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Further Notes on the Sculpture of the Later Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 December 2013
Extract
The Square Pedestals.—In some notes on the sculpture from the Artemision at the British Museum, printed in the last volume of this Journal (p. 87), I suggested that the fragment No. 1201 most probably belonged to a relief representing either Herakles in the Garden of the Hesperides or Herakles and the Hydra. Subsequent examination and the attempt to make a restoration from the given data have made me sure that the former was the subject of the sculpture. Only this would account for the quiet action of the left hand of Herakles and for the closely associated female figure. If this were indeed the subject, how could its normal elements be arranged so as to suit the conditions of the square pedestal having a vertical joint in the centre, and making proper use of the existing fragment of which Fig. 1 is a rough sketch? This question I have tried to answer. The fragment is now fixed in the side of a built-up pedestal close to its left-hand angle, but there is nothing which settles this position and it is a practically impossible one, for there is not room left in which to complete the figure of Herakles. If, however, we shift the piece to the right hand half of the pedestal, and sketch in the completion of the two figures, we at once see how perfectly the tree and serpent would occupy the centre of the composition and leave the left-hand space for the two other watching maidens—the whole making a symmetrical group.
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- Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1914
References
1 See also Reinach's Vases, i. 346.
2 I dealt with this pedestal before. For the type of hippocamps compare Reinach's Vases, i. 231; they had flappers in place of front legs. According to Pliny the Nereids of the great group by Scopas rode hippocamps.
3 I have forgotten the bracelet, which was a plain ring on the wrist (compare one of the Muses); it may be enough to suggest that Artemis was not dressed for the hunt.
4 The story of Herakles and Omphale had a local interest at Ephesus, and the representation of it would be specially appropriate at a temple where ‘votaries masquerading as women’ served Artemis (B.S.A. xvii. p. 102). For Omphale in art see Roscher's Lexikon and an article by Lechat, in Revue de l'art ancien et moderne, 1912.Google Scholar The latter remarks that in these scenes Herakles is made to appear drunken and ridiculous. This perfectly describes his figure on the pedestal from Ephesus; sometimes he carried the thyrsus of Dionysos, and this fact may account for the stick on the relief. It is plain that this subject occupied more than one side of the pedestal, and it is possible that Omphale may have stood in front of Herakles and that the woman behind him who pulls off his lion-skin is one of the queen's handmaids.
5 The Builder, Feb. 6, 1914, p. 154.
6 Cf. ‘the Magistrates’ of the Parthenon.
7 I gave a slight restoration of the drum of the Muses in a little book entitled ‘Greek Buildings.’
8 I find that Wood was also of this opinion. He says that it was found on the north side towards the west, and was ‘probably from one of the inner columns of the peristyle.’
9 Cf. the Venus of Cnidos.
10 See figure from a vase given by Dar. and Saglio under that heading.
11 There was a famous statue of Hekate in the temple. Hades, Persephone and Hekate appear together in the House of Hades on a vase painting (Reinach I. 108). Notice the clear interval between this group on the column and the others who are moving away from it. W. Klein has, so lately as 1905, supported the interpretation of the scene as the Judgment of Paris; this however will not account for the action of the groups just described or for other points like the sword of Thanatos. Further, we have the direct connection of the Alkestis story as one of the exploits of Herakles; also the remarkable resemblance of the principal group to the Eurydice relief where a similar theme is treated in a similar way. The Hermes on our column is very like a Hermes on one of the vases on which are painted the Judgment of Paris, but this type of figure was one of the commonest motives in fourth century art. For the last word on Thanatos see Jahrbuch 1909. The main motive, as Rayet has pointed out, is a leave-taking. The figures fall into two groups between which is an interval.