Pliny relates (H. N., xxxiv., 53) that four artists, Polycleitos, Pheidias, Cresilas and Phradmon, made statues of Amazons which were placed in the temple of Artemis at Ephesus. Polycleitos was accounted to have won the competition, as he obtained the second vote of each of his rivals. This account of the contest has the appearance of a late invention. There are, however, many statues and busts of wounded Amazons which appear to be copies, more or less exact, of three types, different one from another, but yet so far alike that they may have been produced by artists working on one plan.
The present head belongs to the type which various archaeologists (Klügmann, Rhein. Mus. 1866, p. 327; Michaelis, Jahrb. des Arch. Inst., i., p. 40) have assigned to Polycleitos. The complete figure is that of a wounded Amazon, leaning with the left arm on a pillar, and having the right hand resting on the top of the head.
Brought to England by Lyde Brown. Purchased by Townley, 1774.—Townley Coll.
Greek marble; height of ancient portion, 10¼ inches. Restorations:—Tip of nose, throat and bust. Mus. Marbles, X., pl. 5; Guide to Græco-Roman Sculptures, I., No. 150; Murray, I., p. 280; Jahrbuch des Arch. Inst., I., 1886, pl. 3, No. 2; p. 16, K, (Michaelis). There is a drawing by Cipriani in the British Museum (Add. MSS. 21,118, No. 12).
The best examples of the type are:—(a) A statue at Lansdowne House, London. Specimens of Ant. Sculpture, II., pl. 10. Cat. of Lansdowne Marbles, No. 83. (b) A bronze head from Herculaneum, now in the Museum at Naples. Comparetti, La Villa Ercolanese, pl. 8, fig. 1. (c) Compare the Amazon on the Phigaleian frieze (No. 522). For further literature and examples, see Michaelis, loc. cit.
504. Head of Hera (?). Ideal female head wearing a lofty diadem. The hair was brought to the back of the head, where it was tied in a knot, now lost.
It is thought possible that this head may be derived from the Argive statue of Hera by Polycleitos, for which the coins of Argos may be compared (Journ. of Hellen. Studies, vi., pl. 54, Nos. 12-15).—Girgenti.
Marble; height, 1 foot 4 inches. The lower part of the back of the head on the right side, which had been broken, has been in modern times roughly carved on the fractured surface to represent hair, and the end of the diadem. The surface of the face has also suffered from being worked over. The genuineness of the sculpture has been questioned, without reason. Mon. dell' Inst., IX., pl. 1; Helbig, Annali dell' Inst., 1869, p. 144; Overbeck, Gr. Kunstmyth., pl. 9, figs. 4, 5; II., p. 81, 3; Murray, I., p. 268; Wolters, No. 501; Furtwaengler, Arch. Zeit., 1885, p. 275, fig. A; Murray, Römische Mittheilungen, I., p. 123.
THE TEMPLE OF APOLLO AT PHIGALEIA.
The Temple of Apollo Epicurios, at Phigaleia, in Arcadia, stands in a slight depression on the bare and wind-swept side of Mount Cotylion, above the valley of the river Neda. It was discovered towards the end of the eighteenth century, but on account of its remote position it was seldom visited before 1811. In that year the party of explorers, who had previously discovered the pedimental sculptures of Aegina, began excavations which were completed in 1812. The party included Cockerell and Haller in the first season, and Haller, Stackelberg and Bröndstedt in the second season. The sculptures found were removed to Zante, and were purchased by the British Government in 1814.