arms of women; the body ends like an egg, with a bird's spreading tail and talons attached. Long wings spring from the shoulders and under the arms; the ends are continued on the centre slab. The figures are shown as nude save that on the elbows are the crinkled sleeves of chitons. The hair is worked in small waves and confined by a pointed diadem; it falls in long tresses on the left figure, and is looped up at the back on the right. Their features wear a soft smile, as they fly off carrying diminutive female figures in their arms clasped against their breasts by both hands and talons. The latter wear long crinkled chitons with sleeves and long overfolds; the feet are bare, their hair is long and falls loosely; on the right, the hair is waved, with a diadem; on the left it is treated as a plane with horizontal grooves. Each raises the inner hand to the chin of the Harpy, the outer hand hangs down; the one on the right holds in the hanging hand an object now broken, perhaps a patera. On the extreme right in the corner squats a diminutive woman in an attitude of grief, her chin resting on both hands, her head turned upwards towards the siren. She wears a long crinkled chiton with large loose sleeves and a diadem on her hair, which hangs loose at the back. The mouth and front edge of forearms and legs are broken away. 2. South side. The angle-slabs are practically replicas of those on the North side; in each is a Siren carrying off a female. On the left slab the hair of the Siren is looped up-behind, two, short curls falling in front of the ear; the female raises its right hand, while the left arm hangs limply; it is clasped more tightly than the other. On the right slab the woman raises both hands, and the hair of the Siren falls in long plaits. Both women have waved hair with diadems. The right bottom corner of the left angle slab is missing; there is no seated mourner. The central group consists of a man enthroned on the left, before whom stands a figure of uncertain sex. The seated man is beardless, with full features and heavy forms; he wears Ionic chiton, mantle over the left shoulder, and shoes with turned-up toes, and is seated on a throne with turned legs, cushion and high back. A spear, or sceptre, leans against his left shoulder. His hands are extended before him, the right holding an apple, the left holding aloft a pomegranate. The back of his head and the back leg of the throne are missing. The head and shoulders of the standing figure are broken off, but the outline of the nose and chin, which was beardless, may be traced on the slab; it has generally been interpreted as male; the left hand holds a fluttering dove in front by the wing, the right hand is raised with fingers extended in an attitude of adoration; the dress consists of Ionic chiton, mantle and sandals. 3. East side. This side has suffered most from weathering. The central group consists of a bearded man enthroned on the left to whom a youth brings offerings. The throne has legs terminating in animal's feet, a high sloping back, a brace and a handrail supported by a small Triton who is extended with body to front and bearded head to right, the hands outstretched as supporters; a cushion is indicated. The details of the man's face are weathered; he has a long pointed beard, and wears Ionic chiton and mantle, the end of the latter falling over the back of the chair; his feet, which seem to be bare, rest on a cushion the front of which, with the toes, is broken away, as is also the back leg of the chair. His left hand rests on the staff of a spear or sceptre his right holds a poppy (?) before his face. Before him is a diminutive draped boy, holding out to him a cock held in the right hand, and in the left a fruit. The lower part of this figure is missing; it may have been shown as kneeling. On the left angle slab two draped figures advance towards the centre, both wearing Ionic chitons and mantles; the first has sandals, the second is barefoot. The first holds a pomegranate suspended from the left hand and in the right holds up a flower (?). The second draws up an edge of the mantle with the left hand, and with the right raises a poppy-head (?) to the face. The sex of these two persons has been much disputed; the pose of the hands, the attributes and the arrangement of the drapery compare with the women on the West side; on the other hand, the contours are indefinite, and therefore probably male; the hair is short like the man on the right angle slab, and the second of the two appears to have a short pointed beard; this figure is remarkably corpulent. On the right angle slab, a youth advances towards the centre. His feet are broken away; on his farther side is a dog looking up at him, its tail on the right edge of the slab. He wears Ionic chiton and mantle over the left shoulder and his hair is short at the back. He holds a stick with a curved handle in his left hand; his right hand holds up an object, which is broken away save for a handle underneath his fingers, but which was in part of metal separately attached, for which the rivet hole remains; it may have been a cup on a tall stem. The feet are missing. All the persons on this side, save the boy in the centre, had metal circlets about their hair; the rivet holes remain at the back of the heads. 4. West side. In each angle slab an enthroned woman faces the centre. The woman on the left has a broad pointed diadem round her hair, which is waved over the forehead and tied in a knot behind, the ends falling on her shoulders. She wears Ionic chiton with long full sleeves down which runs a broad flat seam-strip, and a mantle over the left shoulder and knees; the end of the chiton falls like a bird's wing under the seat; on her wrists are bracelets. Her right hand is extended holding a libation-bowl on her knee; her left was raised holding some object which is now broken away. On her feet are shoes with upturned toes; she is seated on a throne with high back (the top broken), turned legs, a handrail supported by a seated sphinx to right and ending in a ram's head, cushion and footstool (a fragment rejoined and the right side missing). The footstool is in one piece with the throne, as on the Branchidae statues. The woman on the right is similar save that the hair is looped up; in her left hand she holds out a pomegranate, with her right she raises a poppy flower to her face. Her throne is of different design; the back is curved and ends in swan's head; there is no Sphinx under the handrail, which ends in a ram's head; the legs are rectangular with volute indents and terminate above in volutes. The left bottom corner of the footstool is missing; it is thicker than the other and independent of the throne. On the centre slab, three women move to right in procession towards the right seated figure. They are similar save in the attitude of the hands, and have diadems round the hair, which falls on back and breast in long tresses, Ionic sleeved chitons and mantles, the ends of which fall at the side on the first figure, down back and front on the other two. The first two have shoes with turned-up toes, the feet and legs below knees of the third are broken away, save for one bare toe. The first draws the side of her mantle in front of her face with the left hand and supports a fold in front of her hips with the right. The second holds a pomegranate in front of her with the right, while the left raises a poppy to her nose. The third holds up an egg before her face, while the left holds up the drapery. All wear bracelets. On the left the centre slab is prolonged above to form a lintel for the door, and the left angle slab is correspondingly cut back over the libation-bowl of the left seated figure to receive it. Above the door is a flat moulding and above this a relief of a cow to left suckling a calf. The shaft was of limestone, the reliefs of large-grained marble, now weathered; they are made up of central slabs and angle-pieces. The subjects are set in a frame; at the sides and at the top is a flat moulding, curving below into the relief-ground and projecting 0.023m; the relief of the figures occasionally projects beyond it. At the bottom is a straight base-line below which is a cyma recta. The north, south and east sides are similar in composition; in the central slab a seated figure receives offerings, while angle-pieces are filled by subsidiary figures. The western side contained the entrance to the chamber and shows seated figures in the angle-pieces and a procession in the centre, with an independent relief in the space over the door. The reliefs are worked with elaboration of detail, fleshy smiling faces and soft draperies that reveal the contours. The west side is not only the best preserved and most important, but is superior in style; the proportions are better, the scale smaller, the heads being kept below the moulding. On the North and East (and possibly the South) sides, all heads cut into the moulding, except the Siren groups which, however, extend over the side border, as if to emphasise the idea of departure. On these three sides the figures are thick and clumsy. The hair is, with one exception, delicately worked in rows of waved lines, cut short on the neck for the men, loose or looped up on the women. The eye shows a raised eyeball and raised lashes, the inner angle sometimes blunted. The drapery is carefully finished; on the chitons of the children the crinkling is convex, on the other figures it is worked in narrow concave bands. The wider folds of the mantles are also curved. The lower edges of the sleeves are formally drawn forward. --The British Museum, Pryce, F N; Smith, A H, Catalogue of Greek Sculpture in the British Museum, I-III, London, BMP, 1892
118. Escape from Cyclops
- Description
- Pottery lekythos decorated in the Six technique. Design black, indicated by incised lines, on a black ground, with red and white accessories; neck and shoulder red with black and white rays. Odysseus escaping from Polyphemos: Odysseus is tied under the belly of the ram to right, looking up; he is beardless, with short chiton and sword held up in left hand. He is painted red throughout, the ram's horns and breast white. In the field, imitation inscriptions. --The British Museum, A Catalogue of the Greek and Etruscan Vases in the British Museum, London, William Nicol, 1851; Walters, H B; Forsdyke, E J; Smith, C H, Catalogue of Vases in the British Museum, I-IV, London, BMP, 1893
119. Escape from Cyclops
- Description
- Pottery lekythos decorated in the Six technique. Design black, indicated by incised lines, on a black ground, with red and white accessories; neck and shoulder red with black and white rays. Odysseus escaping from Polyphemos: Odysseus is tied under the belly of the ram to right, looking up; he is beardless, with short chiton and sword held up in left hand. He is painted red throughout, the ram's horns and breast white. In the field, imitation inscriptions. --The British Museum, A Catalogue of the Greek and Etruscan Vases in the British Museum, London, William Nicol, 1851; Walters, H B; Forsdyke, E J; Smith, C H, Catalogue of Vases in the British Museum, I-IV, London, BMP, 1893
- Description
- Pottery: black-figured amphora. Designs black on red panels, with lotus and honeysuckle borders along the top; accessories of white and purple. (a) Judgment of Paris: On the right is Paris seated to left on a rock, bearded, with long hair looped up by a fillet, long chiton and himation, both embroidered with white rosettes, in left hand a lyre. Hermes, who is leading the three goddesses to him, is bearded, with long tresses, petasos, short white chiton, embroidered chlamys, and endromides, caduceus in right hand, left hand extended towards Paris. Behind him advance the three goddesses, each raising left hand. First, Hera, wearing long chiton and embroidered himation; next Athene, with high-crested helmet with cheek-pieces, long embroidered chiton with diploidion, and aegis, of which only the borders of snakes are visible, in right hand a spear; Aphrodite comes last, in long chiton and embroidered himation; all three have long hair, fillets, and necklaces. (b) Departure of a warrior: In the centre is the warrior to left, bearded, with visored helmet with fillet, chlamys, greaves, shield with device of a pellet, and two spears; facing him is a nude youth, wearing a fillet, who is receiving a garment (?) from the warrior. On the left an old man advances to right; he has a white beard and long white tresses with fillet, long purple chiton and striped himation, embroidered with white rosettes; his right hand leans on a knotted staff, and his left is extended to the warrior. On the right is a female figure to left, in a long chiton and striped embroidered himation drawn over her head; behind her is a youth to left, with fillet, long chiton, and striped himation embroidered with white rosettes. --The British Museum, A Catalogue of the Greek and Etruscan Vases in the British Museum, London, William Nicol, 1851; Walters, H B; Forsdyke, E J; Smith, C H, Catalogue of Vases in the British Museum, I-IV, London, BMP, 1893; Walters, H B, Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum: Great Britain 4, British Museum 3, London, BMP, 1927
