Figure N (Seer), East pediment, Temple of Zeus, Olympia
- Title:
- Figure N (Seer), East pediment, Temple of Zeus, Olympia
- Collection:
- Cornell Cast Collection
- Creator:
- Unknown (Pausanias attributes the East pediment to Paionios, possibly erroneously)
- Photographer:
- Alexandridis, Annetta
- Date:
- ca. 1890-1900
475-456 BCE
2009 (image)
- Site:
- probably Berlin, Germany (reproduction)
Olympia, Greece (original) - Location:
- Warehouse
probably Berlin, Germany (reproduction)
Olympia, Greece (original) - ID Number:
- CCC_0471
- Accession Number:
- Sage nos. 133-138
1819 in blue (Gipsformerei number)
´3 figure from right 2 of 3´ sticker
471 - File Name:
- CCC_0471.tif
- Original Measurements:
- 138 (H) cm
- Culture:
- Greek
- Style/Period:
- Classical
- Work Type:
- casts (sculpture)
- Materials/Techniques:
- plaster cast (sculpture)
marble sculpture in the round (original) - Subject:
- Oenomaus (Greek mythology)
Pelops (Greek mythology)
Zeus (Greek deity)
Ancient Olympia (Greece) - Image View Type:
- overall
- Image View Description:
- from front
- Measurement:
- 35 x 29 (centimeters, height x width)
- Description:
- This is a full-sized cast of the head of figure N from the East pediment of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, commonly identified as Iamos, Oinomaos' court seer. The original is largely preserved with damage particularly to the limbs, chest, and drapery. The figure was cast in separate sections, now represented by this piece and the figure's feet (no. 471a). The aged seer rests his chin on his right hand. Part of the hand is preserved here and the remainder was probably cast with the arm (whereabouts unknown). The figure has a full beard with doughy curls and an even doughier-looking mustache. His eyes are thick-lidded and his nose broad. His hair, significantly receded, is composed of mid-length waves that terminate in tight curls. Overall, the seer reclines facing the viewer's left with his left (proper) leg extended and his right leg bent up slightly. He rests his right elbow on his right knee. He is draped in a heavy himation from the waist down and his bare chest sags to emphasize his age. This cast section is in good condition. The subject of the East pediment of the Temple of Zeus is the chariot contest between Pelops and King Oinomaos of Pisa for the hand in marriage of the king's daughter, Hippodameia. Zeus stands at the center between Pelops and Oinomaos and acts as judge of the contest. It is unclear which of the two primary variants of the tale is represented here. If following the more sordid of the versions, the treachery involved in Pelops' victory in the contest was commonly believed to have brought about the curse of his family line, known as the curse of the house of Atreus, but the origin of the curse was also attributed to Pelops' father Tantalos' misdeeds. Cornell's cast collection originally included full-sized figures from both the west and the east pediments of the temple, as recorded in the Sage Catalogue (ca. 1896). The figures from the west pediment gave their name to Cornell's Temple of Zeus Cafe, where they were on display when the cafe was sited in the space that is now Kaufmann Auditorium in Goldwin Smith Hall. After an earthquake in the sixth c. CE toppled the temple, its broken elements were gradually covered and protected under several meters of alluvial deposits from the Alpheios and Kladeos rivers. Many figures and fragments from the Olympia pediments were uncovered by German excavators in the final quarter of the 19th c. Excavations at the site are ongoing. Pausanias' description of the temple pediments (5.10.2-10) sheds great light on the subjects of the pediments and both clarifies and confuses the placement of the figures in relation to each other. Various arrangements of figures have been proposed and scholarly debate on the topic continues.
- Notes:
- Items in the Cornell Cast Collection are meant for inventory and reference purposes. Metadata may not be complete in all cases.
- Bibliography:
- Bernard Ashmole and Nicholas Yalouris, Olympia: The Sculptures of the Temple of Zeus (London: Phaidon, 1967).
Hans-Volkmar Herrmann, ed., Die Olympia-Skulpturen. Wege der Forschung, Band 577 (Darmstadt, 1987).
Andrew Stewart, Greek Sculpture (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990), 142-146, 253-254, figs. 262-276.
John Boardman, Greek Sculpture: The Classical Period (London: Thames and Hudson, 1985), 33-50, figs. 18-23.6.
Gipsformerei, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Katalog der Originalabgüsse, Heft 4, Griechenland und Rom: Freiplastik, pls. 76-79.
Georg Treu, Die Bildwerke von Olympia in Stein und Thon. Die Ergebnisse der von dem Deutschen Reich veranstalteten Ausgrabung, Band III (Berlin: Asher & Co., 1894-1897).
Judith Barringer, "The Temple of Zeus at Olympia: Heroes and Athletes," Hesperia 74 (2005), 211-241. - Related Work:
- ID nos. 471 and 471a belong together.
- Repository:
- Cornell University (current)
Olympia, Archaeological 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.