Centauromachy frieze from the Temple of Apollo Epikourious at Bassai
- Title:
- Centauromachy frieze from the Temple of Apollo Epikourious 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_0766
- Accession Number:
- Sage no. 290
- File Name:
- CCC_0766.tif
- Original Measurements:
- 63 (H) x 128 (W) cm (complete block)
- Culture:
- Greek
- Style/Period:
- Classical
- Work Type:
- casts (sculpture)
- Materials/Techniques:
- plaster cast (sculpture)
marble sculpture in relief (original) - Subject:
- Temple of Apollo (Bassai)
Centauromachy (Greek mythology) - Image View Type:
- overall
- Image View Description:
- from front
- Description:
- This is a cast of the viewer's right side of a slab from the Ionic frieze of the Temple of Apollo Epikourios at Bassai. The right side of the original slab is decently preserved, the left side of the block is heavily damaged. Here, a Centaur attacks a Lapith man, who is down on one knee. The Centaur faces right and rides in from the left to trample the vulnerable Lapith. He is bearded, has a deeply furrowed brow, and wears a billowing feline skin around his neck. He is shown in three-quarter view in the act of stepping on the Lapith to the right and reaching out toward the Lapith's head with his left arm. He holds his right arm back. The helmeted Lapith, in frontal view with his head turned to profile, supports himself with his left knee, over which a garment is draped, and with the shield he holds on his right arm. He extends his right leg out to the side and looks up toward the attacking Centaur. He holds his right arm up and behind his head to defend against the Centaur's onslaught. The west and north sections of the frieze were devoted to scenes of Centaurs battling Lapiths. This block has been located on the west 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. 1815,1020.6 - 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 - Related Work:
- The left and right sides of this block were cast separately. The left half of the block is ID no. 88 (SSID 945932).
- 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.