Olympic Victor Monuments and Greek Athletic Art by Walter Woodburn Hyde
CHAPTER VII.
5271 words | Chapter 131
THE MATERIALS OF OLYMPIC VICTOR MONUMENTS, AND THE OLDEST DATED VICTOR
STATUE.[2172]
FIGURES 78-80.
It has been assumed pretty generally by archæologists that the victor
statues set up in the Altis at Olympia were uniformly of bronze.
Scherer, in his inaugural dissertation _de olympionicarum Statuis_,
which appeared in 1885, was the first to discuss the question
fully,[2173] and his arguments and conclusions have been followed,
for the most part, by later investigators. Thus Dittenberger and
Purgold state unequivocally that these statues were “_ausnahmslos aus
Bronze_”,[2174] while more recently Hitzig and Bluemner, in their great
commentary on Pausanias, have again pronounced the dictum that “_die
Siegerstatuen waren durchweg von Erz_”.[2175] Others, however, have not
been quite so sweeping in their generalization. Thus Wolters believes
that these statues, because they were set up in the open, were “_der
Regel nach_” of bronze,[2176] and Furtwaengler and Urlichs assume that
they were “_fast ausschliesslich aus Bronze_”.[2177]
THE CASE FOR BRONZE.
The arguments adduced by Scherer and others in defense of the
contention seem at first sight, although inferential in character,
quite conclusive. In the first place, it has been pointed out that all
the statuaries mentioned by Pausanias in his victor _periegesis_,[2178]
if recorded at all in Pliny’s _Historia Naturalis_, appear there in
the catalogue of bronze founders as workers in bronze κατ’ ἐξοχήν,
while none of them is known exclusively as a sculptor in marble. As
Hagelaïdas is the first in point of time, who flourished from the
third quarter of the sixth century B. C. to the second quarter of
the fifth,[2179] Scherer believed that all statues from his date
down—_posteriorum temporum_—were of bronze; and as Rhoikos and
Theodoros, the inventors of bronze founding, flourished about
Ols. 50 to 60 (= 580 to 540 B. C.),[2180] he believed that bronze
might have been used up to their date. In the next place, the excavated
bases, which have been identified as those of victor monuments, show
footprints of bronze statues. Thirdly, actual bronze fragments,
indubitably belonging to victor statues (of which two are attested by
inscriptions), were found during the excavations of the Altis. These
consist of the following:
(_a_) An inscribed convex piece of bronze of imperial times,
“_anscheinend vom Schenkel einer Bronzestatue herruehrend_.”[2181]
(_b_) A similar inscribed fragment of the same period.[2182]
(_c_) The remarkable life-size portrait head of a boxer or pancratiast,
which we have already discussed and reproduced (Fig. 61 A and B).[2183]
(_d_) A foot of masterly workmanship (Fig. 62) ascribed by
Furtwaengler[2184] to the end of the third century B. C. Its position
shows that the statue of which it was a part was represented in motion,
and consequently it has been assigned to a victor statue.
(_e_) A beautifully modeled right arm, somewhat under life-size,
supposedly from the statue of a boy victor.[2185]
(_f_) A right lower leg of excellent workmanship, assigned by
Furtwaengler to the same period as fragment _e_.[2186]
Still other bronze fragments of statues found at Olympia may have
belonged to statues of victors, especially to those of boys.[2187]
The small number of such fragments recovered—Scherer wrongly thought
there was none—is explained by assuming that all of these statues
were of bronze, and consequently were destroyed by the barbarians in
their inroads into Greece during the early Middle Ages, when this
metal was much prized.[2188] Another argument for believing that
these statues were of bronze is the silence of Pausanias concerning
the materials employed in them; for, in his enumeration of 192 such
monuments, he mentions the material of only two statues, those of
the boxer Praxidamas of Aegina[2189] and of the Opuntian pancratiast
Rhexibios,[2190] and he mentions these because of their great
antiquity, peculiar position in the Altis apart from the others
(near the column of Oinomaos), and the fact that they were made of
wood.[2191] Furthermore, in his book on _Achaia_ there occurs this
passage in reference to the statue of the victor Promachos, which
was set up in the Gymnasion of Pellene: καὶ αὐτοῦ [Προμάχου] καὶ
εἰκόνας ποιήσαντες οἱ Πελληνεῖς τὴν μὲν ἐς Ὀλυμπίαν ἀνέθεσαν, τὴν δὲ
ἐν τῷ γυμνασίῳ, λίθου ταύτην καὶ οὐ χαλκοῦ.[2192] Most critics have
inferred from these last words, “_the one in the Gymnasion being of
stone and not of bronze_,” that, although Pausanias says nothing
about the material of statues of victors in the Altis (barring the
two just mentioned), by implication all these statues were of bronze;
and they point out the fact that other writers furnish no evidence
concerning the material used in them—an argument _ex silentio_ to
the same effect. Besides these arguments many others have been urged
on purely a priori grounds; _e. g._, that, since these statues stood
in the open air, subject to all kinds of weathering, they must have
been made of bronze;[2193] that metal statues would have been cheaper
and more easily prepared than those of marble;[2194] that the later
Peloponnesian schools of athletic sculpture, which were characterized
by their predilection for bronze-founding, would nowhere have been more
prominently in evidence than at Olympia; etc.
Thus the case for the use of metal in these statues seems very well
substantiated, and, for the reasons given, it can not be reasonably
doubted that the vast majority of these monuments were made of bronze.
But that they were not exclusively of metal, and that there were many
exceptions to the general rule, not only can be conjectured on good
grounds, but can be proved by discoveries made at the excavations. We
shall briefly consider, then, each of the foregoing arguments in turn,
and see whether, in the light of the accumulated evidence, they are
really as well founded as they appear to be.
THE CASE FOR STONE.
As for the first point, that the statuaries mentioned by Pausanias
appear only in Pliny’s catalogue of bronze founders, we must remember
that Pausanias himself says[2195] that he is making only a selection of
the victor monuments in the Altis, those of the more famous athletes.
Therefore, the 192 monuments (of 187 victors)[2196] which he does
mention must be only a fraction of the multitude of such monuments
which once stood at Olympia. Pliny, to be sure, says that it was the
custom for all victors to set up statues in the Altis;[2197] but this
refers only to the privilege, of which many victors could not or did
not avail themselves on account of poverty, early death, or for other
reasons.[2198] Still, the number of such dedications must have been
very great. Manifestly, therefore, we should not base an argument
on the number mentioned. There must, then, have been many other
artists employed at Olympia, some of whom may well have been workers
in marble. Besides, of the statuaries actually named by Pausanias,
many do not appear at all in Pliny’s work, and many of these may have
been sculptors exclusively in stone. Of the names found in Pliny,
six at least—Kalamis, Kanachos, Eutychides, Myron, Polykles, and
Timarchides—appear both in the list of bronze-workers and in that of
marble-sculptors.[2199] Similarly, in answer to the second argument
that the excavated bases show footprints of bronze statues, we must
admit that only a fraction of the bases which once supported statues in
the Altis have been recovered. Not one-fifth of the victors mentioned
by Pausanias are known to us through these bases.[2200]
The fact that actual remains of bronze statues have been excavated at
Olympia is matched by the fact that remnants of marble statues have
also been found; and it does not seem reasonable, in the light of the
evidence adduced by Treu, Furtwaengler, and others, to reject these
as fragments of actual victor statues. These fragments include the
following:[2201]
(_a_, _b_) The two life-size archaic helmeted heads (Fig. 30) which we
have ascribed to hoplite victors.[2202]
(_c_, _d_, _e_) Fragments of statues of boy victors: _c_ = trunk with
left upper leg, three-fifths life-size (Fig. 78);[2203] _d_ = breast,
one-half life-size;[2204]
_e_ = upper part of legs of a statue, two-thirds life-size.[2205]
Besides these Treu also adduces fragments of four different boy
statues, all of which are less than life-size.[2206]
The reticence of Pausanias as to the material used in these statues
is merely in accord with his custom, for he very rarely mentions the
materials of monuments, and apparently only where monuments of bronze
and stone or other materials stand close together in a circumscribed
area, as for instance, in enumerating the various monuments in the
Heraion at Olympia.[2207] The only inference, therefore, to be drawn
from Pausanias’ statement about the statue of Promachos mentioned is
that this particular statue of a victor at Olympia was of bronze. We
are not justified in going any further. Besides this stone statue at
Pellene we have other actual notices of marble statues of Olympic
victors outside Olympia, as those of Arrhachion at Phigalia[2208] (Fig.
79) and of Agias by Lysippos at Delphi (Pl. 28 and Fig. 68). If they
existed outside Olympia, there is no reason why they should not have
existed in the Altis also, _e. g._, the Lysippan marble head found
there, which we assigned in the preceding chapter to the Akarnanian
victor Philandridas (Frontispiece, and Fig. 69). Many of the older
statues, like that of Arrhachion, conformed with the “Apollo” type, as
we have shown in Ch. III,[5] and doubtless many such at Olympia were of
marble.
[Illustration: FIG. 78.—Small Marble Torso of a Boy Victor, from
Olympia. Museum of Olympia.]
Reinach’s argument that stone statues in Greece, because of their
patina of color, were intended to be placed under cover in the
porticoes or cellas of temples and elsewhere, while bronze ones were
meant to stand in the open air, has been sufficiently combatted by H.
Lechat,[2209] who argues that the use of paint in Greek architecture
and on temple sculptures proves the contrary. As the paint was burnt
in, it was reasonably durable, and if it did not prove so it was
readily renewed. At Olympia, among several examples, we may cite
the marble _Nike_ of Paionios, which stood in the open in the space
to the east of the temple of Zeus[2210] (see Plans A and B), while,
on the other hand, a bronze statue of Aphrodite stood within the
Heraion.[2211] The argument that metal statues were cheaper than marble
must also be questioned.[2212] In the earlier part of the present work
we saw that, for economy’s sake, many victors set up small bronze
statuettes instead of statues at Olympia, numbers of which have been
recovered. That such dedications were common elsewhere is shown by the
countless athlete statuettes—especially diskoboloi—which are to be
found in all European museums.[2213] For similar reasons victors would
choose in place of bronze the less durable and cheaper stone, as in
the cases of Arrhachion and Promachos cited, or even wood, as in those
of Rhexibios and Praxidamas. Still others, especially boy victors,
would set up small marble statues, two-fifths to two-thirds life-size,
as the fragments of the seven examples collected by Treu and already
enumerated above show.
Thus we see that the contention that the victor statues at Olympia
were exclusively of bronze, in the light of the evidence adduced, is
untenable.
THE STATUE OF ARRHACHION AT PHIGALIA.
In his description of Arkadia, Pausanias mentions seeing the stone
statue of the pancratiast Arrhachion in the market-place of Phigalia.
He describes it as archaic, especially in pose, the feet being close
together and the arms hanging by the sides to the hips; and adds
that he was told that it once bore an inscription which had become
illegible in his day.[2214] This Arrhachion won three victories at
Olympia in the pankration in Ols. 52-54 (= 572-564 B. C.).[2215]
Therefore his statue is one of the oldest victor monuments of which
we have record. At so early a date, before individual types of victor
statues had been developed, we should expect, in harmony with the
description of Pausanias, that this statue would conform in style with
the well-known archaic “Apollo” type, the most characteristic of early
Greek sculpture, which, as we saw in Chapter III, is exemplified in the
long series of statues found all over the Greek world, the oldest class
being represented by the example from Thera (Fig. 9), and one of the
youngest by that from Tenea near Corinth (Pl. 8A).
[Illustration: FIG. 79.—Stone Statue of the Olympic Victor Arrhachion,
from Phigalia. In the Guards’ House at Bassai (Phigalia).]
In his commentary on the passage of Pausanias, Sir J. G. Frazer records
that during a visit in May, 1890, he saw a recently discovered archaic
stone statue in a field just outside Pavlitsa, a village on the site of
the southeastern precincts of the old city of Phigalia, some 2.5 miles
from the temple of Apollo Epikourios at Bassai. He thought that this
statue agreed completely with Pausanias’ description of Arrhachion’s,
even to the half-effaced inscription which he transcribed from its
breast just below the neck.[2216] Through the courtesy of Dr. Svoronos,
of the National Numismatic Museum in Athens, I have been able to
procure a photograph of the monument from K. Kouroniotis, the Arkadian
_Ephor_ of antiquities stationed at Bassai, and I present it herewith
(Fig. 79). The statue is now cared for in the house of the temple
guards. This statue, like all other examples of the series, represents
a nude youth standing in a stiff, constrained attitude. It is badly
mutilated and its surface is rough from weathering. Besides having lost
its head, arms, and the lower part of the legs, it has been broken into
two parts across the abdomen. The ends of curls on either side of the
neck, extending a few inches over the breast, show that the head looked
straight forward, thus following the usual law of “frontality,”[2217]
which precluded any turning of the body; for a median line drawn
down through the middle of the breastbone, the navel, and the αἰδοῖα
would divide the statue into two equal halves. The body shows the
quadrangular form of the earlier examples, the sculptor having worked
in flat planes at right angles to one another, with the corners merely
rounded off. The remains of arms broken off just below the shoulders
show that they must have hung close to the sides. The shoulders are
broad and square, and display none of the sloping lines characteristic
of other examples, as, _e. g._, the one from Tenea. From the breast
down the body is slender, the hips being very narrow. The legs show the
usual flatness and the left one is slightly advanced, as is uniformly
the case in every one of the series. They are somewhat more separated
than in many other examples. The αἰδοῖα form a rude pyramidal mass, not
being differentiated as they are, _e. g._, in the statues from Naxos
and Orchomenos[2218] (Fig. 10). Some attempt at modeling is visible
in the muscles of the breast and lower abdomen. In general, it may be
said that the similarity in attitude of this statue to Egyptian works
impresses us, as it does in all the examples of early Greek sculpture.
As the subject of Oriental, especially Egyptian, influence on early
Greek art has given rise to very diverse views, we shall make a short
digression at this point to discuss this interesting question.
EGYPTIAN INFLUENCE ON EARLY GREEK SCULPTURE.
This question has been under discussion in all its bearings ever since
Brunn, in 1853, tried to demonstrate the originality of the Daidalian
ξόανα,[2219] but, strangely enough, archæologists are not yet agreed
as to its proper settlement. While some emphasize the spontaneous
origin of Greek art, others quite as strongly advocate that the
early Greek sculptor, at least, copied Egyptian models.[2220] Thus
Furtwaengler, who early assumed a Cretan origin for the “Apollo” type
of statues,[2221] later became convinced that it developed in Ionia
through Greek contact with the colony of Naukratis in Egypt, which
was founded in the middle of the seventh century B. C. He concluded
that this plastic type “_ist bekanntlich nichts als die Nachahmung
des Haupttypus aegyptischer statuarischer Kunst_”.[2222] Similarly
Collignon traces the archaic male type to Egyptian influence, and
assumes that this influence from the Nile valley was exerted on
the Greek artist before the latter half of the seventh century B.
C.[2223] On the other hand, H. Lechat, in his review of the evolution
of Greek sculpture from its beginning, believes that the early
sculptor owed but little to Egypt or the East.[2224] Deonna entirely
rejects the assumption of Egyptian influence, believing that all the
so-called characteristics of early Greek statues can be explained
as the result of natural evolution in Greece itself.[2225] Von Mach
also completely excludes all foreign influence when he says: “In her
sculpture at least, Greece was independent of influence of any one
of the countries that can at all come under consideration in this
connection, Phœnicia, Assyria, and Egypt.”[2226] But here, as in
so many questions about Greek art, the truth must lie between the two
extremes.[2227] The economic conditions of early Greece certainly
prove that the Greeks were dependent on outside peoples in many ways,
and there is no a priori reason for denying this dependence in art.
We clearly see Egyptian influence, for example, in the ceiling of
the treasury of Orchomenos,[2228] and that the Greeks learned many
animal decorative forms as well as a correct observation of nature
from Assyrian art is clear, if we study the best examples of the
late period of that art, the reliefs from the palace of Assurbanipal
at Nineveh (Konyonjik), now in the British Museum. Such decorative
designs could be easily transmitted to the Greeks by the Phœnicians
on embroidered fabrics. It seems reasonable, therefore, to assume that
early Greek artists, especially in the Greek colonies to the east and
south of Greece, were acquainted with earlier models and especially
with those of Egypt. The Greeks themselves of a later date recognized
this debt to Egypt. This is shown by many passages in Pausanias, which
mention the similarity existing between early Greek and Egyptian
sculptures,[2229] and by the curious tale told by Diodoros about the
Samian artist family of Rhoikos, according to which the latter’s two
sons made the two halves of the statue of the _Pythian Apollo_ for
Samos separately, Telekles working in Samos and Theodoros in Ephesos.
When joined together the two parts fitted exactly, just as if they had
been made by one and the same artist. Diodoros adds that τοῦτο δὲ τὸ
γένος τῆς ἐργασίας παρὰ μὲν τοῖς Ἕλλησι μηδαμῶς ἐπιτηδεύεσθαι, παρὰ δὲ
τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις μάλιστα συντελεῖσθαι.[2230] Such a story is valuable
in that it shows that the later Greeks believed that they had adopted
the conventional Egyptian canon of proportions. If we compare any of
the “Apollo” statues with Egyptian standing figures of any period of
Egyptian art, as Bulle has done, the resemblances in detail between the
two types will be found to be very striking. Thus from the Old Kingdom
(Memphitic), which included the first eight dynasties of Manetho,[2231]
we may cite the painted limestone statue of Ra-nefer and the wooden one
of Tepemankh in the Museum of Cairo (Fig. 80), two men prominent in
the fifth dynasty;[2232] or the wood statue of Ka-aper, the so-called
_Sheik-el-Beled_, which represents the apogee of Memphitic art, and
that of his “wife,” without legs or arms, the two statues being found
similarly in a grave at Sakkarah (Memphis), and now being in the same
museum.[2233] From the Middle Kingdom, including the eleventh to the
seventeenth dynasties,[2234] we may mention the painted statue found at
Dahshur and now in Cairo, which represents Horfuabra, the co-regent of
Amenemhat III, who was one of the kings of the twelfth dynasty.[2235]
From the New Empire, including the eighteenth to the twentieth
dynasties,[2236] we cite the draped wood statue of the priestess Tui, a
gem of Egyptian art, which was found in a grave near Gurna, and is now
in the Louvre;[2237] and lastly the draped alabaster statue of Queen
Amenerdis (or Amenartas) in Cairo, the wife of the Aethiopian King
Piankhi, who began to absorb Egypt by 721-722 B. C., just before the
twenty-fourth dynasty.[2238] After the early dynasties, the Egyptian
type of statue was reduced to a fixed and mechanical canon, which was
used over and over again with lifeless monotony. In all these statues,
whose dates extend over a period of many centuries, we note the same
technical characteristics which are observable in the Greek “Apollos,”
with the exception that the latter are always nude and lifelike. These
characteristics may be summarized thus: long hair falling down over
the shoulders in a mass;[2239] shoulders broad in comparison with the
hips; arms hanging down stiffly by the sides[2240] or crooked at the
elbows;[2241] hands closed, with the thumbs facing forward and touching
the ends of the index fingers; the left leg slightly advanced and the
soles placed flat on the ground; high ears,[2242] and the upper body
and head turned straight to the front.[2243] Only minor differences in
the two types appear. Thus the left foot is always further advanced
in the Egyptian than in the Greek statues, so that the former appear
to have less movement and life.[2244] Since there is no trace of this
type in Mycenæan art it seems impossible not to conclude that in some
way, doubtless through Ionian sources, it was originally borrowed
from Egypt. The imitation of the Egyptian models, however, was never
slavishly done. The Greek artist immediately rendered the type his
own by making it nude,[2245] and by transmuting the abstract lifeless
schema of the Egyptians into a highly individualized one characterized
by life and vigor.[2246] This Egyptian influence, it must be remarked,
was operative only in the initial stage of Greek sculpture; it was soon
lost, as the Greek artist came to rely upon himself. F. A. Lange has
truly said: “_Die wahre Unabhaengigkeit der hellenischen Kultur ruht in
ihrer Vollendung, nicht in ihren Anfaengen_”.[2247]
[Illustration: FIG. 80.—Statues of Ra-nefer and Tepemankh, from
Sakkarah. Museum of Cairo.]
After this digression we will return to the statue of Arrhachion. Dr.
Frazer was unable to decipher the inscription upon the breast with
certainty, but made out the following letters, the last four of which
are plainly visible in the photograph: ΕΥΝΛΙΑΔ. He believed them to
be archaic and the first instance of an inscription on this class of
statues. He thought that the name was that of a man, which favored the
view that the “Apollo” statues represented mortals rather than gods.
The letters form a combination manifestly not Greek, and so may have
no significance; it is even possible that they were engraved in modern
times.[2248] In any case we have the statement of Pausanias that the
inscription was illegible in his day.
There seems little doubt, then, that this mutilated and weather-worn
statue is the very one seen and described by Pausanias and referred
by him to the victor Arrhachion.[2249] It is presented here for two
reasons. In the first place, it is the oldest dated Olympic victor
statue in existence. Only three older ones are recorded, and none
of these has survived to our time. These three are the statues of
the Spartan Eutelidas at Olympia, who won the boys’ wrestling and
pentathlon matches in Ol. 38 (= 628 B. C.);[2250] of the Athenian
Kylon on the Akropolis, who won the double running-race in Ol. 35 (=
640 B. C.);[2251] of the Spartan Hetoimokles at Sparta, who won five
times in wrestling at the beginning of the sixth century B. C.[2252]
The statue of Oibotas of Dyme, who won the stade-race in Ol. 6 (= 756
B. C.), was not set up until Ol. 80 (= 460 B. C.);[2253] that of the
Spartan Chionis, who won five running-races in Ols. 28-31 (= 668-656
B. C.), was made later by Myron.[2254] Pausanias’ statement (VI.
18.7) that the wooden statues of Praxidamas and Rhexibios, who won in
Ols. 59 and 61 respectively (= 544 and 536 B. C.), were the oldest at
Olympia, is of course incorrect. In the second place, the statue of
Arrhachion actually proves what has often been assumed, that some of
the statues classed as “Apollos” are really victor monuments. As this
question has provoked a good deal of discussion in recent years, I will
briefly review the arguments by which the opinion has gradually gained
acceptance.
EARLY VICTOR STATUES AND THE “APOLLO” TYPE.
As the earlier examples of the series were discovered under peculiar
circumstances, they gave no clue to their meaning. Thus the “Apollo”
of Naxos was found in the quarries of the island, while that from
Orchomenos (Fig. 10) was first seen in the convent of Skripou, its
exact provenience being unknown. From the first they were denominated
“Apollos,” chiefly because of their long hair[2255] and nudity,[2256]
while the existence of many small bronzes in the same schema dedicated
to the god,[2257] and cult statues of similar pose appearing on vase-
and wall-paintings,[2258] helped to make the identification more
probable. Certain ancient texts, describing archaic statues of Apollo
in this pose, were also cited as evidence, and it was pointed out that
many of these statues were actually found in or near sanctuaries of the
god. Thus Diodoros, in his description of the ξόανον of the _Pythian
Apollo_ made for the Samians by Telekles and Theodoros, which we have
already mentioned, says: τὰς μὲν χεῖρας ἔχον παρατεταμένας, τὰ δὲ σκέλη
διαβεβηκότα.[2259] Probably the gilded image by the Cretan Cheirisophos
in the temple of Apollo at Tegea was of this type.[2260] The later
type of “Apollo,” with the arms extended at the elbows, was doubtless
followed in the statue of Apollo made for the Delians by Tektaios and
Angelion,[2261] and in the works ascribed to Dipoinos and Skyllis
and their school. It would be easy to give an extended list of such
“Apollo” statues found in sanctuaries.[2262] We might instance one from
Naukratis, Egypt;[2263] one from Delos;[2264] two from Aktion;[2265]
several from Mount Ptoion in Bœotia;[2266] a copy of the head of the
_Choiseul-Gouffier_ Apollo (Pl. 7A) found in Kyrene.[2267] Still others
have been found in _temenoi_ of temples, _e. g._, two in that of Apollo
at Naukratis,[2268] and one in that of Aphrodite there.[2269]
However, against this exclusive interpretation doubts have been
raised with ever-increasing precision, until now we can predicate
with certainty what Loeschke long ago assumed, that the more statues
of the series there are found, the less probable will it become that
they should all be ascribed to Apollo.[2270] Conze and Michaelis
first argued on the basis of Pausanias’ description of Arrhachion’s
statue that this type was employed for victor statues.[2271] Koerte’s
objection to their view on the ground of the long hair was refuted
by Waldstein, who demonstrated that athletes were not represented
with short hair until after the Persian wars; he pointed out that the
archaic grave-figures of the mortals Dermys and Kitylos discovered at
Tanagra, which were sculptured in a constrained attitude analogous
to that of the “Apollos,” had long hair.[2272] We now know that the
hair of some of the “Apollos” is short, which shows the irrelevancy of
this argument,[2273] and we also know that nudity characterizes many
archaic statues of mortals. Nor do we learn much from dedications,
for we have examples of statues of gods dedicated to other gods and
even to goddesses.[2274] _Ex votos_ were often more concerned with the
dedicator than with the god to whom the statue was dedicated. Doubtless
the cult statues portrayed on vase-paintings are actually those of
Apollo, for at this epoch other gods, such as Hermes and Dionysos, are
bearded.[2275]
Moreover, that a more advanced _schema_ for representing the god Apollo
had already become fixed toward the end of the sixth century B. C., we
know from ancient descriptions of the statue of the god made for the
Delians by Tektaios and Angelion, which represented him in the usual
archaic attitude, _i. e._, of the statue of Arrhachion, but with the
notable difference that the forearms were outstretched.[2276] That
this was the recognized type in the early years of the fifth century
B. C., is attested by the bronze statue of the god fashioned by the
elder Kanachos of Sikyon for Branchidai, the pose of which is known
from several statuettes and from a long series of Milesian coins.[2277]
For conservative reasons this favorite pose was kept for cult statues
even into the fourth century B. C., as we learn from representations
on coins of the golden statue of the god set up in the inmost shrine
of the temple at Delphi.[2278] But that many of the earlier examples
of the “Apollo” series do represent the god, should not be denied. We
agree with Homolle that the old appellation “Apollo,” after having
received too much favor, has now by reaction become censured too
severely, and in general should still be applied to those statues
of the series which have been discovered in or near sanctuaries of
the god, and in the absence of any other indication to the contrary,
also to those which stand upon bases inscribed with dedications to
him.[2279] Such a statue was found on the island of Thasos at the
bottom of the cella of the temple of Apollo at Alki and is now in
Constantinople.[2280] The colossal statue found on the island of Delos
just south of the temple of Apollo,[2281] and the huge torso discovered
in Megara[2282] may be referred to the god, for their size favors an
ascription to a deity rather than to mortals. And many other examples
of the type found in sanctuaries may very well represent Apollo and
other gods.[2283]
That several of the series were also funerary in character is
abundantly proved by the fact that they were discovered in the
neighborhood of tombs. Thus the _Apollo of Tenea_ (Pl. 8A) decorated
a tomb in the necropolis of Tenea near Corinth.[2284] Likewise the
example from Thera (Fig. 9) was found in a rock-cut niche.[2285]
Another, now in the British Museum, was found in the _dromos_ of a
tomb on the island of Cyprus,[2286] while a fourth was unearthed from
the necropolis of Megara Hyblaia in Sicily.[2287] The one found at
Volomandra in Attika in 1900 was also found in an old cemetery.[2288]
These furnish proof enough of the sepulchral character of many of these
statues. Such funerary monuments may, of course, have been been set up
also in memory of victors.
We are now in a position, on the basis of Pausanias’ description of
Arrhachion’s statue and the actual monument itself, to maintain with
certainty what hitherto has been conjectured only, that although some
of these archaic sculptures represent Apollo and other gods, sepulchral
dedications, and _ex votos_ in general, others were intended to
represent athletes also. Doubtless the other early victor monuments
recorded, such as the wooden statues of Praxidamas and Rhexibios, and
those of Eutelidas, Kylon, and Hetoimokles, already discussed in Ch.
III, conformed with the earlier type, while that of Milo, described
by Philostratos,[2289] conformed with the later. Certain examples of
the series have already been ascribed to victors. Thus the marble
head of Attic workmanship found in or near Athens and known as the
Rayet-Jacobsen head (Fig. 22), has been referred to a pancratiast
because of its swollen and deformed ears.[2290] Certain statuettes
of the same pose as the “Apollos” have been looked upon as copies of
athlete statues.[2291] So the early doubts[2292] as to the meaning of
these archaic sculptures have been resolved in many cases. We have
added one well-attested example to show that they sometimes represented
victor monuments.
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