9. In the next group are a Satyr and a transformed pirate, separated by a tree which marks the edge of the rocky shore, as at the opposite side of the frieze. The Satyr stoops forward, breaking off with both hands a branch of the tree, which he is about to use as a weapon. He is bearded. The right leg is now wanting on the original. The pirate darts head foremost into the water, pressing his feet against the trunk of the tree.
Mus. Marbles, IX., pl. 26.
10. 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 assailants. The serpent suggests the form of the legend usually current, in which Dionysos is assisted by strange monsters. According to Nonnus, Dionys., xlv., 1. 134, the ropes of the rigging of the ship turned to serpents.
431. Cast from the capital of a column of the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates.
Height, 2 feet ¾ inches. Synopsis, No. 360*. See Stuart, I., ch. IV. pl. 6, fig. 1.
THE CHORAGIC MONUMENT OF THRASYLLOS.
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 façade. 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 assumed 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., Müller'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, passing 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 passes 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 1½ 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 God 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 assimilated to that of a citharist.—Elgin Coll.