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_0768e
- Accession Number:
- Sage no. 290
- File Name:
- CCC_0768e.tif
- Original Measurements:
- 137 (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. Here, four figures grouped in pairs do battle. At the viewer's left side of the block, a Greek in almost frontal pose braces himself with his right leg and turns his head, damaged in the original, toward the viewer's right. He is nude except for the chlamys around his neck that billows behind him. With his extended left arm he grasps an Amazon's hair and left ear to pull her leftward. The Amazon is also shown primarily frontally and wearing a belted chiton that leaves her right breast bare. Her torso is curved away from the attacking Greek and her legs are bent. She pushes him away with her extended right arm and reaches over her head to grasp his left arm with her left hand in an attempt to loosen his grip on her hair. With her right foot she steps on his right foot. Behind her is a small altar against which she appears to brace herself. To the right another pair fights. An Amazon shown in three-quarter pose rushes to the right to clash with a Greek. Her head is heavily damaged in the original. The Amazon wears a belted chiton that is pulled tight across her legs as she advances with her left leg forward. Drapery billows behind her neck. The Greek to the right is nude except for a garment draped over his left thigh that falls to the ground. He is shown in three-quarter view from behind with his head in profile. He holds his shield out to his left side and curves his body away from the attacking Amazon. 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. 1815,1020.22 - 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.