a companion to greek art (smith/a companion to greek art) || architectural sculpture
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A Companion to Greek Art, First Edition. Edited by Tyler Jo Smith and Dimitris Plantzos.
© 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2012 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
7.1 Introduction
Greek sacred architecture was abundantly decorated with sculptures, which
formed an integral part of its fabric. They invariably depicted gods and heroes,
with the notable exception of the Parthenon frieze that shows gods with
humans celebrating a local Athenian festival (see Plate 5). Architectural sculp-
tures first appear in mid 7th c. BC Crete, inspired by prototypes from Egypt and
the Near East. One-room temples at Prinias and Gortyn carry dado friezes
with repetitive figures and seated goddesses over the doorways, all in lime-
stone (Boardman 1978: figs. 31, 32). Such structures were a false dawn, swept
away by the invention of the architectural orders, Doric and Ionic, which
entailed a different distribution of sculptured ornaments and encouraged the
development of narrative scenes.
Doric buildings were introduced on mainland Greece in the second half of
the 7th c., while the Ionic order first appeared in East Greece around 600 BC.
Temples in both orders had exterior colonnades and low pitched tiled roofs
that left gable ends (pediments) ready to be filled with sculpture. Doric tem-
ples in stone have an entablature inspired by wooden prototypes, forming
panels (metopes) between vertically ridged dividers (triglyphs). Metopes are
ideal for closed compositions and do not encourage continuous narrative.
Corinth and its colonies were the pioneers of architectural sculpture for
the Doric order, introducing stone sculptures in the pediments and on the
metopes above the porches, as well as free-standing figures (acroteria) on the
three ridges of the triangular roofs. Early examples of architectural sculptures
are in limestone, with emphasis on apotropaic facing figures. An interest in
narrative scenes is exhibited in secondary areas.
CHAPTER 7
Architectural Sculpture
Olga Palagia
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154 Forms, Times, and Places
Ionic temples in East Greece are primarily in marble and can be decorated
with sculptured relief friezes on the gutter or the architrave and high-relief
figures on column drums and their pedestals, as on the Archaic Temples of
Artemis at Ephesos and Apollo at Didyma (cf. Boardman 1996: fig. 67).
Facing human or animal figures fill the spaces on the columns, with no attempt
at any kind of narrative. Sculptured column drums can also be found in East
Greece in the Hellenistic period, as in the Temple of Apollo Smintheus in the
Troad (the region of ancient Troy). When the Ionic style was transplanted on
the Greek mainland in the later part of the 6th c. (e.g. the Siphnian Treasury
at Delphi from around 525 BC; Figure 7.1), a new canon was formed, with
relief friezes replacing the architrave, and sculptures in the pediments. The
Ionic style also allowed the replacement of porch columns with female
figures (caryatids), a practice introduced by the Archaic treasuries of Delphi
(e.g. Boardman 1978: figs. 209, 210; cf. Figure 6.7).
In addition to temples, sacred architecture includes stoas, which may be
decorated with figural acroteria or, in the Hellenistic period, with relief
friezes. It also includes treasuries, set up by Greek cities in Panhellenic
Figure 7.1 Reconstruction of the Siphnian Treasury in Delphi. c. 525 BC (drawing
after E. Hansen).
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Architectural Sculpture 155
sanctuaries in the Archaic and Classical periods and embellished with an
excess of architectural sculptures.
In the 6th and 5th c. Athens became the leader, creating the greatest number
of architectural sculptures in an experimental spirit that has come to be
regarded as canonical. The Periklean building program of the third quarter of
the 5th c. on the Athenian Acropolis introduced architectural innovations,
mixing the orders, replacing some columns with caryatids, and allowing
sculptured Doric metopes and Ionic friezes on the same temple.
The island of Thasos stands apart from developments in architectural
sculpture elsewhere on account of its pro-Persian stance. Gates in the city walls
decorated with large relief figures from the 7th to the 4th c. betray inspiration
from Assyrian and Achaemenid palaces. A Late Archaic anta capital from the
sanctuary of Herakles bearing the free-standing forepart of a winged horse
is akin to Achaemenid column design (Grandjean and Salviat 2000: 252,
fig. 187). We can find similar anta capitals with animal foreparts (kneeling
bulls) drawing on Persian models in the so-called Monument of the Bulls on
Delos, which housed a votive ship, erected at the end of the 4th c. (Vlachou
2010: 79, fig. 7), after Alexander’s conquest of the Persian Empire had
triggered a new wave of Orientalizing art.
In the 4th c. BC East Greece regained the initiative, introducing new
forms of architectural sculptures that were carried into the Hellenistic
period. The architect Pytheos developed the idea of ceiling coffer lids with
sculptured figural decoration for the peristyle of his Temple of Athena at
Priene (Biers 1996: figs. 9.6, 9.7; Lawrence 1996: 144–145) and the
funerary monument of the satrap Mausolos at Halikarnassos (Biers 1996:
fig. 9.10; see Figure 17.6). His example was followed for both sacred
architecture and monumental tombs throughout the Hellenistic period.
Ionic altars were surrounded by colonnades carrying relief friezes and
eventually free-standing figures in the intercolumniations, the altar of the
Ephesos Artemision being the obvious example. Doric versions of such
altars have been found at Epidauros and Tegea in the Peloponnese. In the
2nd c. the Great Altar of Zeus at Pergamon (see Figure 7.2), decorated with
two friezes, statues in the intercolumniations, and acroteria all over the
roof, is an example of the Ionic altar at its most ornate (Boardman 1996:
figs. 219, 220).
Architectural sculpture in Greece served the needs of by-and-large democratic
societies. Beyond the confines of the Greek world, architectural sculpture
designed and executed by Greeks and depicting mainly Greek myths was
commissioned by local rulers in Caria and Lycia in the 5th and 4th c. to decorate
their monumental tombs. The grandest of these tombs, like the Nereid
Monument of Xanthos (Figure 17.7) and the Mausoleum of Halikarnassos
(Figure 17.6), were conceived as funerary pyres in marble, with a temple-like
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156 Forms, Times, and Places
structure placed on a high podium, which contained the burial chamber
(Boardman 1995: figs. 210–219; see Chapter 17). They introduced a new art
patronized by the local satraps, glorifying the occupant of the tomb, which was
to be found again in Macedonian tomb painting in the late 4th c., and which
also reflected a nondemocratic society (see Chapter 8).
7.2 Polychromy
We have evidence that architectural sculptures were painted. Colors still cling
to the stuccoed limestone pediments of the 6th c. BC from the Athenian
Acropolis. The background of the limestone pediment of the Megarian Treasury
at Olympia is painted blue. Paint on marble surfaces is less easy to detect, but
there are vestiges of color on the marble pediments of the Temples of Apollo at
Eretria and Delphi, the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, and on the pediments,
frieze, and metopes of the Parthenon. Shadows of painted patterns have been
detected on the pedimental statues of the Temple of Aphaia on Aigina, which
were exceptionally painted on the rear, even though their backs would
not have been visible (cf. Brinkmann and Wünsche 2007). The background
Figure 7.2 West frieze of the Great Altar of Pergamon. Detail showing Nereus and
Oceanus fighting the Giants. c. 170 BC (Berlin, Pergamon Museum. © Ruggero
Vanni/Corbis).
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Architectural Sculpture 157
to the high-relief figures on the Archaic column drums of the Artemision of
Ephesos was painted red. Traces of blue background suggesting the sky survive
on the friezes of the Siphnian Treasury, on the metopes of the Athenian Treasury
at Delphi, and on the Amazonomachy frieze of the Mausoleum of Halikarnassos.
The Erechtheion frieze consisted of appliqué figures in Parian marble pinned
on to a blue-black background of Eleusinian limestone.
7.3 Pediments
The triangular spaces above temple porches were awkward to fill with statues,
favoring battle scenes with the dead and wounded reclining in the corners.
Action themes, however, were usually relegated to the back (west) pediment;
episodes from the Trojan War and the Battles of Gods and Giants, Greeks and
Amazons, or Lapiths and Centaurs were generic themes frequently found in
rear pediments, though local myths could also be depicted (e.g. the contest of
Athena and Poseidon on the Parthenon). Some temples, like those of Aphaia
on Aigina, of Asklepios at Epidauros, and of Athena Alea at Tegea, chose to
depict action scenes in both pediments. Quiet, often divine, gatherings
dominated the gable above the entrance (east). Pedimental statues were
usually only finished in front, since their backs were not visible. Pedimental
statuary is more common in Doric temples but there are exceptions, notably
in Athens (Temple of Athena Nike).
The earliest known sculptured pediments are of limestone. The series begins
with the colossal west pediment of the Temple of Artemis on the Corinthian
colony of Korkyra (about 580 BC; Boardman 1978: fig. 187). It is dominated
by a frontal gorgon flanked by her monstrous children Pegasos and Chrysaor
and a pair of leopards. Gigantomachy scenes fill the two corners. The figures
are not yet free-standing and there is no unity of scale or theme. This pattern,
carrying monsters and animal combats in the center and figural scenes in the
corners, is repeated in the colossal limestone pediments from the Old Temple
of Athena on the Athenian Acropolis, which date from the early second quarter
of the 6th c. (Boardman 1978: figs. 188–198). Contrary to the relief figures on
Korkyra, the pedimental figures in Athens are free-standing. The Athena
Temple also had sculptured metopes and acroteria in Hymettan marble. The
employment of limestone and marble in different parts of the same temple can
also be found in the Archaic-period Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Whereas the
west pediment depicted a Gigantomachy in limestone, the east pediment,
showing Apollo on his chariot and relegating the animal combats to the
corners, was in Parian marble, being perhaps the earliest extant marble pediment
on mainland Greece (c. 510 BC; Boardman 1978: 203–204). This pediment
was sponsored and executed by Athenians. It is therefore not surprising that a
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158 Forms, Times, and Places
nearly contemporary pediment in Parian marble can be found in the renovated
Old Temple of Athena on the Athenian Acropolis, showing a Gigantomachy
with Athena taking pride of place (Boardman 1978: fig. 199). Its boldness of
design and composition heralds a new era of experimentation in Attic sculpture.
Henceforth, pedimental statues tended to be in Parian marble, until the
Parthenon sculptors chose to employ only local (Pentelic) marble.
The small marble pediment from the east side of the Ionic Treasury of
Siphnos at Delphi, on the other hand, is a regression, with the top halves of
relief figures cut out of the background. The sculpture illustrates a myth relat-
ing to Apollo’s oracle, but the action is awkward, more akin to line-drawing
(Boardman 1978: fig. 211). Marble pediments carrying relief compositions
recur in the Nereid Monument of the early 4th c. from Xanthos in Lycia
(Boardman 1995: fig. 218; Figure 17.7), commissioned by a non-Greek dynast.
The marble pediments of the Doric Temple of Aphaia on Aigina probably date
from just after the Persian Wars (shortly after 480 BC; Boardman 1978: fig. 206).
They break the rules by depicting battles (Trojan War episodes) on both sides and
tolerating great stylistic discrepancies between the two teams that carved them,
the west still clinging to Archaic norms, the east introducing the Severe Style (see
Chapter 5). They are remarkable for being painted all round and for their many
metal attachments, an advertisement for the renowned Aiginetan metalworks.
These pediments represent one of the last gasps of Aiginetan art, for Athens was
destined to dominate the field in the Classical period.
A new canon was introduced by the pediments of the Temple of Zeus at
Olympia, which the 2nd c. AD writer Pausanias attributes to Athenian work-
shops (460s BC). The colossal figures are flat at the back, stepped on a ledge
to enhance their visibility, and carried metal attachments including body
armor. The centers of both pediments are dominated by gods; the east pedi-
ment represents a quiet scene (preparation for the chariot race of Pelops
and Oinomaos), while the west is overwhelmed by tumultuous action
(Centauromachy; Boardman 1985: figs. 20, 21). These pediments set the
standards, which were surpassed only by the Parthenon, where the statues
were even larger, liberally completed with metal attachments and finished
(possibly even painted) in the round. A revolutionary method of structural
iron was employed to keep the central statues of the Parthenon pediments in
place. They are precisely dated to 438–432 BC by building accounts. Pausanias
mentions that the east showed the Birth of Athena (Figure 7.3), the west the
contest of Athena and Poseidon for the land of Attica. The style of the pedi-
ments reaches beyond the Classical into the Baroque and was admired and
imitated throughout antiquity.
After the Parthenon, pedimental compositions tended to get smaller and
less ambitious. The best-preserved pediments of the 4th c. BC are from the
Peloponnese and belong to the Temple of Asklepios at Epidauros (Fall of
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Architectural Sculpture 159
Troy – Ilioupersis – on the east, Amazonomachy on the west; Boardman 1995:
figs. 10, 11). We also have fragments from the pediments of Athena Alea at
Tegea and of Apollo at Delphi, both mentioned by Pausanias (Boardman
1995: figs. 9, 14). Henceforth, exhaustion set in. One of the last known ped-
iments comes from the north porch of the so-called Hieron in the Sanctuary
of the Great Gods of Samothrace, from around 280 BC (Figure 7.4). The
figures are small-scale and step on a ledge, like their colossal predecessors
at Olympia. The temple has been attributed to Ptolemaic patronage and the
scene may be populated with Alexandrine divinities and allegories.
HeliosA B C D E FDionysos
KoreDemeter Hekate
G
Amphitrite?
AthenaZeus
Hera
Eileithyia?Apollo?
Leto
K
Eros?Artemis
AphroditeL MNSelene
OPAPB
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Figure 7.3 Parthenon, reconstruction of the east pediment. 447–432 BC (drawing
by K. Iliakis).
Figure 7.4 Reconstruction of the north pediment of the Hieron of Samothrace.
c. 280 BC (drawing by D. Scahill).
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160 Forms, Times, and Places
7.4 Friezes
Narrative friezes in low relief were characteristic of Ionic architecture, though
they occasionally found their way on to Doric buildings as well. The sculptured
frieze was by far the most popular type of architectural sculpture and could
be variously positioned above or on architraves and gutters, around cella walls
and podia, and on the upper-works of Hellenistic stoas. Some of the earliest
friezes are found in East Greece. The Archaic Artemision of Ephesos carried a
narrative frieze on the gutter, while the Temple of Apollo at Didyma had a
frieze of lions and monsters on the architrave. The Archaic Doric Temple of
Athena at Assos in the Troad bore an uncanonical sculptured frieze on the
architrave under sculptured metopes.
On the mainland, we find sculptured friezes in Parian marble running
around the exterior walls of the Siphnian Treasury at Delphi (Figure 7.1).
They are remarkably well preserved and of very high quality. The east frieze
depicts the duel of Achilles and Memnon at Troy, with the gods arguing about
the outcome; the north frieze has the Gigantomachy, the west frieze the
Judgment of Paris, and the south frieze perhaps the Rape of the Leucippids
(Boardman 1978: fig. 212). The friezes are attributed to two different
workshops by reason of style.
Classical Athens boldly introduces Ionic friezes in Doric temples, variously
positioned. The majority are in Parian marble, with the exception of the
Parthenon. The series begins with the friezes inside the east porch of the
Temple of Poseidon at Sounion, carved by an island workshop in the 440s. By
far the most significant frieze in Greek architecture is that of the Parthenon
(Plate 5). Even though it had little or no impact in antiquity, it has become
one of the key monuments in understanding Greek art in the modern world.
It forms one of the Ionic elements of a largely Doric temple and ran around
the exterior wall of the cella. It depicts the procession of the Panathenaic
festival in low relief and embodies the earliest manifestation of the High
Classical style (c. 440 BC; Boardman 1985: figs. 92–96; Neils 2005b). It is
exceptional in many ways, not least in introducing human figures in temple
iconography. A second frieze inside the east porch of the Parthenon has also
been postulated. The Doric Temple of Hephaistos in the Athenian Agora
followed the example of the temple at Sounion by introducing Ionic friezes
inside the porches (c. 430 BC). The west frieze shows a Centauromachy, while
the east is very hard to interpret (Boardman 1985: figs. 112–114).
The twin Ionic temples on the river banks of the Ilissos and of Athena
Nike on the Acropolis, both dating from the time of the Peloponnesian War
(431–404 BC), were decorated with sculptured friezes placed above the architrave
all around the exterior walls (Boardman 1985: figs. 127, 128, 131). The Nike
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Architectural Sculpture 161
temple friezes depicted mostly battle scenes, suitable for a war monument. The
east frieze carries a divine gathering that may be interpreted as the Birth of
Athena. The Nike Temple friezes followed the example of the Parthenon by
employing Pentelic marble, even though the pedimental statues of this temple
were of Parian. Another Ionic temple on the Acropolis, the Erechtheion,
introduced an innovation that was inspired by the monumental statue bases of
Pheidias and his circle: appliqué figures in Parian marble were attached to a
blue-black background of Eleusinian limestone (409–404 BC; Boardman 1985:
fig. 126). The frieze was completed as Athens fell to the Spartans at the
conclusion of the Peloponnesian War. Athenian practice was carried to Arcadia
by Iktinos (Paus. 8.41.7–9), architect of the Parthenon, fleeing the Peloponnesian
War. He built the Doric Temple of Apollo Epikourios at Bassai (415 BC), which
contained sculptured metopes on the outside and a marble frieze running around
the interior wall of the cella. The scenes depicted on the friezes were an
Amazonomachy and a Centauromachy (Boardman 1995: fig. 5).
In the 4th c. BC, Ionic friezes became scarce in Greece proper. In Athens,
a miniature frieze on the Corinthian Choragic Monument of Lysikrates of
334 BC (Figure 28.8) illustrates a choral poem of Dionysos and his satyrs
battling the Tyrrhenian pirates (Boardman 1995: fig. 16). The Ionic Hall of
Choral Dancers in the Sanctuary of the Great Gods of Samothrace was
decorated with one of the earliest-known archaistic friezes, showing female
dancers and musicians (c. 340 BC). The enthusiasm for friezes, however,
migrated to the dynastic funerary monuments of Caria and Lycia in western
Asia Minor. The precinct of the heroon of Trysa carried superimposed friezes
of Greek myth that must have appealed to the local elite. The heroon of
Perikles at Limyra carried friezes of the dynast and his army in the middle of
the side walls. The Nereid Monument of Xanthos (Figure 17.7) was decorated
with friezes on the podium, on the architrave, and on the exterior wall of the
Ionic naiskos, all illustrating the life and exploits of its owner. Friezes with
funeral games (chariot race), an Amazonomachy (Figure 7.5), and a
Centauromachy were to be found on the Mausoleum of Halikarnassos,
running around the top of the podium, the base of the chariot on top of the
building, and possibly the exterior wall of the Ionic naiskos. A sculpted frieze
depicting a chariot race was also placed around the exterior wall of the cella
of the 3rd c. Ionic Ptolemaion at Limyra.
There is an abundance of sculptured friezes on a grand scale in the Ionic
architecture of East Greece in the 2nd c. The Ionic Temples of Dionysos at
Teos and of Artemis at Magnesia on the Maeander, both attributed to the
architect Hermogenes, carried friezes illustrating the Dionysiac thiasos and an
Amazonomachy respectively. The Corinthian Temple of Hekate at Lagina in
Caria was also embellished with friezes, which are hard to interpret (Lawrence
1996: 164).
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162 Forms, Times, and Places
Sculptured friezes with military spoils decorated the upper-story
balustrades of the propylon and stoas of the sanctuary of Athena at Pergamon.
Such friezes had a long future in Roman architectural sculpture. Pergamon,
at any rate, was home to the two most famous friezes of the Hellenistic
period: the Gigantomachy frieze (Figure 7.2) on the podium and the
Telephos frieze on the back wall of the Ionic colonnades surrounding
the Great Altar of Zeus (c. 170 BC). The Gigantomachy is arguably one of
the greatest masterpieces of Greek sculpture, while the Telephos is one of
the most original narrative friezes (Smith 1991: figs. 197–199). Inspired by
the iconography of book rolls, it illustrates the life of an individual in
consecutive scenes. The podia of the Ionic colonnades surrounding altars in
Magnesia, Priene, and Kos were also decorated with high-quality friezes.
Finally, in the 1st c. BC, an unusual sculptured frieze is formed by the
personifications of eight winds running around the exterior walls of the
octagonal Tower of the Winds (Horologion of Andronikos Kyrrhestes) in
Athens (Camp 2001: figs. 173, 174).
7.5 Metopes
Metopes are a feature of Doric architecture, designed to hold self-contained
relief compositions. The earliest-known sculptured metopes come from the
Sikyonian Treasury at Delphi, illustrating the seafaring adventures of heroes,
including the Argonauts and Europa (Boardman 1978: fig. 208). They are in
limestone and date from around 560 BC. In one case the action is carried
across three metopes and two triglyphs, an unusual feature that found no
Figure 7.5 The Mausoleum at Halikarnassos, slab from the Amazonomachy frieze.
c. 360–350 (London, British Museum 1015. © The Trustees of the British Museum).
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Architectural Sculpture 163
imitators. Sculptured stone metopes are the commonest type of architectural
sculpture found in the temples of South Italy and Sicily in the 6th and 5th c.
(see Chapter 19). When they decorate treasuries (like the Athenian Treasury
at Delphi), metopes can spread all around the building; otherwise they are
usually confined to the narrow sides of temples. Once again the Temple of
Zeus at Olympia sets the canon: its metopes decorate the porches, representing
the first manifestation of the Twelve Labors of Herakles (Boardman 1985:
figs. 22, 23).
In rare instances a Doric temple can be decorated with both metopes and
an Ionic frieze, beginning with the 6th c. Temple of Athena at Assos on the
Troad, and culminating with temples of the Periklean building program
in Athens, like the Hephaisteion (Figure 6.4) and the Parthenon (Plate 6).
The Parthenon has sculptured metopes all around the colonnade, representing
four different myths: Gigantomachy in the east, Centauromachy in the south
(Figure 7.6), Amazonomachy in the west, and the Fall of Troy in the north.
This is Doric architectural sculpture at its most ambitious. Some figures were in
Figure 7.6 Parthenon, south metope 27. Fight between a human Lapith and a
centaur. 447–432 BC (London, British Museum. © Universal Images Group/
SuperStock).
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164 Forms, Times, and Places
such high relief as to be virtually detached from the background. This
technique was also followed in the (smaller) metopes of the exterior order of
the early 4th c. Tholos at Delphi, perhaps created by Attic masons (Figure 6.7).
Even smaller metopes decorated the top of its cella wall. Athenian artists were
also responsible for the high-quality sculptured metopes in Parian marble from
the porches of the Temple of Apollo Epikourios at Bassai, illustrating Dionysiac
and Orphic themes (c. 415 BC).
Doric architecture was less popular in the Hellenistic period, but we have
fine sculptured metopes from the early 3rd c. Temple of Athena at Ilion. The
3rd c. Ionic heroon of the Ptolemies at Limyra carried sculptured metopes
along the top of its podium (Smith 1991: 182).
7.6 Acroteria
Figural acroteria decorating gable ridges were introduced in the 6th c. BC.
The temples of South Italy and Sicily were mainly decorated with clay acro-
teria, given the regional lack of marble, whereas the rest of Greece favored
stone acroteria, with the exception of Kalapodi and Karditsa in central
Greece, which featured clay horse heads on top of 6th c. temples. Flying
figures like gorgons and victories (Nikai) were appropriate and became
widespread. Sphinxes also frequently served as acroteria in Archaic architec-
ture. One of the earliest known large-scale marble acroteria was found on
the island of Paros, showing a flying gorgon (c. 560 BC), from an unknown
temple. The Archaic schema of ‘kneeling-running’ (Knielauf) was frequently
employed: the figure was arranged sideways to reduce projection into space,
thus appearing flattened against the sky. A classic example is a Victory acro-
terion in Parian marble from the top ridge of the east pediment of the
Archaic Temple of Apollo at Delphi (c. 510 BC; Boardman 1978: fig. 204).
This schema was retained down to the High Classical period, to be used in
an acroterion from the Stoa of Zeus Eleutherios in the Athenian Agora
(Figure 7.7). A Severe Style Victory from Paros introduces an alternative
design, hovering in mid-air, one foot stepping forward. A Parian-marble
Victory by the sculptor Paionios, dedicated by the Messenians and
Naupaktians to Zeus at Olympia (c. 425 BC), echoes this more realistic stance
(Boardman 1985: fig. 139). Paionios’s Victory is generally thought to copy
a bronze acroterion that he created for the Temple of Zeus, now lost. The
most elaborate acroteria representing Victories in Pentelic marble come
from the Temple of Asklepios at Epidauros (c. 380–370 BC). They were
carved by two masters, who achieved a supreme balancing act of wings and
draperies projecting into space (Boardman 1995: fig. 11). In the 2nd c.,
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Architectural Sculpture 165
colossal victories of elongated proportions holding ships’ masts were added
as lateral acroteria to the south porch of the so-called Hieron of Samothrace.
Other types of acroteria in the Classical period were Nereids riding dolphins,
abduction scenes (Temple of Nemesis at Rhamnous; of Hephaistos in
the Athenian Agora; of Asklepios at Epidauros; and the Nereid Monument
at Xanthos), and heroes slaying monsters (Tomb of Perikles at Limyra).
A category of wingless female figures usually employed as lateral acroteria is
generically described as ‘Breezes’ (Breeze on the Palatine; Temple of Athena
Alea at Tegea; cf. Boardman 1995: figs. 11, 12).
Central acroteria sometimes adopted a floral design, for example those of
the Temple of Aphaia on Aigina, of Poseidon at Sounion, of Hera at Argos,
and the Parthenon in the 5th c. BC, of the Temple of Athena Alea at Tegea in
the 4th c., and of the so-called Hieron on Samothrace in the 3rd. In the 2nd c.
a floral acroterion might contain an acanthus female figure inspired by Eastern
prototypes, like that in the Temple of Artemis at Magnesia on the Maeander.
In the Hellenistic period, horses, lions and lion-griffins could serve as acroteria
Figure 7.7 Marble acroterion from a temple in the Athenian Agora. Nike.
c. 420–400 BC (Athens, Agora Archaeological Museum S312. American School of
Classical Studies at Athens: Agora Excavations).
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166 Forms, Times, and Places
of altars of dynastic funerary monuments (Great Altar of Pergamon;
Mausoleum of Halikarnassos; Tomb at Belevi).
7.7 Sculptured Column Drums
The bottom drums of the exterior columns of grand-scale Ionic temples in
East Greece could be decorated with relief figures, perhaps inspired by Near
Eastern and Anatolian prototypes. The columns of the Archaic temples of
Artemis at Ephesos and Apollo at Didyma carried frontal figures in relief,
perhaps suggesting processions. This pattern was repeated in the Artemision
of Ephesos (Figure 7.8) when it was rebuilt in the third quarter of the 4th c.,
with the addition of sculptured rectangular pedestals under the columns. The
iconography of the 4th c. columns and pedestals ranges from Underworld
scenes to aspects of marine thiasos to victories to Herakles’s exploits. In some
columns, the Archaic scheme of standing figures is retained. In the 2nd c. BC,
sculptured column drums can also be found in the Temple of Apollo.
Figure 7.8 Artemision of Ephesos, sculptured column drum. Hermes and Alcestis.
c. 320 BC (London, British Museum 1206. © The Trustees of the British Museum).
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Architectural Sculpture 167
7.8 Sculptured Ceiling Coffers
Marble ceiling coffer lids with figural scenes in relief were a feature of Late
Classical and Hellenistic architecture in East Greece and the northern Aegean.
They were probably invented for temple peristyles in the 4th c. BC (Temple of
Athena at Priene, coffer lids with sculptured Gigantomachy and Amazonomachy
probably executed in the 2nd c.) but became popular with monumental tombs
like the Mausoleum of Halikarnassos (Theseus’s exploits) and the funerary
monument at Belevi (Centauromachy and funeral games; Smith 1991:
fig. 203). The Ionic Hall of Choral Dancers in the Sanctuary of the Great
Gods on Samothrace carried coffers decorated with heads (third quarter of
the 4th c.), while the Doric so-called Hieron nearby had an elaborate system of
large and small relief coffers in the north porch and pronaos (c. 280 BC).
7.9 Caryatids and Telamons
Human figures supporting the entablature in lieu of columns or pilasters were
intended to liven up the architecture. The largest Doric temple ever
constructed, that of Zeus Olympios at Akragas (begun c. 480 BC), carried
relief men (‘Telamons’, from the mythical king of Salamis) supporting the
epistyle, alternating with engaged columns all around the exterior walls. In
some Ionic temple-like buildings ‘in antis’, the columns were replaced by
marble girls (caryatids). This feature was adopted by several 6th c. treasuries at
Delphi, the best preserved being that of Siphnos (Figure 7.1). The employment
of girls instead of columns acquired a special significance in the north porch
of the Erechtheion on the Athenian Acropolis (c. 430 BC; cf. Figure 6.5). Six
girls carrying phialai support a roof over a porch, which may have symbolized
the cenotaph of Kekrops, mythical King of Athens (Boardman 1985: fig.
125). They are embodiments of the Classical peplos figure and were much
admired and copied by the Romans. The idea of Caryatids decorating a tomb
was taken up in the 4th c. by the Lycian dynast Perikles, who commissioned
local adaptations of the Erechtheion caryatids for his tomb at Limyra.
7.10 Parapets
The best-preserved sculptured parapet (balustrade) comes from the sanctuary
of Athena Nike on the Athenian Acropolis (c. 425–420 BC). It is in Pentelic
marble and was set around three sides of the Nike bastion. It is decorated with
exquisitely carved figures of victories offering sacrifices to Athena and setting up
trophies on battlefields (Boardman 1985: figs. 129, 130).
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168 Forms, Times, and Places
7.11 Medallion Busts
Marble busts depicting divinities or portraits and framed by medallions were
created in imitation of metal shields hanging from walls. They first appear in
the late 2nd c. BC on the island of Delos; the pediment of the Temple of Isis was
decorated with a single medallion bearing a divine bust. An Ionic structure on
Delos dedicated in honor of Mithridates VI, King of Pontos, carried his
portrait in a medallion bust in the pediment, while medallion busts with
portraits of his friends and generals formed a frieze along the top of the interior
walls. This form of architectural ornament had a significant future in Roman
architecture.
7.12 Testimonia
Architectural sculptures are documented by a handful of expenditure and
treasury accounts and literary sources. All architectural sculptures in bronze
are now lost, but we hear about them from Pausanias and from accounts
inscribed on marble stelai. For example, the interior walls of the Archaic
Temple of Athena of the Bronze House (Chalkioikos) on the acropolis of
Sparta were decorated with bronze reliefs carrying mythological narratives
(Paus. 3.17.2–4). Lakonia may have had a tradition of bronze architectural
reliefs in the Archaic period: the reliefs with mythological scenes decorating
the altar (so-called throne) of Apollo at Amyklai (Paus. 3. 18.9–16) have
disappeared without trace, suggesting that they were of perishable material,
probably bronze. The 5th c. gilded bronze acroteria on the Temples of Zeus at
Olympia and of Athena Nike on the Athenian Acropolis are documented by
Pausanias (5.10.4) and by treasury records (IG II2 1412, 1415, 1421, 1423,
1425, 1436) respectively. The central acroteria of the Temple of Zeus
represented Nikai and formed the subject of a competition. The sculptor who
received the commission, Paionios, proudly advertized his victory when he
signed his name to a marble Nike, dedicated to Zeus by the Messenians and
Naupaktians after the battle of Sphakteria in 425 BC (see above).
Architectural sculptures were rarely noticed by Pausanias, who was more
interested in statuary; when he does mention them, he gives invaluable
information on the subject matter of pediments, for example those of
the Temple of Zeus at Olympia (5.10.6–8), the Parthenon (1.24.5), the 5th c.
Temple of Hera at Argos (2.17.3), and the 4th c. Temples of Apollo at Delphi
(10.19.4) and of Athena Alea at Tegea (8.45.6–7). He only mentions the
pediment of the Temple of Herakles at Thebes with the Labors of Herakles
because it was attributed to Praxiteles (9.11.6). He was sufficiently interested
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Architectural Sculpture 169
in the authorship of the pediments of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi to note
that they were begun by the Athenian Praxias, to be finished after his death by
his compatriot Androsthenes (10.19.4). His attribution of the pediments
of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia to Alkamenes and Paionios remains
controversial (5.10.8). Even though he usually bypasses friezes and metopes,
he notes that the metopes of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia depicted
Herakles’s labors (5.10.9).
We learn from Herodotos (5.62) that one of the earliest-known pediments
in Parian marble, the east pediment of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi from
around 510 BC, was sponsored by the Alcmaeonids, who were exiled from
Athens and courted Spartan support. Nearly a century later, the west pediment
and the metopes of this temple, all in limestone, were described by Euripides
in his Ion (190–219). Herodotos (3.57–58) also provides information for
dating the Siphnian Treasury at Delphi c. 525 BC.
The sculptured column drums of the Artemision of Ephesos, mentioned
above, were remarkable enough to have caught the attention of ancient
authors. Herodotos (1.92) informs us that those of the Archaic temple were
funded by Croesus, King of Lydia, while Pliny the Elder (NH 36.95) remarks
that the 4th c. Artemision had 36 sculptured column drums, one of them
carved by Skopas. In addition, Strabo, the Greek geographer, claims (14.1.23)
that Praxiteles was responsible for the sculptures decorating the altar.
Expenditure accounts from the 5th and 4th c. BC can provide insights into
technical details, costs, and the division of labor. The Parthenon accounts (IG
I3 445–449) record the annual quarrying of blocks on Mt Pentelikon for the
pedimental figures but remain silent on the question of workshops. The
Erechtheion accounts (IG I3 474–479) from the final years of the Peloponnesian
War meticulously name the stonemasons who carved individual figures of
the frieze, without preserving the name of the master sculptor who designed
the whole. The carvers were paid on average 60 drachmas per figure, a
considerable sum if we bear in mind that daily wages amounted to 1 drachma.
By far the most informative expenditure accounts (IG IV2 102 AI–BI) come
from the early 4th c. Temple of Asklepios at Epidauros, imparting information
on workshop practices and wages. A master sculptor, Timotheos, is paid 2240
drachmas for three marble acroteria. They happen to survive and are of
exquisite workmanship. Hektoridas, on the other hand, was paid a total of
3220 drachmas for an entire pediment, which comprised about twenty under-
life-size statues, no doubt executed by workshop hands. A third sculptor,
whose name is mostly lost, was employed to provide the other pediment for
3010 drachmas and the three acroteria above Hektoridas’s pediment for 2240
drachmas. All of these sculptures survive in fragmentary condition. It is
remarkable that they were carved in a uniform style and no individual hands
can be distinguished, even though three different workshops were involved.
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170 Forms, Times, and Places
A similar case applies to the Mausoleum of Halikarnassos. Pliny the Elder’s
(HN 36.30–31) and Vitruvius’s (7 Pr. 12) attribution of its sculptures to
Skopas, Leochares, Bryaxis, Timotheos, Praxiteles, Satyros, and Pytheos has
generated a lot of controversy, but the uniformity of their sculptural style does
not favor attributions and the majority of the extant sculptures remain
anonymous. The price of pedimental sculptures seems to have gone up toward
the end of the 4th c. BC, when individual statues of the Temple of Apollo at
Delphi, albeit larger than those of Epidauros, cost 5000 drachmas.
Mythological figures in narrative scenes were labeled, their names often
painted, and occasionally cut in the stone. There are painted names next to
the figures on the metopes of the Sikyonian Treasury and on the east and
north friezes of the Siphnian Treasury at Delphi, and cut names on the
acroteria bases of the Archaic Temple of Athena at Karthaia on Keos and on
the metopes of the Temple of Athena Alea at Tegea. The artists of architectural
sculptures rarely signed their work. We have the signature of the sculptor
(now mostly lost) of the north frieze of the Siphnian Treasury at Delphi
inscribed on a shield (Stewart 1990: fig. 195), of the sculptors of the
Gigantomachy frieze of the Great Altar of Pergamon inscribed in the
entablature above the figures, and of Damophon of Messene and his sons
inscribed on the base of an acroterion dedicated by the artists on the Hellenistic
Temple of Zeus at Messene.
FURTHER READING
Boardman (1978, 1985, and 1995) are well-illustrated, comprehensive accounts.
Hurwitt (1999) and Camp (2001) cover the Acropolis and Attica, respectively.
Jenkins (2006) is a good survey, while Palagia (1993) and Neils (2001, 2005a) study
the architectural sculpture from the Parthenon. Essays on Greek architectural sculp-
ture are offered in Palagia (2006) and Schultz (2001). Brinkmann (2003) offers great
insights into the polychromy of Greek architectural sculpture. Rolley (1994 and
1999) remains an authoritative account of Greek sculpture in general, and the sys-
tematic research by Ridgway has produced important volumes (1970, 1981, 1993,
1997, 1999, 2000b, 2001, 2002). Webb (1996) is a good account of Hellenistic
architectural sculpture.
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