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_0244
- Accession Number:
- Sage no. 301
in pencil on upper rim: 148
244 - File Name:
- CCC_0244.tif
- 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:
- 89 x 148 x 4 (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, an Amazon wearing a belted chiton and billowing chlamys rides a low-rearing horse to the right. She is shown between three-quarter and frontal views. Her right arm is extended back and she presumably held a spear or other weapon in her right hand. She confronts a Greek to the right who is nude except for a crested helmet. He leans back on his bent right leg with his back in full view, his head in profile facing left, and his right arm back, with which he also probably held a weapon. The Greek fighter holds a shield in three-quarter view along his left side that carries a Medieval inscription (see below). To the right, a Greek fighter shown mostly in three-quarter pose leans to the right on his bent left leg. He wears a belted exomis and a crested helmet, holds a sword in his right hand, and reaches out and down with his left arm. At his feet are the legs of a fallen Amazon who is primarily contained in an adjacent, now-missing slab. 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. Shield inscription (see British Museum collection online): F.CH[R]ITOFLE. QU[ ]NT[N]E LIV[RI] 15.10 This has been interpreted as : F(rater)Christofle Quatnel, Jul(ii)i, 1510. British Museum 1010.
- Notes:
- Items in the Cornell Cast Collection are meant for inventory and reference purposes. Metadata may not be complete in all cases.
no. 1847,0424.3 - 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.