Amazonomachy frieze from the Temple of Apollo Epikourios at Bassai
- Title:
- Amazonomachy frieze from the Temple of Apollo Epikourios at Bassai
- Collection:
- Cornell Cast Collection
- Creator:
- Unknown (architect: Iktinos)
- Photographer:
- Mericle, Danielle
- Date:
- ca. 1890-1900
ca. 400 BCE
- Site:
- Bassai, Greece (original)
- Location:
- Goldwin Smith Hall (second floor, top of stairwell), Cornell University
Bassai, Greece (original) - ID Number:
- CCC_0761a
- Accession Number:
- Sage no. 290
- File Name:
- CCC_0761a.tif
- Original Measurements:
- 64 (H) x 127 (W) cm
- Culture:
- Greek
- Style/Period:
- Classical
- Work Type:
- casts (sculpture)
- Materials/Techniques:
- plaster cast (sculpture)
marble sculpture in relief (original) - Subject:
- Temple of Apollo (Bassai)
Amazonomachy - Image View Type:
- overall
- Image View Description:
- from front
- Description:
- This is a cast of a slab from the Ionic frieze of the Temple of Apollo Epikourios at Bassai showing a battle scene that includes two Greeks and two Amazons. At the center of the block a Greek, nude except for the garment over his left arm and a strap across his chest, leans to the right on his bent left knee preparing to strike the downed Amazon below him and to the right. The Greek is shown between three-quarter and frontal views with his head in profile facing right. He holds a shield on his left arm and held a now-missing weapon in his right hand. The Amazon has fallen to a sitting position on the ground below the Greek and she supports herself with her left arm. She is clothed in a belted chiton and shown with her torso twisted to frontal and her head in profile facing left. She looks up at the Greek and reaches up to him pleadingly with her right hand. To the viewer's left of the Greek, another Greek, shown in three-quarter view and also nude, rushes in to assist his compatriot. His head is missing in the original. At the right side of the block, a second Amazon rushes in from the right preparing to strike the Greek who is about to strike the downed Amazon. She is shown between three-quarter and frontal views with her head in profile facing left. The Amazon wears a double-belted chiton that leaves her right breast bare and a chlamys that flows behind her back. She held a now-missing weapon over her head in her right hand. The original block has been reconstructed from several fragments. One of these, a small section of background, is held in the National Museum in Athens (NM 4769). A cast of the Athens fragment has been incorporated into the block as displayed in the British Museum. The east and south sections of the frieze were devoted to scenes of battle between Amazons and Greeks. This block has been located on the east side of the frieze. Casts of slabs from the interior frieze of the Temple of Apollo Epikourios at Bassai are installed in the common spaces at the top (second floor) of the main stairwells in both the north and south wings of Goldwin Smith Hall.
- Notes:
- Items in the Cornell Cast Collection are meant for inventory and reference purposes. Metadata may not be complete in all cases.
no. 1815,1020.21 - Bibliography:
- W. B. Dinsmoor, "The Sculptured Frieze from Bassae," American Journal of Archaeology 60 (1956), 401-452
Hedwig Kenner, Der Fries des Tempels von Bassae-Phigalia (Vienna: F. Deuticke, 1946)
Ian Jenkins, Greek Architecture and its Sculpture (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006), 130-150 - Repository:
- Cornell University (current)
London, British Museum (original) - Collecting Program:
- Cornell Collections of Antiquities
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- The images in the Cornell Collection of Antiquities: Casts are protected by copyright, and the copyright holders are their creators, generally Cornell University Library, Annetta Alexandridis, and Verity Platt. This collection of plaster casts owned by Cornell University was photographed by Cornell University Library, Alexandridis, Platt, and Andreya L. Mihaloew from 2010-2015, with funding from a Digital Collections in Arts and Sciences Grant to Annetta Alexandridis. Cornell is providing access to the materials for research and personal use. The written permission of any copyright and other rights holders is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use that extends beyond what is authorized by fair use and other statutory exemptions. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item. Please contact Annetta Alexandridis and Verity Platt for more information about this collection, or to request permission to use these images.