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[German version] I. Definition Originally a round water container, the Latin urna denotes the sepulchral vessel in a cremation (ashes and bones). Morphologically speaking, urns are not always distinguishable from vessels of everyday life or cult. They sometimes imitated furniture and building designs. The gathered bones and ashen remains were gathered ( ossilegium) for storing in cloth or vessels inside urns of terracotta, metal or stone. Because of the prevalence of cremation in the ancient Mediterranean, the urn was the usual vessel for contain…

[German version] From the Renaissance, the word bust (from Italian busto) refers to a three-dimensional free-standing human image, which is restricted to head and chest ( Portrait). There is no ancient technical term, because busts were predominantly classified as portraits ( imagines). The term  bustum, on the other hand, meant gravesite, which in Italic cultures was marked by a  cippus or a stele, contouring a human head; in some instances as early as the 6th cent., but more commonly by the 4th and 3rd cents. BC, these developed int…

[German version] I. Term and general Derived from the Latin statuere ('to set up'), in sculpture, 'statue' denotes a completely three-dimensionally designed figure. This form of stand-alone depiction of people, animals and the more than human is at the centre of Greek artistry. In archaeological usage, statues which are integrated into architecture are also included in the term (pediment, akroterion ), but reliefs are not. Individual statues can be combined in a group in content and execution. The format of the statue ranges from sm…

[German version] (θήκη; thḗkē) is a term for any kind of container. In particular, from the 5th/4th cent. BC onwards it is used in texts and inscriptions for niche-shaped burial places, whether for burials in funerary buildings (Melos, 4th cent. BC) and vaults (Hdt. 1,67,3; 2,148,5), or for storing cinerary urns (Alexandria), but not sarkophagoi (Sarcophagus). Latin theca , in contrast, refers exclusively to holders for objects, primarily writing implements. Loculi Neudecker, Richard (Rome) Bibliography E. Saglio, s. v. loculus, DS 3.2, 1904, 1292-1295  A. Hug, s. v. T., RE …

[German version] (Περίκλυτος; Períklytos). Sculptor, pupil of  Polyclitus [2]. P. is named as the teacher of an Antiphanes active in Delphi in 359 BC. Pausanias (2,22,7) mentions a brother of Naucydes, but the name is given variously in MSS as P. or Polyclitus. Hence P. plays a part in the reconstruction of the family tree of Polyclitus [2] and [3], whereas of his work nothing is known. Neudecker, Richard (Rome) Bibliography Overbeck, no. 985, 995  D. Arnold, Die Polykletnachfolge, 1969, 6; 12-14  A. Linfert, Die Schule des Polyklet, in: H. Beck (ed.), Polyklet. Der Bildhauer der gri…

[German version] (Ἀγήσανδρος; Agésandros) (Hagesandrus), son of Paeonius, sculptor from Rhodes. Together with  Athanadorus and Polydorus, he produced famous groups of Hellenistic sculptures in Rome. Neudecker, Richard (Rome) Bibliography B. Andreae, Praetorium Speluncae, 1994.

[German version] (Ἀγοράκριτος; Agorákritos). Sculptor from Paros, master of the high-classical period in Athens. Uncertain attributions to A., his rival  Alcamenes and their teacher  Phidias are reflected in anecdotes of ancient literature, which makes attributing the œuvre difficult. When it came second in a contest with Alcamenes, A. is said to have sold a statue of Aphrodite to a buyer in Rhamnus as one of Nemesis, or that Phidias had one of his own statues signed by A. The signature was discove…

[German version] Sculptor in archaic times who, together with  Tectaeus, is regarded as a pupil of  Dipoenus and Scyllis. Plutarch describes the wooden cult statue of Apollo on Delos with a discus in his hand on which the three Charites stood; it was produced together with Tectaeus. Later, gold wreaths were added to the Charites by queen Stratonice. The statue is shown on later Athenian coins. Neudecker, Richard (Rome) Bibliography Fuchs/Floren, 179-180 Overbeck, no. 334-337 (sources).

[German version] (Λεωχάρης; Leōchárēs). Greek sculptor; his surviving works date from the mid 4th cent. BC to 320 BC; the period of main activity given by Pliny, 372-369 BC, is therefore too early. L.'s reputation rested on idols and portraiture, and led to a corruption of the evidence. Among the literary inventions are a statue of Apollo attributed to the still young L., which Plato is said to have sent to Dionysius II (around 365 BC). In 354 BC at the latest (death of work's commissioner Timotheu…

[German version] Term used, since their discovery in 1765, for statues from the oracle sanctuary of Apollo Branchos in  Didyma. The 15 extant statues of seated males date from 590-540 BC, record the names of their sculptors and were placed on the sacred road linking  Miletus to the sanctuary. They are significant examples of Ionian sculpture style and of the oriental influence on Greek iconography. Neudecker, Richard (Rome) Bibliography Fuchs/Floren, 374-375 K. Tuchelt, Die archa. Skulpturen von Didyma, IstForsch 27, 1970.

[German version] (Ζευξιάδης/ Zeuxiádēs). Bronze sculptor, pupil of Silanion (Plin. HN 34,51). A base from Rome, recorded in the 19th cent. and since lost, was evidence that Z. had created a sculpture of the rhetor Hypereides, which can be dated on historical grounds to after 307 BC. The usual identification of this sculpture with a certain type of which only copies have survived must be rejected. Neudecker, Richard (Rome) Bibliography Overbeck, 1350 Loewy, Nr. 483 Lippold, 303 P. Moreno, s. v. Z., EAA 7, 1267 f. Richter, Portraits 2, 210 f.

[German version] were used in antiquity from the Geometric Period on for the serial production of art. It exists when a model created specifically for the purpose is used to manufacture a not always specified number of repetitions. The intention may be economic, aesthetic (if identical products are desired) or, in the particular case of coins, dictated by the very purpose of the objects. It is crucial to distinguish this from the subsequent repetition of an original which is itself of value, as se…

[German version] (Ἔνδοιος; Éndoios) Sculptor in Athens in the late 6th cent. BC. He made statues of goddesses in ivory and wood for Ephesus, Erythrae and Tegea, the latter were later brought to the forum of Augustus in Rome. His seated marble figure of Athena, the dedicatory gift of a certain Nicias on the Athenian Acropolis, is identified as the statue Athens, AM Inv. No. 625 ( c. 520 BC). The suppletion of his signature on the votive relief of a potter is plausible, but the association of a signed base with the kore Athens, AM Inv. No. 602 is uncertain. The p…

[German version] (Δαμόκριτος/ Damókritos; also: Democritus [Δημόκριτος/ Dēmókritos]). Sculptor from Sicyon, active during the first half of the 4th cent. BC. Pausanias saw a victor's statue of his in Olympia. Pliny chose the Attic form of the name, for a Democritus, who made statues of philosophers. In Rome his name was found on the statue of Lysis from Miletus in a lost collection of copies of 4th cent. works. Neudecker, Richard (Rome) Bibliography Overbeck, no. 463, 466-468 (sources) Loewy, no. 484 Lippold, 247-248.

[German version] II. Archaeology The definition and application of this term, which has been transferred by modern scholars from Hellenistic literary criticism (ἀρχαισμός/ archaismós, ἀρχαίζειν/ archaízein = 'to archaize') to the fine arts, are disputed. Archaism exists where works of art from the Classical period and later (from c. 480 BC) intentionally adopt aspects of the Late Archaic period (2nd half of the 6th cent. BC). Such aspects are especially hair and beard styles, garments (zigzag folds) and motifs of gesture (splayed fingers, mo…

[German version] (Σιλανίων; Silaníōn). Bronze sculptor from Athens. According to Plin. HN 34,51 he was the height of his career in 328-325 BC. S. created statues of the mythical figures Achilles, Theseus and Jocasta, and in Olympia the victor statues of the boxers Damaretus, Telestas and Satyrus. A 'sports instructor' ( epistaten exercentem athletas, Plin. HN 34,82) ascribed to him can perhaps be interpreted as Connidas, Theseus' teacher. Of S.'s portraits a statue of Plato in the Athenian Academy is recognised has been reliably identified in Roma…

[German version] Term for attached decorative items representing figures or plants. On bronze vessels of the 7th cent. BC, they are attached as protome (e.g. griffin cauldron). In Hellenistic and imperial times, crustae on tableware are highly valued masterpieces of  toreutics, and also on clothing, luxurious armour such as gladiators' helmets, on horse harness and carriage components. On kline rests ( fulcra), bronze animal protomes can be found, appliqués of ivory on furniture. Wooden sarcophagi in Taranto and south Russia of the 4th cent. BC had relief…

[German version] (Κρίτιος; in written sources: Κριτίας). Bronze sculptor in Athens. C. is always mentioned together with Nesiotes. His prime was in 448-444 BC, Pliny's date is too late. C. was a contemporary of  Hegias [1]. In antiquity his style was considered antiquated and dry. He became famous as the master of the  Severe Style (1st third of the 5th cent. BC) with his statues of  Harmodius [1] and  Aristogeiton, the Tyrannicide group, which in 477/6 BC was set up in the Agora to replace a grou…

[German version] Legendary sculptor and architect from  Magnesia on the Maeander, famous for his so called ‘throne’ of Apollo in Amyclae near Sparta, which is described in great detail by Pausanias (3,18,6-3,19,6): as a structure, it combined the grave of Hyacinthus, an  altar, and a colossal  cult image, decorated with 45 mythological scenes, statues, and a depiction of his co-workers dancing in a circle. Since we have no surviving remnants at all, we must regard its numerous reconstructions and its dating to the late 6th cent. as speculative. Neudecker, Richard (Rome) Bibliography A.…

[German version] (Καικοσθένης; Kaikosthénēs). Son of Apollonides, bronze sculptor from Athens. Eight bases from the early 2nd cent. BC are inscribed with his and his brother Dies' signature. Some originate from portrait statues, which is why C. is usually identified as Chalcosthenes, who, according to Pliny, is supposed to have mostly sculpted statues of actors and athletes. In the Athenian Kerameikos, one could find ‘rough’ statues of gods and goddesses made of terracotta, perhaps the clay models for bronze statues. Neudecker, Richard (Rome) Bibliography Overbeck no. 1380-1381 Lo…