Head of Pericles, Introduction, p. 3. Head of Hadrian, Ditto, p. 7. View of Appuldurcombe House, drawn by Devis and engraved by Fittler. Interview of Glaucus and Scylla, p. 103, an Antique Pic ture found in Hadrian's Villa, 1786, drawn by Tresham, engraved by W. Skelton. Jupiter and Minerva. Hercules. Protesilaus and Laodamia. Sepulchral Bass-reliefs. Antique Syren. Telephus. Cecrops and his three Daughters. Bass-relief found at Eleusis. Annual Procession at Megara. Pluto. Cherion. Moschus. Bass-relief in Terra Cotta. A Bull. Bass-relief found in Paros. Athenian Tripod. Fragment of Theseus. Bass-relief at Ephesus. A Beard in Marble. Feet of a Statue of Isis. Fragment of a Marble Door. Pisistratus. Bass-relief in the Parthenon. Bass-relief on the Sigean Promontory. A column of white Marble. Pedestal found at Eleusis. Sophocles. CLASS I. ANTIQUE BASSO-RELIEVOS. Plate I. JUPITER AND MINERVA. This most beautiful Fragment in Bass Relief was found at Athens in 1785, and brought into England three years after, with several other antique Marbles collected in Greece. Besides the place whence this elegant sculpture was taken, it appears by the dimensions, relief and style, to have composed part of the Frieze which adorned the Temple of Minerva, called the Parthenon. This sort of flat, or very low relief, is to be observed in the figures of the Frieze of the Parthenon, built in the time of Pericles, by the Architect Ictenus, under the direction of Phidias. First, we distinguish in it two different kinds of figures, some of human, and some of superior beings: those that represent the latter are much larger. An old Man, a Woman, and a Child stand out, and seem to perform some act of worship, while the deities appear propitious to their vows, and smile on their oblations. Both the woman and the child hold up the right hand+ extended, either in token of acclamation or devotion. It is worth remarking that the old man, though he also holds up the hand, does not show it extended and upward, like the others, but clenched.+ * Women as well as men, both young and old, used to walk in the Panathenean processions. Such aged men were chosen as had a more venerable countenance, and to render the show more uniform, the children were all habited in the same manner; as to women, it is well known, that in all the solemnities of Greece, and especially the Panathenean, they acted a principal part. †The act of expanding the palms towards heaven is a religious observance, that has been discussed in the Museum Pio Clementinum. The extending however of the right hand alone seems rather to imply a shout of praise, than a sign of devotion. The King of France had a Medallion representing the Panjonian solemnity, that is, a general congress of the Ionians, an Asiatic Festival, instituted in imitation of the Panathenean show; there thirteen figures were seen attending the sacrifice, and extending towards heaven their right hands only. Spanheim considers that attitude as the indication of a religious ceremony used in the sacred solemnities of the Greeks, and grounds his opinion on some plausible arguments. The bass-relief of the Apotheosis of Homer furnishes us with another instance of this rite, as we find in it several Sgures that attend the sacrifice, and hold up their right hands only. ↑ We have such imperfect accounts of the rites practised in the Grecian Paganism, that it is impossible to identify the peculiar species of worship to which the gesture in question may allude. There is a passage in Quintilian, which seems to point out the proper signification of that attitude. Mentioning the different gestures requisite in the delivery of set orations, he says that when the orator addresses his vows so the deities, he must lightly bend the hand, manus leviter pandate The two Deities are distinguishable not only by their stature, much above the human, as the Greeks used to represent them, but still more by their majestic port, and becoming dignity. The first celestial power with a beard and a diadem, who reaches forth the cup, as to show himself propitious to the vows and offerings, is undoubtedly Jupiter.* The Virgin Goddess, Minerva,† ever united to her parent, and the principal object of the solemnity, is represented in the figure close to Jupiter. Though without her warlike accoutrements, and usual emble ms, it is not difficult to vocentium est. In this bass-relief, the hand not being entirely closed, may be with great propriety termed manus leviter pandata. The meaning of this gesture or posture is obvious; for it evidently indicates that supplicants are ever ready to receive the objects of their petition. * He was styled Ileos, from the merciful disposition with which he listened to his petitioners, and was particularly worshipped, in the fortress of Athens, and even in the Parthenon, under the title of Soter, or Saviour. ↑ According to Horace, she was most honoured after Jupiter, and was the deity who contended with Neptune for the patronage and dominion of Athens, and brought forth the useful olive tree. Phidias, who was the Sculptor of the Parthenon, represented Minerva completely armed, in the ivory and golden Colossus kept in the Cell of the Temple; he did the same in that much larger, placed in the front of Minerva Polias, and likewise in the Statue of Minerva Lemnia, in the Acropolis, which Pausanias (Attica, xxiv, xxviii.) considers as his masterpiece; yet it appears by some of his works, that he made no scruple to effigiate that heavenly power in her pacific character, as the Goddess of Wisdom, and the Patroness of Arts and Sciences. Wheeler and Spon, who had an opportunity of seeing the famous bass-relief of the Tympanum in a perfect condition, describe Minerva seated in her car, in a council of the deities, rather as the power of Wisdom than of War. Phidias, in giving her that simple attire, did certainly not transgress the Mythological rules, for he conformed himself to Homer, who was the guide of the best artists. Minerva is drawn by Homer in Military array, whenever she is bent on a warlike expedition; but while distinguish her. Phidias, however, to make her distinction more striking, has added in her hand a vessel of oil.* she resides in Olympus, he describes her with a rich garment, which he makes her quit when she takes up arms, (Iliad, E. ver. 734.) and when she shows herself to Ulysses, she is represented as a beautiful majestic woman, skilled in elegant works, and such is her appearance in our marble. (Odyssey, N. Ver. 288.) * Mankind are indebted to Minerva for that precious liquor, and in the Panathenean Games it was the chief prize of the conquerors. They used to take it from the sacred vial, which was supposed to contain the very oil which had flowed from the first olives that grew in the Attic territory, at a single nod of the blue-eyed maid. The Athenians were exceedingly proud of being the first nation that knew the use of oil, and the Aritena, or oil vessel, was ever seen among the symbols of their tutelar deity. Aritena was a name appropriated to those vessels, with which the Greeks used to draw either wine or oil, by immersing them into tubs or bowls. The Aritena was also called Ariballos, which, Merides tells us, had a narrow neck, as we see it in our bass relief; the very same has occurred to us in another Athenian monument, with this particular circumstance, that there a cup-bearer, or attendant at the table, is drawing wine with it out of a bowl. A similar vessel is engraved on the Athenian Coins, sometimes under the claws of the owl, a well known symbol of Minerva, but generally in the middle of the olive crown, which used to bind the brows of the Panathenean victors. The same emblem is to be met with in all medals of Athens; and one of them, lately found in that city, may be seen in this work. Certain it is there are various ancient monuments still extant, where Minerva is represented with the attribute in question; and to mention one, about which there cannot be the least doubt, since we see it in the Ægis and the Gorgon, she appears in that manner in a masterly earthen urn, which belonged to the celebrated Mengs, and is now in the Vatican. There the Goddess pours Ambrosia out of the Aritena, in order to confer the gift of immortality on Alcides. Winckelman, who gave an account of that monument, was led into a mistake, by some part of it, which happened to be defaced; he took the skin of a Lion for that of a Stag, though he might have easily perceived the Lion's long tail, much different from that which stags have: it was this error that led him to give the name of Ulysses, transformed by Pallas |