AGORACRITOS OF PAROS.
460. Fragment of colossal head, showing the right cheek, right eyelid and right side of the head as far as the ear. The hair is waved. On the crown of the head eleven holes are pierced in the marble, evidently for the attachment of a wreath or other ornament. The left side and back of the head have been cut or broken away. So far as can be inferred from the little original surface remaining, this head was in a fine style of the fifth century b.c.
The style and material of this work, and the place of its discovery, give good grounds for thinking that it is a fragment of the famous statue of Nemesis by Agoracritos of Paros. The exact date of Agoracritos is not recorded, but he is said to have been a favourite pupil of Pheidias. The statue of Nemesis is described as a colossal figure of the type of Aphroditè, holding in her hands an apple branch and a phialè, on which were figures of Aethiopians. She had no wings, and stood on a base, sculptured with subjects relating to the birth of Helen and the Trojan war. The figure wore a diadem, adorned with deer and figures of Victory of no great size. Compare the diadem of Pandora, described by Hesiod, Theogony, 581; the diadem of Hera of Polycleitos (Paus., ii., 17, 4); the Cypriote terracottas, in the Terracotta Room, wall cases 1 and 27; and the Cypriote sculptures in the Cyprus Room. The numerous holes mentioned above must have served for the attachment of an ornament of some weight, and so confirm the proposed identification.
According to tradition the statue was made of a block of Parian marble, which was brought by the Persians, before the battle of Marathon, to be erected as a trophy for the capture of Athens. (Paus., i., 33. 2; Anthol. Pal. App. Plan., iv., 221, 222, 263). Found on the site of the Temple of Nemesis at Rhamnus.—Presented by J. P. Gandy Deering, Esq., 1820.
Parian marble; height, 1 foot 4½ inches. Uned. Antiquities of Attica, p. 43; Leake, Athens and Demi of Attica, II., p. 108; Synopsis, No. 325 (273); Elgin Room Guide, II., No. E. 4; Six, Num. Chron. 3rd. Ser., II., p. 94; cf. coin of Cyprus, ibidem, pl. 5; Gardner, Journ. of Hellen. Studies, VIII., p. 47; Rossbach, Athenische Mittheilungen, XV., p. 64; Overbeck, Schriftquellen, 834-843.
POLYCLEITOS OF ARGOS AND THE PELOPONNESIAN SCHOOL.
Polycleitos of Argos was, as has already been observed (p. 90), one of the great pupils of Ageladas of Argos, who was also the master of Myron and perhaps of Pheidias.