The government claimed these treasures, and caused them to be transported to Palermo; but Mr. Samuel Angel, an architect, and one of the party, took casts from them, which may now be seen at the British Museum; and of which we present the reader with an account, drawn up, we believe, by a gentleman named Hamilton.—“Within a temporary building opening from the fifth room, are the casts from the marble metopæ of the great temple of Jupiter Olympius, at Selinus, in Sicily. Valuable as they are, as belonging to a school of art prior to that of Ægina, and probably of a date coeval with the earliest Egyptian, a short notice of them may not be unacceptable, as no account of them is to be found in the Synopsis, although to the public in general subjects of great curiosity and inquiry. The legend which they tell and their appearance, are altogether as unaccountable as mysterious. At Selinus, in Sicily, there are the remains of six temples of the earliest Doric, within a short distance of each other, and it was during the researches into the ruins of the largest, called the Western, and the one farthest from it, named the Eastern, by Messrs. Harris and Angell, in 1832, that these ancient sculptures were found: among them there were no single and perfect statues as in the temple of Ægina, which probably arose from the neighbourhood being well peopled, and they had no doubt been repeatedly ransacked. These temples may be reckoned among the largest of antiquity, being equal in their dimensions to those at Agrigentum, in the fluting of whose columns there is sufficient space for a man to stand. Immediately after the discovery, application was made to the Neapolitan Government to allow them to be shipped for England; but permission was refused, and they are now in the Royal Gallery at Palermo. Casts were, however, allowed to be taken, and they are these we now describe.
“They are probably of as early a date as any that have reached our times, and are of different styles of art; those which belonged to the temple called Eastern, whence the sculpture of the head of the dying warrior, and the chariot drawn by horses, were taken, possess much of the Æginitan character; those of the Western are of a ruder age. In most of the figures the anatomy resembles that of the earliest coins, but differs in many respects from the Greek sculptures; and there is a short and full character in the faces approaching the Egyptian. From the short proportions, the fleshy part of the thigh overcharged, and the peculiar manner in which the hair is arranged, they might be taken for specimens of Æginitan art; but on a close inspection it will be found, that they are the work of artists educated on different principles. At a much later period it is known that the artists of Ægina were employed by the kings of Sicily; and these, therefore, are not unlikely to have been the work of Carthaginian sculptors brought to decorate a city in alliance and newly founded, which will account for the Egyptian character given to the whole.
“The cast, which consists of the body and head of a dying soldier, a part of a female figure behind, formed the third metope of the Eastern Temple, and is a most valuable and curious fragment, and determines the style and character of the sculpture of the temple. It bears a marked resemblance to some of the heads in the Ægina marbles, but it has much more expression; the artist has evidently intended to mark the agonies of death, by the closed eyes, the mouth slightly opened, and the tongue appearing between the teeth; the hair and beard are most carefully and symmetrically arranged and most elaborately finished; the helmet is thrown back, and is of the kind called ‘γεῖσον’—part of the crest ‘λόφος’ is visible under the left shoulder of the figure. The fragment of the female is very spirited, and evidently in strong action. Those metopes, like those of the Parthenon, are in high relief, and in some parts detached. Thorwaldsen has pronounced them equal in execution to the Ægina. The next, which consists of three figures, one of which has a horse under the arm, is particularly interesting, from the illustration it presents of the death of the Gorgon Medusa. Perseus, emboldened by the presence of Minerva, is represented in the act of slaying Medusa; his eyes are averted from the object of his honour, while his right arm, guided by the goddess, thrusts his sword into the throat of the monster. Pegasus, a winged foal, springs from her blood, and Medusa presses him to her side with apparent solicitude. The monstrous face of the Gorgon is finely represented; the large round head and hideous face rise from the shoulders without the intervention of a neck; all the features are frightfully distorted, the nose is flat and spreading, and the mouth is nearly the whole width of the face, and is armed on each side with two immense tusks; the hair over the forehead is curiously shown, and almost appears to have represented the serpents to which it was changed. The figure of Minerva on the right is draped with the ‘πέπλον,’ and has the Mæander ornament on the edge. The figure of Perseus is in the centre; he is armed with the harp of Mercury and the helmet of Pluto, which latter has a pendant falling on each side; the ‘πτηνὰ πέδιλα,’ or talaria, are represented as covering the feet entirely, and bear some resemblance to the ancient greaves; the front part is attached to the ancle by thongs. The form of the young Pegasus is exceedingly beautiful; he seems bounding from the earth. The metope, containing the figure bearing two others on its shoulders, represents the adventure of Hercules, surnamed Melampyges, from the black and hairy appearance of his loins. The story is as follows:—Passalus and Achemon, two brothers, reviled their mother, who warned them to beware of a man whose loins were covered with black hair. They attempted to rob Hercules while asleep, and from that had the name of Cercopes; in the attempt they failed and awoke him, and he bound them hand and foot to his bow, with their heads downwards, and carried them in that manner. They began laughing on the accomplishment of their mother’s prophecy; Hercules asked them why they laughed, and on their telling him the reason, he also laughed and liberated them. The figure of the god is represented as strong and muscular, and the two prisoners have a very ludicrous appearance; in the reversed position, the hair falls in a curious manner; the whole group has been painted in various colours, and in the countenances much of Egyptian expression is to be observed. The horses which draw the chariot formed part of the centre metope of the Eastern Temple; it is very imperfect, and is supposed to represent the celebration of the race of Pelops and Œnomaus; they are drawn full of fire and courage, and are finely fore-shortened; they have the cropped ears and manes which are observable in those of the Parthenon.
“These sculptures are valuable as specimens of the third period of the art, the earliest of which is probably the Hindoo; the great resemblance both these and the Egyptian bear to that style is remarkable, and gives warrant to suppose that it was the original school. Of Hebrew sculpture there are no remains; the command to form no graven images prevented the art attaining the perfection which it reached in the neighbouring country of Syria, and would seem to confirm the account, that within the land of Judea no statue bearing marks of great antiquity has been discovered. The Egyptian, the Etruscan, the Selinuntine, and the Ægina schools, furnished the models for the Grecian; and the careful observer has it in his power, within the walls of the Museum, to trace, step by step, the progress of the art; till it attained its meridian splendour in the production of those sculptures, whose dilapidated remains are there preserved, and which the accumulated knowledge, genius, labour, and talent of two thousand five hundred years has never yet been able to surpass[218].”
The neighbouring country is interesting, as having been the scene of many of the memorable events recorded by the ancient historians. A few miles to the west of the ruins, on the banks of a little river, that now, unless when swelled by the winter torrents, creeps gently into the sea, was fought, amidst thunder, lightning, and rain, one of the most celebrated battles of ancient times, in which the “Immortal Timoleon,” the liberator of Corinth, and the saviour of Syracuse, gained a glorious victory over the Carthaginian invaders. The events are preserved in popular traditions; and the names of Mago, Hamilcar, Hannibal, Agathocles, Dionysius, and Timoleon, are common in the mouths of the country people, though not unfrequently confused with one another, and subjected to the same laughable mutilation as the name of Castor and Selinute[219].
NO. XXIX.—SICYON.
The most ancient kingdom of Greece was that of Sicyon, the beginning of which is placed by Eusebius 1313 years before the first Olympiad. Its duration is believed to have been about a thousand years; during which period it is said to have had a succession of kings, whose reigns were so equitable that nothing of importance is recorded of them. It sent, however, 3000 troops to the battle of Platea, and fifteen ships to that of Salamis. It is now only a village.