Frieze of the Mausoleum at Halikarnassos
- Title:
- Frieze of the Mausoleum at Halikarnassos
- Collection:
- Cornell Cast Collection
- Creator:
- Unknown (sculptors: Bryaxis, Leochares, Timotheus, Skopas
architects: Pytheos and Satyros)
- Photographer:
- Alexandridis, Annetta
- Date:
- ca. 1890-1900
ca. 350 BCE
2009 (image)
- Site:
- Bodrum (ancient Halikarnassos), Turkey (discovery site) (original)
- Location:
- Warehouse
Bodrum (ancient Halikarnassos), Turkey (discovery site) (original) - ID Number:
- CCC_0243
- Accession Number:
- Sage no. 301
incised on upper left front corner: 15
in red pencil on right side: 20
243 - File Name:
- CCC_0243.tif
- Original Measurements:
- 160 (W) cm
- Culture:
- Greek, Carian
- Style/Period:
- Classical
- Work Type:
- casts (sculpture)
- Materials/Techniques:
- plaster cast (sculpture)
marble sculpture in relief (original) - Subject:
- Mausoleum (Halicarnassus)
Amazonomachy - Image View Type:
- overall
- Image View Description:
- from front
- Measurement:
- 90 x 160 x 6.5 (centimeters, height x width x diameter)
- Description:
- This is a cast of a relief slab from the Amazon frieze of the Mausoleum at Halikarnassos. It is housed in the British Museum along with many other sculptural and building elements from the now-gone monument. At the viewer's left side of the slab, a Greek, shown from behind and nude except for the chlamys draped over his left arm, prepares to throw a spear leftward. Next, an Amazon in chiton and chlamys, shown in three-quarter view, lunges to the right placing her weight on her bent left leg. She holds a weapon in her raised left arm and fights with a Greek crouching below her and another Greek to the right. The crouching Greek is nude and shown from behind. He leans to the right, supporting himself on his right knee and holding a shield up along his left side to defend against the attacking Amazon. Further to the right, a nude Greek wearing a helmet leans in on his right leg over his downed compatriot to confront the Amazon. He holds a sword in his raised right hand and a shield out on his left arm to help defend the downed Greek. At the far right of the block, an Amazon wearing a crested helmet and belted chiton bares her right breast as she braces on her right leg preparing to throw a weapon. She is shown from the front and is partially contained in the adjacent block of the original, ID no. 34. The Castle of St. Peter was built by crusaders of the order of the Knights of St. John (Hospitallers) in the 15th and 16th centuries reusing much of what remained of the Mausoleum. Many of the relief slabs were incorporated into the fortified building as decoration. While scholars continue to debate the form of the ornately decorated Mausoleum as well as the placement of much of the sculpture associated with it, the Amazonomachy frieze is securely located at the top of the monument's high podium. British Museum 1020.
- Notes:
- Items in the Cornell Cast Collection are meant for inventory and reference purposes. Metadata may not be complete in all cases.
no. 1847,0424.7 - Bibliography:
- B. F. Cook, Bernard Ashmole, Donald Emrys Strong, Relief Sculpture of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005)
Ian Jenkins, Greek Architecture and its Sculpture (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006), 203-227 - 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.