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_0767b
- Accession Number:
- Sage no. 290
734 (sticker on front
"7" crossed out and replaced by "2" with pen) - File Name:
- CCC_0767b.tif
- Original Measurements:
- 135 (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 left side of a slab from the Ionic frieze of the Temple of Apollo Epikourios at Bassai. Here, a Lapith and Centaur do battle. At the left, a Lapith is shown frontally moving toward the left, with his head turned to look right. He holds a small rock in his right hand and a shield on his left arm, which he holds up to defend himself from the attacking Centaur to the right. He is nude except for a helmet and a garment draped behind his back and over his left arm and right thigh. The attacking Centaur is bearded and bushy-haired. His torso is turned to frontal, while his horse parts are shown close to profile. He moves left to pursue the Lapith and holds what was likely a large rock above his head. A chlamys flows behind his back. 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. 1815,1020.8 - 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. If the right side of this block was held in Cornell's collection, its whereabouts are unknown.
- 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.