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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

Smith_c07.indd 153Smith_c07.indd 153 3/2/2012 10:15:56 AM3/2/2012 10:15:56 AM

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).


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



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).



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



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



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).



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



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).



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).



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).



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.,



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).



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).



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).



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



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.



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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