The Group Dedicated by Daochus at Delphi 9781463220327

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T h e Group Dedicated by Daochus at Delphi

A n a l e c t a Gorgiana

290 Series Editor George Kiraz

Analecta Gorgiana is a collection of long essays and

short

monographs which are consistently cited by modern scholars but previously difficult to find because of their original appearance in obscure publications. Carefully selected by a team of scholars based on their relevance to modern scholarship, these essays can now be fully utili2ed by scholars and proudly owned by libraries.

The Group Dedicated by Daochus at Delphi

By Elizabeth Gardiner Kendall Smith William Dinsmoor

gorgia* press 2009

Gorgias Press LLC, 180 Centennial Ave., Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA www.gorgiaspress.com Copyright © 2009 by Gorgias Press LLC Originally published in All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise without the prior written permission of Gorgias Press LLC. 2009

1

ISBN 978-1-60724-519-3

ISSN 1935-6854

Extract from The A^merican Journal of Archaeology, vol. 13 (1909).

Printed in the LTnited States of America

AMERICAN

J O U R N A L OF ARCHAEOLOGY, SECOND SERIES

VOL. X I I I

(1909)

PLATE

XIV

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AMERICAN SRIJOOL OF CLASSICAL STUTRIES AT &TF)CNS

THE

GROUP

DEDICATED

BY

DAOCIIUS

AT

DELPHI

[PLATK

X I V ]

AMONG the discoveries of the French excavators at Delphi in the year 1894 1 was a long stone pedestal (Figs. 1, 2) facing to the south, situated on a high terrace behind and above the tripods of Gelon, and close by the precinct of the Thessalian

FIGUHI:

1. — PKUKSTAL

OF THESSALIAN

GROUP,

DELPHI,

KROM

EAST.

hero Neoptolemus. In its top are cut nine cavities to receive the plinths of marble statues (Fig. 1). Inscriptions on its face, under every cavity except the one at the east end, tell us that eight of the statues represented members of one Thessalian house. The unnamed head of the line may also have been 1

Gazette des Bmnx Arts, X I I (1894), p. 452.

American .Journal o f Archaeology. Second Series, J o u r n a l o f t h e Archaeological I n s t i t u t e of America, Vol. X I I I (1!)»»), No 4.

AA-T

448

E. M. GARDINER

AND K.

% g o s g a S O £ J « 3< | g § l. L X V .

THE

GROUP

OF

DAOCHUS

453

below the elbow, and the l e f t hand, both of w h i c h had been made separately and dowelled into place. T h e figure stands firmly on the right leg, d r a w i n g the l e f t well back, and resting the l e f t elbow l i g h t l y on a tree-trunk. T h e right arm was

Figure . —Daociius I. raised to the level of the shoulder. T h e costume is essentially that of Acnonius and Daoohus I : but this time the cloak has been discarded and flung in a tumbled mass over the l e f t arm, allowing f u l l v i e w of the tunic, whose soft material follows the contours of the flesh in little clinging folds as if w e t .

454

E.

M.

a A I! DINER

AND

A\

K.

SMITH

Cavity VIII. Daochus I I . — A plinth (Fig. 7) with a shod left foot and a bit of the right foot is all that is preserved. From this, however, it can be determined that the ligure was

FiucitJi

7.—PLINTH

AND FI;I-;T OF DAOCHUS

II.

draped 1 and stood with the left foot advanced and firmly planted, the right drawn back. Cavity IX. Sisyphus II. — An heroic statue (Fig. 8) of a boy of fifteen or sixteen, complete except for the head, the right arm, and the left hand. In pose it is not unlike the Agias, save that a cloak hangs from the left shoulder, is wrapped around the bent left arm, and falls thence in long folds to below the knee, partly concealing the support on which the arm rests. This statue Homolle includes in the group in its final state; but on account of its great size it could not, he thinks, have been a part of the original design. In point of fact, it overtops the next tallest figure, Acnonius, by a full head. 2 " A certain Roman roundness and indecision of rendering" 3 he feels is accounted for by the immature age of the boy. He 1

Boots would hardly have been worn by a nude figure. See restored drawing, Fig. 21 A. Measurement from pit of neek to plinth, in the ease of Agias, 1.57 m . ; of Sisyphus II, 1.91 in. B.C.II. X X I I I (180',)), p. 401. 2

TUE GROUP

OF

DAOCIIi'S

4 r>r>

thinks, however, that the group as first planned consisted of seven ligures, beginning with the Acnonius and ending with the I)aoelms I I ; that to this was added, probably within a decade, the youthful son of the dedicator, and not much later its pendant at the other end. I n the latter case the omission of the inscription would, he thinks, favor the theory of later addition. In this group Homolle rather unsuccessfully attempts to discover a certain symmetry and unity, and to infer therefrom the principle of composition that lay in the minds of the sculptors. A fresh study of the material has led us to the conclusion that Homolle's arrangement of the ligures is not altogether correct, and that the group can be materi- F i c u k k ally improved by certain changes. U?*»»

11. i j,xvm.>

8 . — S o - c a l l b » Sisyi>hi:s

a«

P

The figures were assigned to the group and to their individual positions in accordance with live criteria : 1. The place of finding. 2. T h e marble (which is Parian of a fine quality). 3. The size, style, and technique. 4. The eostumo. 5. The shapes of the plinths, or, where these were destroyed, the probable position of the feet.

The plinths of the statues assigned as Agias and Daochus II were actually found in situ, so that their identification cannot be questioned. In the case of the other figures the evidence is not so decisive and demands scrutiny. T h e plinths of Acnonius, Sisyphus I, and Sisyphus I I are said to fit their cavities exactly. Where the first of these was found is not stated, but the torso to which it seems to belong

456

E. M.

GARDINER

AND

K.

K.

SMITH

was lying near the east end of the pedestal, not far from cavity I I , the position assumed for it. The Sisyphus I was found lying behind the pedestal, directly opposite the seventh cavity, to which it is assigned. But for the Sisyphus I I the place of finding is less favorable evidence. It lay with statues and bases from other monuments on the low terrace south of the Thessalian pedestal, about twenty metres away. For the remaining three statues no plinths were recovered. The statue assigned to the cavity of Daochus I (No. V I ) was found not far from that cavity and is draped, like Acnonius, Sisyphus I, and Daochus I I . Since Daochus I was a statesman, and the only other unfilled positions1 belong to athletes, who may be assumed to have been nude, like the Agias, this draped figure can belong in no other place. Furthermore, the evenly balanced pose of the figure is exactly suited to the contour of the cavity.2 The statue of the youth leaning on a herm, identified as Agelaus ( F i g . 5), was discovered at a considerable distance, in the northeast corner of the precinct of the temple of Apollo. The torso assigned to Telemachus ( F i g . 4 ) and the head mentioned with it lay even farther off near the altar of the Chians. The youth with the herm is assigned to the group because of its style, which, though it belongs to a softer, more sensuous type than the Agias, is still in many respects similar. In the torso Homolle finds such striking similarities of dimensions, pose, and style to the Agias, that he is convinced that this must be the ofjLaSeX.(j)o