A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum, Volume 1 (of 2)

by A. H. Smith

Cockerell suggests that the subject is Apollo pursuing Daphnè, who was a daughter of the neighbouring river Ladon, but he is mistaken in thinking that the man's fingers are stretched out straight, and have no grasp of the woman's neck.

Marble. Fragment 1: height, 1 foot 4½ inches; width, 1 foot 3 inches. Synopsis, No. 30; Exp. de Morée, II. pl. 23, fig. 3; Stackelberg, pl. 30, fig. 3; Mus. Marbles, IV., pl. 24, fig. 3; Ellis, Elgin and Phigaleian Marbles, II., p. 213. Fragment 2: height, 8¾ inches; width, 1 foot 4 inches. Synopsis, No. 35.

518. Upper part of body of draped female figure standing to the front.

Marble; height, 8 inches; width, 10 inches. Synopsis, No. 32.

519. Torso of an obese bearded figure, from the neck to the waist. The figure appears to have been seated, leaning back, and having a staff and drapery under the left arm. Cockerell restores it as a figure standing and leaning on a staff.

Marble; height, 1 foot ¾ inch; width, 8½ inches. Synopsis, No. 34; Cockerell, Phigaleia, pl. 5, Stackelberg, pl. 30, fig. 4; Exp. de Morée, II., pl. 23, fig. 4.

The Phigaleian Frieze.

The frieze of the Temple of Apollo Epicurios consists of 23 slabs of marble, somewhat resembling Pentelic. The slabs are each 2 feet 1¼ inches high, and they have a combined length of 101 feet ¾ inch. The frieze formed an internal decoration, above the colonnade within the cella, and had two long sides measuring 35 feet 9 inches, and two short sides measuring 14 feet 2⅛ inches. The excess in the measured length of the slabs is explained by the fact that they overlapped at the angles. The slabs are about 3½ inches thick, and rested on the edge of the architrave, being fastened with bolts to the ground behind.

The subjects represented are: (1) Battle of Lapiths and Centaurs; (2) Battle of Greeks and Amazons. The former subject has 11 slabs of a combined length of 45 feet 6¾ inches, while the latter has 12 slabs measuring 55 feet 6 inches. The Centauromachia, therefore, occupied two sides, less the length of one slab, which contained a part of the Amazonomachia.