• Gustave Courbet - "Le Bord de Mer à Palavas" (1854)

Monday, June 26, 2006

Classical Sculptures

Just thought I would throw some photos from today's sculpture tour of the Archaelogical museum.

This is a Roman copy of the statue of Nemesis that stood in the temple of Nemesis at Marathon. Nemesis is Divine Retribution, and could be personified as a goddess, although it wasn't common. When the vastly outnumbered Athenians defeated the Persians at Marathon in 490, in their haste to escape the fleeing Persians left behind a piece of marble they had brought to the field. They had intended to use this block for a victory trophy. Believing that their (the Persians') arrogance had turned Nemesis against the Persians, the Athenians decided to honor (her?) by building a temple and carving a (much larger) statue like this from the very piece of marble the Persians had intended for their trophy.

Here's where I should write something about counting chickens and hatching, but I can't remember what . . .



Pan trying to get some loving from Aphrodite, who is beating him off with her sandal. Little winged Eros is helping her (I guess). I thought this was a pretty clever piece.




This is a mini-Roman copy of the statue of Athena Parthenos that once stood in the Parthenon. The original sculpture by Pheidias was over 30 feet high and covered in gold and ivory. Must have been impressive. This one is about 3 feet tall.





This is Asclepius (well, a statue of him anyway) - the Greek god of healing. Note the sacred snake around the staff - still a sign of medicine.

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ἐνὶ τοῖς γὰρ ἀείδομεν οἳ λιγὺν ἦχον τέττιγος, θόρυβον δ’ οὐκ ἐφίλησαν ὄνων "I sing to those who prefer the clear cicada sound, who do not like the braying of asses." Callimachus, Aeitia fr. 1 (Pfeiffer)