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Dionysus and the Satyr of Tripod-Street

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

Hugh G. Evelyn White
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Extract

In his description of the Street of Tripods at Athens Pausanias notices certain important works of art by Praxiteles. The passage has given rise to much dispute. The author states that in this street was preserved that Satyr of which Praxiteles was very proud, and quotes an anecdote to show that the artist ranked it with the Thespian Eros as one of his masterpieces. He then concludes with the words:—Φρύνη μὲν οῦτω τὸν ᾿´Ερωτα αίρεῖταιΔιονύσῳ δὲ ἐν τῷ ναῷ τῷ πλησίον Σάτυρός ἐστι παῖς καὶ δίδωσιν ἔκπωμα᾿´Ερωτα δ᾿ ἑστηκότα ὁμοῦ καὶ Δίονυσον Θυμίλος ἐποίησε

Three important questions arise out of this concluding passage:—(1) Is the ᾿´Ερωτα δ᾿ ἑστηκότα ὁμοῦ καὶ Δίονυσον Θυμίλος ἐποίησε by Praxiteles? (2) If so, is it to be distinguished from the Satyr of the anecdote? (3) Was it associated, as part of a group, with the statues by Thymilus? The aim of the present paper is to show (a) that the first and second of these questions should be answered in the affirmative, the third in the negative; (b) that the Satyr, however, did not stand alone, but was grouped with a figure of Dionysus; and to suggest a restoration of this group.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Volume 29 , Issue 2 , 1909 , pp. 251 - 263
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1909

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References

1 Paus. i. 20. 1.

2 Museo Pioclementino ii. pp. 218 sqq.

3 Praxiteles, pp. 12 sqq.

4 Parerga Arch. 28, Mélanges gréco-romaines iii. p. 363.

5 Praxiteles, p. 185 ‘So nahm denn Phryne für sich den Eros, dem Dionysos aber gehört… der jugendliche Satyr der ihm (? Dionysos) das Trinkgefäss reicht.’

6 Masterpieces (trans. E. Strong), p. 311. He holds that the Dionysus and Eros of the supposed composite group are reproduced on a relief at Naples (Gerhard, and Panofka, , Neapels ant. Bildw. No. 96, p. 30)Google Scholar.

7 Furtwängler, op. cit. p. 311. It may be objected that the ‘Satyre versant’ is a work in the Praxitelean manner only; but no imitator would choose the artist's early and undeveloped in preference to his mature style.

8 Cf. Paus. i. 20. l χαλκοῖ μέν, μνήμης δ' ἄξια πϵριέχοντϵς (of the tripods).

9 See Frazer, , Pausanias ii. p. 211Google Scholar.

10 Hist. de la Sculpt. grec. ii. p. 264.

11 Pausanias viii. 30. 10.

lla For illustrations see Klein, Praxiteles, Fig. 29; Furtwängler, op. cit., Fig. 131 etc.

12 See list Klein, , Praxiteles pp. 190 and 192Google Scholar. The examples at Dresden and in the Museo Buoncompagni are the best known.

13 Op. cit. pp. 310–313.

14 viii. 9. 1.

15 Rhein. Mus. N.F. 5 (1847), p. 352.

16 Nat. Hist. xxxvi. 23.

17 Imhoof-Blumer, and Gardner, P., Num. Comm. on Paus. A 10Google Scholar.

18 Pausanias viii. 9. 3.

19 First published by Visconti, C. L., Bull. Comm. 1886, pp. 163Google Scholarsqq. Tav. 6 (from which the illustration in the text is borrowed): see also Lanciani, R., New Tales of Old Rome, p. 177Google Scholar.

20 The Dionysus is 1·50 metres in height: of the replicas of the Satyr I can quote only the Dresden examples and that in the British Museum. They are as follows:—

Dresden 201 … … 1·46m.

Dresden 202 … … 1·465 m. (head modern).

Dresden 203 … … 1·47m.

British Museum … 1·46 m.

I have yet to learn whether the height stated above for the Dionysus is, like the B.M. and Dresden measurements, exclusive of the plinth.

21 The same principle has been observed in the Olympian Metope of Heracles and the Cretan bull.

22 Op. cit.

23 Rép. de la Stat. t. 2, v. 1, p. 45, 6.

23a Smith and Porcher, Cyrene, Pl. 62 (? reproduced on a gem: Furtw., ant. Gemmen. xliii. 34)Google Scholar.

24 Ib. p. 122, 4. I am not aware whether and to what extent this figure has been restored.

25 Collignon, and Pontremoli, , Pergame, p. 205Google Scholar.

26 Reinach, op. cit. ii. 1, p. 122, 7; iii. p. 29, 1 and 2; p. 237, 7.

27 Cesnola, , Cyprus, Pl. XLI. 2Google Scholar (= p. 390, 2: appendix by C. W. King).

28 Is it possible that a panther should be added to our restoration, placed midway between the figures and below the kantharos?

29 Furtwängler, , Die antiken Gemmen, Pls. XXXIV. 31Google Scholar; XLIII. 36.

30 Schreiber, Hellen. Reliefbild xxv.; Waldstein, Herculancum, Pl. XXXI. 2.

32 Fernique, Étude sur Préneste, Pl. II.