The Sphinxes Guarding the Lion Tomb Entrance at Amphipolis

[system1988]

About the' Klodones ' of Andrew.The similarities with the ladies of Amphipolis are impressive. I cant remember a similar statue in Greek soil anyway ....but that said , i cant state i have seen all the statues in Hellas.

[amyntoros]

Can't speak for the first photograph but the second one is of a quiet heavily restored Augustan or Julio-Claudian statue at the Met. I've relaxed on a marble bench and admired it many a time. Blurb as follows:

The head is ancient but from another statue. Restorations by the eighteenth-century Italian sculptor Vincenzo Pacetti: (on Dionysos) ivy wreath, neck, both arms, lower right leg, calf and boot of left leg, hanging drapery on right side; (on the archaistic image) uplifted corner of drapery, both arms, lower half of lower legs, feet, pedestal, entire base.

Roman copy of Greek original. Adaptation of a Greek work of the 4th century B.C.

Dionysos, god of wine and divine intoxication, wears a panther skin over his short chiton and his high sandals with animal heads on the overhanging skin flaps. He stands beside an archaistic female image whose pose and dress imitate those of Greek statues carved in the sixth century B.C. It is difficult to know whether the original Greek bronze statue of Dionysos, of which this is a copy, included the female figure. Supports in the form of pillars, herms, and small statues were not uncommon in Classical art, but this figure may have been added to support the outstretched arm and may represent Spes, a Roman personification of Hope, who was commonly shown as an archaistic maiden.

Best regards,

[Taphoi]

The first is from the Hermitage: "Figure of Bacchus/Dionysus, Roman copy, 2nd century AD, after Greek original, Late 4th-early 3rd century BC, Marble, 207 cm"

Since the first is later than the second, but has more authentic Greek details, such as the shoes of the priestess found also on the Amphipolis priestesses, it would appear that the Metropolitan curators are being a little optimistic about Spes for it cannot be that the Hermitage version is a copy of the Met version instead of the Greek original and "Spes" is hardly likely to have been invented twice (only in fact by the Metropolitan curators it would seem). Any common ancestor must be older than both and more like the Hermitage version: it would be disingenuous to suggest that this was other than the 4th century BC Greek original (as indicated by the overall style and content of the work) given that the Met version is relatively early Roman.

Clearly it is overwhelmingly likely that the woman was original to the Greek original and is a priestess of Dionysus. That is why she is shown smaller than the God.

Best wishes,

Andrew

[Zebedee]

Just out of interest, doesn't the Hermitage identify the figure with Bacchus as Cora rather than a priestess? And she's holding a sheaf of corn (?) rather than being empty handed, at least to the best of my knowledge from what has been reported, as the caryatids at Amphipolis are?

[Taphoi]

Perhaps you mean a Kore? That just means a Greek maiden sculpture (usually archaic in style). It is a general term not relevant to whether she was a priestess. It is not clear what she was holding. It seems lost and substituted.
Best wishes,
Andrew

[Efstathios]

The female figures at least from the architectural perspective are Karyatids. If they also depict something else it remains to be seen, but so far the difference is in the clothing, something that could just be the choice of the sculptor.

More from the press, after the 4th chamber there is another entrance, a lot shorter and to the side which is considered to possibly lead to stairs going down. The dig continues.

[Paralus]

I'm becoming impatient Stathi. I understand the caution and the proper archaeological process but I'm impatient all the same...

[agesilaos]

Assuming that the feet are not restores, and it looks like it is the upper body that has been, the shoes are significant as cothurnoi, or buskins, stage-boots. Dionysos was a patron god of theatre so the most natural interpretation would be that the female figure is one of the Muses, probably Melpomene (Tragic verse). Which is why she is on a pedestal and smaller.

The Karyatids may have represented both Muses, Melpomene and Thalia (Comedy), twin aspects of life, perhaps; the buskins would suggest the theatrical Muses rather than priestesses, methinks. The descending staircase and the long entrance sans doors with possible lower levels is looking rather 'cultic' with the weathering of the exterior frontage suggesting the structure was originally open, to allow further burials? It does not seem like a Heroon. Olympias had no cult, nor Rhoxane or any of the generals; the Royal family did, however, liking the Antigonid Mausoleion even more; were it not for that persistent late Fourth Century date, it would have to be mid-third, mmh?

[Zebedee]

Perhaps you mean a Kore? That just means a Greek maiden sculpture (usually archaic in style). It is a general term not relevant to whether she was a priestess. It is not clear what she was holding. It seems lost and substituted.
Best wishes,
Andrew

No, I did mean Cora (old style as it's taken directly from the Hermitage description, but Persephone as a young maiden), and hence the sheaf (?) and Hermitage description. The arm indicates something being held, does it at Amphipolis from what has been described so far? I'm not so sure.

Actually very intrigued by the Demeter/Persephone idea raised if we go with the Hermitage description as that's a fairly constant theme within Macedonian royal graves from the C4th.

[agesilaos]

Cora is a Latinised form of Kore, which is also a 'cultic' title for Persephone who is indeed a suitable deity for a grave, as she returned from the dead every spring. Not sure she is depicted with the booster soles, though. I would have to agree that the cornsheaf is a restorer's guess, but that makes everything a guess and Zebedee's suggestion makes good sense for Amphipolis, wherethe identifying attribute seems similarly lost. The provenance of the statues might be a help, if they were associated with a theatre then Muses, if with a temple possibly priestesses but still probably a personification of another attribute of Dionysus, as the blurb says the original bronze probably lacked the supporting figure, the Roman copyist tacked it on to support the arm and that makes it more likely to be a deity of sorts.

edited to add this thanks to Zebedee for his map, finally a good idea of just how far the Lion had been moved

[Zebedee]

Oh, certainly not my ideas being put forward - I just thought it interesting to post the Hermitage description in case anyone wasn't aware of it. I'm certainly sceptical of just what was being held by the Hermitage's 'Cora'. I'm totally at a loss with the Amphipolis caryatids. About the only thing I know from what has been described (at least for the arm position) and pictured is that we are looking at something potentially unique. Whether that's inherent to the portrayal or just what has been lost over the years elsewhere will no doubt fuel many papers over the next few years! But the Persephone/Demeter story does crop up (pardon the pun) repeatedly at Vergina too. Whether that implies anything beyond death/rebirth is something else.

[system1988]

According to professor Faklaris , the shoes of the Cariatids in Amphipolis, are not ' kothornoi' but' Kripides' a kind of sandal (kothornoi were really tall )
Pauline

[agesilaos]

Fair enough, I'm no foot fetischist But these Melpomenai have similar sandals

in the louvre

melpomlvre.jpg (21.26 KiB) Viewed 3540 times

Ny Carlsberg Glyptothek whatever that means

220px-Ny_Carlsberg_Glyptothek_-_Melpomene.jpg (13.02 KiB) Viewed 3540 times

[Zebedee]

Just on the Persephone theme, am reminded of images such as:



(Link to National Museum of Athens description of Demeter and Kore)

Is it too mundane to suggest a pair of caryatids holding torches might have been useful?

Slightly more seriously, it was confirmed today that the soil inside the tomb is sand from the river. Not only was the lion moved 3km, someone filled this set of chambers with sand from around 1km away.

[agesilaos]

Except that the Strymon may have been much closer to Kastra than it is now is it not here that there is a link to some 18th century paintings?