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[German version] (Φυρόμαχος/ Phyrómachos). Sculptor of Athens, teacher of the painters Heraclides [30] (active 168 BC) and Milon. The written and archaeological traditions, which are controversial, reveal at least the existence of a famed artist who was active under the Attalid kings (Attalus) of Pergamum. The Laterculi Alexandrini (late 2nd cent. BC) place him in a list of artists, and Pliny (HN 34,84) has the same in mind when documenting the sculptors who worked for Attalus and Eumenes. As Pliny only makes a generalized reference to the monumenta Attalidum, it cannot be demonstr…

(Ἀπελᾶς; Apellâs). [German version] [1] Bronze sculptor, 4th cent. BC (Apelleas). Bronze sculptor, son of the sculptor Callicles from Megara. He created the victory monument described by Pausanias for Cynisca, sister of Agesilaus of Sparta, who participated in the Olympic chariot races in 396 and 392 BC. Parts of the base with the epigram handed down in general tradition was discovered; apart from this, the base of a reduced replica of the commemorative statue was also found. Neudecker, Richard (Rome) Bibliography W. Dittenberger, Die Inschr. von Olympia, 1896, no. 160, 634 F. Eckste…

[German version] (also called Chryselephantine technique). The naked parts of a statue were primarily worked from  ivory; and the garments and hair from sheet-gold, and materials like glass, precious stones and coloured metals were also used. Chryselephantine works were rare because of the value of their materials and are only extant in fragmentary form. The manufacturing technique is therefore not known in detail and appears to be mainly dependent on the size of the work. If the work was life-siz…

[German version] Bronze sculptor in Athens. Preserved are his initials of the memorial statues for the Thracian kings Raskouporis (around 13 BC) and Kotys. Making statues of philosophers and athletes, an A. mentioned in Pliny is more likely to be a sculptor of the 4th cent. BC when taking a dated base into account. Neudecker, Richard (Rome) Bibliography Loewy, no.314-316 s. v. A., EAA Suppl. 61.

[German version] (Σθέννις/ Sthénnis). Bronze sculptor from Olynthus, active in Athens from 348 BC. According to surviving inscribed bases, he and Leochares created a family group on the Acropolis in Athens in the late 4th cent. BC, and a statue for Lysimachus [2] in Oropus in the early 3rd cent. There is literary evidence for several statues by S. of gods and one of a philosopher, which were later moved to Rome, one of flentes matronae et adorantes sacrificantesque (‘weeping, adoring and sacrificing women’, Plin. HN 34,19,90) and victor statues in Olympia. Although none…

[German version] Bronze sculptor from Eleutherae, son and pupil of Myron. According to written tradition, he created a votive offering in Olympia with single combats from the Trojan War (Achilles and Memnon, among others) and an Argonaut group. Notes about a boy with a votive water vessel, a puer sufflans and a statue of the pancratiast Autolycus ( Pankration) have been too damaged to allow for identification. From the Athenian Acropolis an autographed plinth for equestrian statues is extant, which is dated historically to around 430-420 BC. Neudecker, Richard (Rome) Bibliography Over…

[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…

[German version] Sculptor from Crete. Like his brother Scyllis, assumed to be a pupil or son of the legendary  Daedalus and one of the original exponents of the art of marble sculpture. Tales of his flight from Cyrus and his first commissions in Sicyon reflect the fact that the ‘Daedalic’ marble-sculpture of the Greek islands preceded that of the mainland and date its arrival on the mainland to the earlier half of the 6th cent. BC. Even in ancient literature, some archaic works were attributed to …

[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] Archaeological term for a metal-working technique ('embossed with a hammer'), not documented in Antiquity. As described in Paus. 3,17,6, sheets hammered out of bronze or precious metals are joined together with nails over a wooden core. The technique is an attempt in the 7th cent. BC - before the invention of hollow casting at the beginning of the 6th cent. BC - to make large-scale free-standing bronzes. Accounts of sphyrelata emphasize the great age of such cult images, e.g. the …

[German version] Compound hoards composed predominantly of ancient silver objects. As treasure these were hidden to protect them from theft or plundering (known as hoarding). As grave goods or thesauroi in sanctuaries or church treasures the treasure was collected and deposited in fact or ideally as an investment. In the private domain at all times and generally it acted simultaneously as both house contents and an investment. SH were predominantly composed of valuable eating and drinking utensils. Their importance to schol…

[German version] (Ἀγελάδας; Ageládas). (Hageladas), bronze sculptor from Argus, was considered to be the teacher of  Phidias,  Myron,  Polycleitus. Victors' statues by A. are recorded since 520 BC. His votive offering by the Tarantines in Delphi has been dated to before 474 BC. His Heracles Alexikakos was erected in Athens after a pestilence (not necessarily 430 BC). From this, Pliny deducted the date for his zenith to be 432 BC. However, since this makes the postulated active period too long, ther…

(Πραξιτέλης/ Praxitélēs). [German version] I. Biography Sculptor from Athens, active c. 370-320 BC. Since Timarchus and Cephisodotus [5] were P.’ sons, Cephisodotus [4] is assumed to be his father. By using later namesakes, a family of sculptors can be pieced together extending into the 1st cent. BC. However, this is just as controversial as the suppositions about the wealth and political influence of the family in the 4th cent. P.’ anecdotal biography and fame sound a note of caution with regard to c. 55 named works. Even so, the abundance of sources has led to many, often i…

[German version] According to Pliny (HN 35,114), the name for caricature depictions in painting since Antiphilus [4] of Alexandria represented a certain Gryllus in that way. Originally these were dancers with grotesque physical proportions and contortions. As gryllographeîn and grylloeídēs later generally referred to ridiculously proportioned bodies, small-format free-standing sculpture representations can also be described as grylloi. Today the genre is no longer attributed to Alexandrian art only. To cover all animal caricatures and monstrous figur…

[German version] Sculptor from Atrax in Thessaly, active in the 4th cent. BC. Together with Hippocrates he signed a victory votive of the Pharsalians in Delphi, where it was set up in the mid 4th cent. BC. Because of the measures at the base, it may have been the bronze group of Achilles on horseback and Patroclus, which Pausanias (10,13,5) describes. However, because the base bears a rededication to Claudius there can be no certainty. Pausanias may not have seen the original work. Neudecker, Richard (Rome) Bibliography G. Daux, Pausanias à Delphes, 1936, 141-143 J. Marcadé, Recueil de…

[German version] Greek sculptor; ancient sources praise his horses and female figures, refer to him as the sculptor who made the transition to the classical period. He endowed his works with both ‘hardness’ and ‘grace’. He is linked with  Onatas,  Praxiteles and  Scopas. Many researchers have tried to solve the chronological contradictions by assuming that there were numerous sculptors of the same name with various surviving works ascribed to them. Since no work can be sufficiently proven to originate from C., the extent of his work is not known. From the famous C. originated a stat…

(Ὀνάτας; Onátas). [German version] [1] Bronze sculptor from Aegina, 5th cent. BC Bronze sculptor from Aegina, son of Micon. O. was a contemporary of Hegias [1] and Ageladas and one of the most important masters of the Severe Style. None of his numerous works is extant or secured in the form of copies. His signature is found on a pedestal of a bronze horse on the Athenian Acropolis and a pedestal in Olympia, both from the early 5th cent. BC. In Olympia, O. sculpted a votive offering ( anáthēma ) for the Achaeans in around 470-460 BC with Nestor and nine Trojan h…

[German version] I. Introduction Terra cotta (an Italian term meaning 'burnt clay') was the commonest material used for many kinds of ancient utensils, vessels and art objects. In archaeological terminology, it refers to artistically formed objects. As well as free moulding by hand, mass production was also usual, in the Near East (from the 3rd millennium BC) and the Mediterranean (from the 6th cent. BC). A matrix was derived from the patrix (original) to serve as a mould. If the object was made hol…

(Ἀριστίων; Aristíōn). [German version] [1] Epicurean philosopher, ' Tyrant' of Athens (88-86 BC) Epicurean philosopher, who, in 88 BC, became very influential in Athens with the help of  Mithridates VI (‘Tyrant’). In order to win the Greeks over to Mithridates, A. supported  Archelaus, e.g. in the battle against the proquaestor Q. Braetius Sura at  Chaeronea. In the spring of 87 BC, he retreated from  Sulla back to Athens. The city fell on 1 March 86 BC; A. managed to hold out on the Acropolis for a short w…

(Κωλώτης; Kōlṓtēs). [German version] [1] Sculptor from Heraclea in Elis Sculptor from Heraclea in Elis. C. was a pupil of  Phidias, and worked together with him, e.g. on the Zeus at Olympia. He worked principally in gold and ivory. In gold-ivory C. created an Asclepius in Kyllene and, according to Pliny (Plin. HN 35,54), an Athena in Elis, which according to Pausanias (Paus. 6,26,3), however, was attributed to Phidias; as this Athena's shield is said to have been painted by  Panaenus, a collective effort …