STĂTĬŌNES. [[Castra].]
STĂTOR, a public servant, who attended on the Roman magistrates in the provinces. The Statores seem to have derived their name from standing by the side of the magistrate, and thus being at hand to execute all his commands; they appear to have been chiefly employed in carrying letters and messages.
STĀTŬĀRĬA ARS is in its proper sense the art of making statues or busts, whether they consist of stone or metal or other materials, and includes the art of making the various kinds of reliefs (alto, basso, and mezzo relievo). These arts in their infant state existed among the Greeks from time immemorial. There is no material applicable to statuary which was not used by the Greeks. As soft clay is capable of being shaped without difficulty into any form, and is easily dried, either by being exposed to the sun or by being baked, we may consider this substance to have been the earliest material of which figures were made. The name plastic art (ἡ πλαστική), by which the ancients sometimes designate the art of statuary, properly signifies to form or shape a thing of clay. The second material was wood, and figures made of wood were called ξόανα, from ξέω, “polish” or “carve.” It was chiefly used for making images of the gods, and probably more on account of the facility of working in it, than for any other reason. Stone was little used in statuary during the early ages of Greece, though it was not altogether unknown, as we may infer from the relief on the Lion-gate of Mycenae. In Italy, where the soft peperino afforded an easy material for working, stone appears to have been used at an earlier period and more commonly than in Greece. But in the historical times the Greeks used all the principal varieties of marble for their statues. Different kinds of marble and of different colours were sometimes used in one and the same statue, in which case the work is called Polylithic statuary. Bronze (χάλκος, aes), silver, and gold were used profusely in the state of society described in the Homeric poems. At that period, however, and long after, the works executed in metal were made by means of the hammer, and the different pieces were joined together by pins, rivets, cramps, or other mechanical fastenings, and, as the art advanced, by a kind of glue, cement, or solder. Iron came into use much later, and the art of casting both bronze and iron is ascribed to Rhoecus and to Theodoras of Samos. Ivory was employed at a later period than any of the before-mentioned materials, and then was highly valued both for its beauty and rarity. In its application to statuary, ivory was generally combined with gold, and was used for the parts representing the flesh. The history of ancient art, and of statuary in particular, may be divided into five periods.
I. First Period, from the earliest times till about 580 B.C.—Three kinds of artists may be distinguished in the mythical period. The first consists of gods and daemons; such as Athena, Hephaestus, the Phrygian or Dardanian Dactyli, and the Cabiri. The second contains whole tribes of men distinguished from others by the mysterious possession of superior skill in the practice of the arts, such as the Telchines and the Cyclopes. The third consists of individuals who are indeed described as human beings, but yet are nothing more than personifications of particular branches of art, or the representatives of families of artists. Of the latter the most celebrated is Daedalus, whose name indicates nothing but a smith, or an artist in general, and who is himself the mythical ancestor of a numerous family of artists (Daedalids), which can be traced from the time of Homer to that of Plato, for even Socrates is said to have been a descendant of this family. Smilis (from σμίλη, a carving-knife) exercised his art in Samos, Aegina, and other places, and some remarkable works were attributed to him. Endoeus of Athens is called a disciple of Daedalus. According to the popular traditions of Greece, there was no period in which the gods were not represented in some form or other, and there is no doubt that for a long time there existed no other statues in Greece than those of the gods. The earliest representations of the gods, however, were only symbolic. The presence of a god was indicated by the simplest and most shapeless symbols, such as unhewn blocks of stone (λίθοι ἀργοί), and by simple pillars or pieces of wood. The general name for a representation of a god not consisting of such a rude symbol was ἄγαλμα. In the Homeric poems there are sufficient traces of the existence of statues of the gods; but they probably did not display any artistic beauty. The only work of art which has come down to us from the heroic age is the relief above the ancient gate of Mycenae, representing two lions standing on their hind legs, with a sort of pillar between them (woodcut under [Murus]). The time which elapsed between the composition of the Homeric poems and the beginning of the fifth century before our aera may be termed the age of discovery; for nearly all the inventions, upon the application of which the development of the arts is dependent, are assigned to this period. Glaucus of Chios or Samos is said to have invented the art of soldering metal (σιδήρου κόλλησις). The two artists most celebrated for their discoveries were the two brothers Telecles and Theodoras of Samos, about the time of Polycrates. They invented the art of casting figures of metal. During the whole of this period, though marble and bronze began to be extensively applied, yet wood was more generally used for representations of the gods. These statues were painted [[Pictura]], and in most cases dressed in the most gorgeous attire. The style in which they are executed is called the archaic or the hieratic style. The figures are stiff and clumsy, the countenances have little or no individuality, the eyes long and small, and the outer angles turned a little upwards; the mouth, which is likewise drawn upwards at the two corners, has a smiling appearance. The hair is carefully worked, but looks stiff and wiry, and hangs generally down in straight lines, which are curled at the ends. The arms hang down the sides of the body, unless the figure carries something in its hands. The drapery is likewise stiff, and the folds are very symmetrical and worked with little regard to nature.
II. Second Period, from 580 to 480 B.C.—The number of artists who flourished during this period is truly astonishing. The Ionians of Asia Minor and the islanders of the Aegean, who had previously been in advance of the other Greeks in the exercise of the fine arts, had their last flourishing period from 560 to 528 B.C. Works in metal were produced in high perfection in Samos, in Aegina and Argos, while Chios gained the greatest reputation from its possessing the earliest great school of sculptors in marble, in which Bupalus and Anthermus were the most distinguished about 540 B.C. Their works were scattered over various parts of Greece, and their value may be inferred from the fact that Augustus adorned with them the pediment of the temple of Apollo on the Palatine. Sicyon also possessed a celebrated school of sculptors in marble, and about 580 B.C. Dipoenus and Scyllis, who had come from Crete, were at the head of it, and executed several marble statues of gods. Respecting Magna Graecia and Sicily we know few particulars, though it appears that the arts here went on improving and continued to be in advance of the mother-country. The most celebrated artists in southern Italy were Dameas of Croton, and Pythagoras of Rhegium. In Athens the arts made great progress under the patronage of the Pisistratids. The most celebrated among the Athenian sculptors of this period were Critias and Hegias, or Hegesias, both distinguished for their works in bronze. The former of them made in 477 B.C. the statues of Harmodius and Aristogiton. Argos also distinguished itself, and it is a curious circumstance, that the greatest Attic artists with whom the third period opens, and who brought the Attic art to its culminating point, are disciples of the Argive Ageladas (about 516 B.C.) In the statues of the gods (ἀγάλματα), which were made for temples as objects of worship, the hieratic style was more or less conscientiously retained, and it is therefore not in these statues that we have to seek for proofs of the progress of art. But even in temple-statues wood began to give way to other and better materials. Besides bronze, marble also, and ivory and gold were now applied to statues of the gods, and it was not uncommon to form the body of a statue of wood, and to make its head, arms, and feet of stone (ἀκρόλιθοι), or to cover the whole of such a wooden figure with ivory and gold. From the statues of the gods erected for worship we must distinguish those statues which were dedicated in temples as ἀναθήματα, and which now became customary instead of craters, tripods, &c. In these the artists were not only not bound to any traditional or conventional forms, but were, like the poets, allowed to make free use of mythological subjects, to add, and to omit, or to modify the stories, so as to render them more adapted for their artistic purposes. A third class of statues, which were erected during this period in great numbers, were those of the victors in the national games, and, though more rarely, of other distinguished persons (ἀνδριάντες). Those of the latter kind appear generally to have been portraits (εἰκόνες, statuae iconicae). The first iconic statues of Harmodius and Aristogiton were made by Antenor in 509 B.C., and in 477 B.C. new statues of the same persons were made by Critias. It was also at the period we are now describing that it became customary to adorn the pediments, friezes, and other parts of temples with reliefs or groups of statues of marble. We still possess two great works of this kind which are sufficient to show their general character during this period. 1. The Selinuntine Marbles, or the metopes of two temples on the acropolis of Selinus in Sicily, which were discovered in 1823, and are at present in the Museum of Palermo. 2. The Aeginetan Marbles, which were discovered in 1812 in the island of Aegina, and are now at Munich. They consist of eleven statues, which adorned two pediments of a temple of Athena, and represent the goddess leading the Aeacids against Troy, and contain manifest allusions to the war of the Greeks with the Persians.
III. Third Period, from 480 to 336 B.C.—During this period Athens was the centre of the fine arts in Greece. Statuary went hand in hand with the other arts and with literature: it became emancipated from its ancient fetters, from the stiffness and conventional forms of former times, and reached its culminating point in the sublime and mighty works of Phidias. His career begins about 452 B.C. The genius of this artist was so great and so generally recognised, that all the great works which were executed in the age of Pericles were placed under his direction, and thus the whole host of artists who were at that time assembled at Athens were engaged in working out his designs and ideas. Of these we have still some remains:—1. Parts of the eighteen sculptured metopes, together with the frieze of the small sides of the cella of the temple of Theseus. Ten of the metopes represent the exploits of Hercules, and the eight others those of Theseus. The figures in the frieze are manifestly gods, but their meaning is uncertain. Casts of these figures are in the British Museum. 2. A considerable number of the metopes of the Parthenon, which are all adorned with reliefs in marble, a great part of the frieze of the cella, some colossal figures, and a number of fragments of the two pediments of this temple. The greater part of these works is now in the British Museum, where they are collected under the name of the Elgin Marbles. Besides the sculptures of these temples, there are also similar ornaments of other temples extant, which show the influence which the school of Phidias exercised in various parts of Greece. Of these the most important are, the Phigalian marbles, which belonged to the temple of Apollo Epicurius, built about 436 B.C., by Ictinus. They were discovered in 1812, and consist of twenty-three plates of marble belonging to the inner frieze of the cella. They are now in the British Museum. The subjects represented in them are fights with Centaurs and Amazons, and one plate shows Apollo and Artemis drawn in a chariot by stags. About the same time that the Attic school rose to its highest perfection under Phidias, the school of Argos was likewise raised to its summit by Polycletus. The art of making bronze statues of athletes was carried by him to the greatest perfection: ideal youthful and manly beauty was the sphere in which he excelled. One of his statues, a youthful Doryphorus, was made with such accurate observation of the proportions of the parts of the body, that it was looked upon by the ancient artists as a canon of rules on this point. Myron of Eleutherae, about 432 B.C., adhered to a closer imitation of nature than Polycletus, and as far as the impression upon the senses was concerned, his works were most pleasing. The cow of Myron in bronze was celebrated in all antiquity. The change which took place after the Peloponnesian war in the public mind at Athens could not fail to show its influence upon the arts also. It was especially Scopas of Paros and Praxiteles of Athens, about one generation after Myron and Polycletus, who gave the reflex of their time in their productions. Their works expressed the softer feelings and an excited state of mind, such as would make a strong impression upon and captivate the senses of the beholders. Both were distinguished as sculptors in marble, and both worked in the same style; the legendary circles to which most of their ideal productions belong are those of Dionysus and Aphrodite, a fact which also shows the character of the age. Cephissodorus and Timarchus were sons of Praxiteles. There were several works of the former at Rome in the time of Pliny; he made his art subservient to passions and sensual desires. Most of the above-mentioned artists, however widely their works differed from those of the school of Phidias, may yet be regarded as having only continued and developed its principles of art in a certain direction; but towards the end of this period Euphranor and Lysippus of Sicyon carried out the principles of the Argive school of Polycletus. Their principal object was to represent the highest possible degree of physical beauty and of athletic and heroic power. The chief characteristic of Lysippus and his school is a close imitation of nature, which even contrived to represent bodily defects in some interesting manner, as in his statues of Alexander.
IV. Fourth Period, from 336 to 146 B.C.—During the first fifty years of this period the schools of Praxiteles and Lysippus continued to flourish, especially in works of bronze; but after this time bronze statues were seldom made, until the art was carried on with new vigour at Athens about the end of the period. The school of Lysippus gave rise to that of Rhodes, where his disciple Chares formed the most celebrated among the hundred colossal statues of the sun. It was seventy cubits high, and partly of metal. It stood near the harbour, and was thrown down by an earthquake about 225 B.C. Antiquarians assign to this part of the fourth period several very beautiful works still extant, as the magnificent group of Laocoon and his sons, which was discovered in 1506 near the baths of Titus, and is at present at Rome. This is, next to the Niobe, the most beautiful group among the extant works of ancient art; it was according to Pliny the work of three Rhodian artists: Agesander, Polydorus, and Athenodorus. The celebrated Farnesian bull is likewise the work of two Rhodian artists, Apollonius and Tauriscus. In the various kingdoms which arose out of the conquests of Alexander the arts were more or less cultivated. Not only were the great master-works of former times copied to adorn the new capitals, but new schools of artists sprang up in several of them. At Pergamus the celebrated groups were composed which represented the victories of Attalus and Eumenes over the Gauls. It is believed by some that the so-called dying gladiator at Rome is a statue of a Gaul, which originally belonged to one of these groups. The Borghese gladiator in the Louvre is supposed to be the work of an Ephesian Agasias, and to have originally formed a part of such a battle-scene. About the close of this period, and for more than a century afterwards, the Romans, in the conquest of the countries where the arts had flourished, made it a regular practice to carry away the works of art. The triumphs over Philip, Antiochus, the Aetolians, the Gauls in Asia, Perseus, Pseudo-Philip, and above all the taking of Corinth, and subsequently the victories over Mithridates and Cleopatra, filled the Roman temples and porticoes with the greatest variety of works of art. The sacrilegious plunder of temples and the carrying away of the sacred statues from the public sanctuaries became afterwards a common practice. The manner in which Verres acted in Sicily is but one of many instances of the extent to which these robberies were carried on. The emperors, especially Augustus, Caligula, and Nero, followed these examples, and the immense number of statues which, notwithstanding all this, remained at Rhodes, Delphi, Athens, and Olympia, is truly astonishing.—We can only briefly advert to the history of statuary among the Etruscans and Romans down to the year 146 B.C. The Etruscans were on the whole an industrious and enterprising people. With the works of Grecian art they must have become acquainted at an early time through their intercourse with the Greeks of southern Italy, whose influence upon the art of the Etruscans is evident in numerous cases. The whole range of the fine arts was cultivated by the Etruscans at an early period. Statuary in clay (which here supplied the place of wood, ξόανα, used in Greece) and in bronze appears to have acquired a high degree of perfection. In 267 B.C. no fewer than 2000 bronze statues are said to have existed at Volsinii, and numerous works of Etruscan art are still extant, which show great vigour and life, though they do not possess a very high degree of beauty. Some of their statues are worked in a Greek style; others are of a character peculiar to themselves, and entirely different from works of Grecian art, being stiff and ugly: others again are exaggerated and forced in their movements and attitudes, and resemble the figures which we meet with in the representations of Asiatic nations. The Romans previously to the time of the first Tarquin are said to have had no images of the gods; and for a long time afterwards their statues of gods in clay or wood were made by Etruscan artists. During the early part of the republic the works executed at Rome were altogether of a useful and practical, and not of an ornamental character; and statuary was in consequence little cultivated. But in the course of time the senate and the people, as well as foreign states which desired to show their gratitude to some Roman, began to erect bronze statues to distinguished persons in the Forum and other places.
V. fifth period, from B.C. 146 to the fall of the Western Empire.—During this period Rome was the capital of nearly the whole of the ancient world, not through its intellectual superiority, but by its military and political power. But it nevertheless became the centre of art and literature, as the artists resorted thither from all parts of the empire for the purpose of seeking employment in the houses of the great. The mass of the people, however, had as little taste for and were as little concerned about the arts as ever. In the time of Nero, who did much for the arts, we meet with Zenodorus, a founder of metal statues, who was commissioned by the emperor to execute a colossal statue of 110 feet high, representing Nero as the Sun. In the reign of Hadrian the arts seem to begin a new aera. He himself was undoubtedly a real lover of art, and encouraged it not only at Rome, but in Greece and Asia Minor. The great Villa of Hadrian below Tivoli, the ruins of which cover an extent of ten Roman miles in circumference, was richer in works of art than any other place in Italy. Here more works of art have been dug out of the ground than anywhere else within the same compass. Some statues executed at this time are worthy of the highest admiration. Foremost among these stand the statues and busts of Antinous, for whom the emperor entertained a passionate partiality, and who was represented in innumerable works of art. The colossal bust of Antinous in the Louvre is reckoned one of the finest works of ancient art, and is placed by some critics on an equality with the best works that Greece has produced. There are also some very good works in red marble which are referred to this period, as that material is not known to have been used before the age of Hadrian. As the arts had received such encouragement and brought forth such fruits in the reign of Hadrian, the effects remained visible for some time during the reigns of the Antonines. The frieze of a temple, which the senate caused to be erected to Antoninus Pius and Faustina, is adorned with griffins and vessels of very exquisite workmanship. The best among the extant works of this time are the equestrian statue of M. Aurelius of gilt bronze, which stands on the Capitol, and the column of M. Aurelius with reliefs representing scenes of his war against the Marcomanni. After the time of the Antonines the symptoms of decline in the arts became more and more visible. The most numerous works continued to be busts and statues of the emperors, but the best among them are not free from affectation and mannerism. In the time of Caracalla many statues were made, especially of Alexander the Great. Alexander Severus was a great admirer of statues, not from a genuine love of art, but because he delighted in the representations of great and good men. The reliefs on the triumphal arch of Septimius Severus, representing his victories over the Parthians, Arabs, and Adiabenians, have scarcely any artistic merits. Art now declined with great rapidity: busts and statues were more seldom made than before, and are awkward and poor; the hair is frequently indicated by nothing else but holes bored in the stone. The reliefs on the sarcophagi gradually become monotonous and lifeless. The reliefs on the arch of Constantine, which are not taken from that of Trajan, are perfectly rude and worthless, and those on the column of Theodosius were not better. Before concluding, it remains to say a few words on the destruction of ancient works of art. During the latter part of the reign of Constantine many statues of the gods were destroyed, and not long after his time a systematic destruction began, which under Theodosius spread to all parts of the empire. The spirit of destruction, however, was not directed against works of art in general and as such, but only against the pagan idols. The opinion, therefore, which is entertained by some, that the losses we have sustained in works of ancient art, are mainly attributable to the introduction of Christianity, is too sweeping and general. Of the same character is another opinion, according to which the final decay of ancient art was a consequence of the spiritual nature of the new religion. The coincidence of the general introduction of Christianity with the decay of the arts is merely accidental. That the early Christians did not despise the arts as such, is clear from several facts. We know that they erected statues to their martyrs, of which we have a specimen in that of St. Hippolytus in the Vatican library. The numerous works, lastly, which have been found in the Christian catacombs at Rome, might alone be a sufficient proof that the early Christians were not hostile towards the representation of the heroes of their religion in works of art. In fact, Christianity during the middle ages became as much the mother of the arts of modern times, as the religion of Greece was the mother of ancient art. Another very general and yet incorrect notion is, that the northern barbarians after the conquest of Rome intentionally destroyed works of art. This opinion is not supported by any of the contemporary historians, nor is it at all probable. The barbarians were only anxious to carry with them the most precious treasures in order to enrich themselves; a statue must have been an object of indifference to them. What perished, perished naturally by the circumstances and calamities of the times. In times of need bronze statues were melted down and the material used for other purposes; marble statues were frequently broken to pieces and used for building materials. If we consider the history of Rome during the first centuries after the conquest of Italy by the Germans, we have every reason to wonder that so many specimens of ancient art have come down to our times. The greatest destruction, at one time, of ancient works of art is supposed to have occurred at the taking of Constantinople, in the beginning of the thirteenth century. Among the few works saved from this devastation are the celebrated bronze horses which now decorate the exterior of St. Mark’s church at Venice. They have been ascribed, but without sufficient authority, to Lysippus.
STĬLUS or STỸLUS is in all probability the same word with the Greek στύλος, and conveys the general idea of an object tapering like an architectural column. It signifies, (1) An iron instrument, resembling a pencil in size and shape, used for writing upon waxed tablets. At one end it was sharpened to a point for scratching the characters upon the wax, while the other end, being flat and circular, served to render the surface of the tablets smooth again, and so to obliterate what had been written. Thus, vertere stilum means to erase, and hence to correct. The stylus was also termed graphium, and the case in which it was kept graphiarium.—(2) A sharp stake or spike placed in pitfalls before an entrenchment, to embarrass the progress of an attacking enemy.
