http://www.jstor.orgThe Atalanta of TegeaAuthor(s): Ernest GardnerSource: The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 26, (1906), pp. 169-175Published by: The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/624346Accessed: 24/05/2008 15:21Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available athttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unlessyou have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and youmay use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained athttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=hellenic.Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printedpage of such transmission.JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We enable thescholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform thatpromotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.THEATALANTAOFTEGEA. THE scanty remainsofthe pediments ofthe temple ofAthenaAlea at Tegea werefor manyyears thebasisofallconstructivecriticismof the style of Scopas; theirattributiontohimliasmetwithsuchuniversal acceptance thatI neednotherediscuss it; inview especially oftheir extraordinary vigour and originality itseemstome indisputable. Thenews thattheexcavationonthesiteofthe temple wastobecontinued by M. Mendel, oftheFrenchSchoolat Athens, was therefore receivedwiththe greatestinterest, andhis publication ofhisresults fullyjustifies these anticipations. Iwishtoacknowledgethe courtesy withwhichM. Holleaux, theDirector of theFrenchSchoolat Athens, has allowed meto reproduce tle illustrations fiom theBulletiqde Correcpondance Hell nique; for theuseIhave made of theminthecase of theAtalanta Imust accept the responsibility.1 It is not,however,possible, fromthe publication alone, to appreciate allthe evidencethathas tobetakenintoaccount.Ihad an opportunity, in April 1904,of studyingcarefully thestatuesinthelocalmuseumat Tegea, in company withMr. D.L. Richmond, of King's College, Cambridge. Ithinkit willconduce toclearness ifI say atonce thata study ofthe originals enabled ustomaketwoobservationswhichoffernewdataforartisticcriticisnm: firstly, thatthetorso identified by M. Mendel asthle torsoofAtalantafrom theE. pediment isinParian marble, notinthelocalDoliana marble, like therestofthe pedimentalfigures; and secondly, thattheheadinParian marble, whichM. Mendel suggested might perhapsbelong toastatue by Scopas placedwithinthe temple, almost certainly belongstothistorso ofAtalanta.Ihavenotmade public theseobservationsatanearlier date, partly becauseIbelievewewerenotthefirsttomake them; they would,indeed,be likely tooccurto any visitorto Tegea;but, sofaras I know, they havenot yet been published anddiscussed.The lapse of 1 Intherecenteditionof myHlandbookof the figure appear too large in proportion to the Greek Sculpture, Fig. 140, Ihave joinied the upperpalts. Ihavetriedto remedy this headand bodytogether to scale,using thedefectinthe accompanyingillustration, pre- photographicplates intheBulletinleCorr. paredforme by Mr. Anderson,by sloping the Hell. xxv, ivand vi.Buttheoriginal photo-lower part ofthe photographreproduced away graph was evidently takenwiththetorsofrom thelensata similar angle. slopingbackward, andsothelower parts of ERNESTGARDNER timehasalso given an opportunity for weighing more carefully evidence whichseemsatvariance withmuchthatwe havebefore learntabout Scopas. Before considering this question oftheAtalantainmore detailabrief recapitulation oftherestofourevidenceasto Scopas at Tegeamay seemdesirable. THEATALANTAOFTEGEA. Weare told by Pausanias thatthe temple ofAthenaAleaat Tegea was by far thefinestinthe Peloponnese. Withinitliad Ionic columns, and the externalorderwas Doric; therewerealsoCorinthiancolumns intheinner row atfront and back.Tt wasrebuiltafter itsdestruction by fire in395B.C. Scopas wasthe architect; thefront pediment containedthehuntofthe Calydonian boar.This pediment isdescribed by Pausaniaswithsufficient 170 THEATALANTAOFTEGEA. detailto give ussomenotionofits composition. Inthecentrewasthe boar,facing tothe left, attacked by thethree leading hunters,Atalanta, Meleager, and Theseus; on eithersideofthiscentral group was a half-fallen figure supported by a comrade, thewounded Ancaeus, and Telamon, who had stumbled, supported by Peleus; beyond thesewere the Dioscuri, oneon each side, andbehindthemthreeother heroes; wecannottellhowthe angles of the pediment werefilled.Ontheback pediment wasthe fight between Achillesand Telephus onthe plain ofthe Caicus, butPausaniasunfortun- ately tellsus nothing ofits composition. Withinthe temple therewere statuesofPentelicmarble byScopas, set up besidethestatueof Athena, on one side Asclepius, on theother Hygieia. Fragments of sculpture belonging tothe pediments ofthe temple have beenknown for some time; themore important of them, whicharenowin theNationalMuseumat Athens, aretwoheadsof heroes, one bare and one helmeted-andthehead ofaboar.Therecentexcavations by M. Mendel haveledtothe discovery ofmorefragmentsfromthe pediments, someof themof amost interesting character.Two more heads, one of them bare, and oneofthemcoveredwithalion's scalp, some dogs' heads, and various frag- mentsof limbs, areofthesamematerialasthe fragmentspreviously dis- covered-marblefromDoliananear Tegea, which, unfortunately, haslittle power of resistingexposure toweatherand damp.Consequently allare ina poor stateof preservation. Themost important ofthenewdiscoveriesisa femaletorso inAmazonian dress, which can hardly belong to any other figure than Atalanta,andaheadwhichalmost certainly belongstothistorso.2 Both headand torso are of Parian marble, and one arm and afoot of thesamle materialdoubtless belong alsotothis figure.ThoughtheParian marble hasresistedthe decomposing forceofthe dampground inwhichitwas buried betterthantheDoliana marble, andso has preserved itsformalmost intact,thesurface hasbeenalmost entirelycorroded, sothattheeffectof the final polish ofthesurfaceislost.In spite ofthistheheadretainsa wonderful amountof vigour andfreshnessof effect, and greatindividuality of character, and deservestobe ranked, even apart fromthecircumstances ofits discovery, amongthefinest fourth-century headsthatwe possess. Thedifference ofmaterial naturally givesrisetothe question whetherthe Palian marble figure belongs toone ofthe pediments ofthe temple, and, if so, whether it belongs tothesame pediment astheother figures ininferior localmarble. The appropriateness ofthisAmazoniantorsoforthehuntressAtalanta has already been noticed; and theabsenceoffinishattheback goes to prove thatitwas a pedimentalfigure. M. Mendel, whoconductedtheexcavations and published the sculptures thatwere found in them, hadno doubtthatit 2 Istatethis opinion afteracareful study ofcontinuedonthe upper. The head, when the originals intheMuseumat Tegea. Theplaced inits proper position onthe torso, has fractures do not exactlyfit; butthelineofaamostharmoniouseffect ; scaleandmaterial cut-apparently a blow from some sharp instru-alone suffice tomake theconnexion probable. mellt--appears onthelowersurfaceandis 171 ERNESTGARDNER belonged tothesame group astheother figures; anditisnotdifficultto find areason for theuse of Parianmarble inthecaseofAtalanta.Shewas the only female figure inthetwo pediments, so far as wecan judge from the description of Pausanias, andinorder torenderwithdueeffectthecolour and textureofher skinonface, arms, and legs, the sculptormay welllhave chosento substitute, in thecase ofthis one figure, Parian marble for Doliania, Theother figures, being male, were very probably coloured allover.Infact thecase isalmost analogous tothemarbleinsertionsinthelater metopes of Selinus, whichare alsoused only inthecaseoffemale figures; themain differenceisthatinthatcase only thenude parts offemale figures-face andarmsandfeet-aremadeof marble, therest being ofthesamelocal material thatsufficed for themale figures. Theinferiormaterial atSelinus is, indeed, notmarble at all, but limestone; but wehave an excellent example oftheuseofa superior andaninferior marble, undersomewhatsimilar conditions, intheDemeterof Cnidus; therethelocalmarbleisconsidered good enough for the draped body of the statue; butParian marble isusedfor the head, and to itisdue, inno small degree, the extraordinary beauty ofthe effect; anditisworth noticing, especially inthis connexion, thattlhe charioteerfriezeoftheMlausoleum-the part ofthe sculptureby general consentassociatedwith Scopas-is inParianmarble, and owes something of its beauty tothatmaterial, while therestofthe sculpture aind architecture isininferiorlocalmarbles.There is,therefore, nothingimpossible or even improbable intheuseofParian marble for theonly femalefigureina pedi- ment ofwhichtherestwasmadeoflocal marble; thescaleand subject are suitable ; the onlyquestion thatremains isthatof style, andthismustnow beconsidered. Itwillbebesttotakethemaleheads first, partly becausetwoofthem havelong been familiar, and are generally recognizedas the typicalexamples ofthework of Scopas, partly becausetheirattributiontothe pediments can- notbe doubted.Allof themalikeare characterized by an intensity of expres- sion such asis hardly tobe found in any otherheads thathavesurvivedfrom ancienttimes.The subjects of thetwo pediments, thehuntof the Calydonian boar andthebattleof Achillesand Telephtus, supplied theartistwiththemes whichenabledhimto represent alltheheroesintheexcitementofaction andof danger; andhehasusedthe opportunity tothefull.Ofthet\vo heads thathavebeenknown for some time, oneisthatofahelmetedwarrior withhisgaze directed upwards-not thatheis looking up atan antagoiist onahigherlevel,butthathis body was evidentlyleaning forward, andhis head consequently bent back, asisshown by thestrained musclesof theneck. The intensity ofthe expression is,however, enhanced by this position ofthe head; the eyes are set very deep intheirsockets, and heavily overshadowed, attheirinner corners, by the strongprojection ofthe brow, which does not, however, asinsome later examples ofasimilar intentiononthe part ofthe artist, meetthelineof thenose atan acute angle, butarches away from itin a bold curve.Attheoutercornersthe eyes arealso heavily overshadowed, here by a projecting massoffleshormuscle whichl overhangsand actually 172 THEATALANTAOFTEGEA. hidesin part the uppereyelid. The eyes are verywide-open-with a dilationwhichcomes from fixing the eyesupon a distant object-and there- fore suggest the far-away lookassociatedwitha passionate nature.A similar impression is conveyedby the dilatednostriland the half-open mouth, theteeth clearly showing betweenthe partedlips. Thewholestructureof theheadisalso suitabletothecharacter pourtrayed; itisofabroadand massive type, andseemsto imply that Scopas followedthetraditionsof Peloponnesian ratherthanof Atticart.This generaldescription will apply almost equally welltotherestof themaleheadsfrom the Tegeanpediments. Itistruethattheotherheadin Athens, theunhelmcted one, has notthe same upward direction of the gaze, nor thesamestrainon themusclesofthe neck, caused by thefactthatthe figure isbent forward; butithas ina still higherdegree theearnest intensity of expression; andthis expression is obtained by asimilar treatmentof the eyes and the surrounding muscles, and isassociatedwithasimilar physicaltype. Thesame may besaidofthe recently discovered head of Heraclesnow atTegea.This headis characterised by alion's scalp worn as a helmet, thefaceofthehero fitting intothe open jaws of the beast; theteethare seenabove his forehead, andthe mane, finely worked, onthebackofhishead. Though thefaceis badly damaged, itis still possible to appreciate, bothinfullfaceandin profile, the passionate expression ofthe deep-seteyes, andtonoticethemeans by whichthat expression is again rendered.Theother newly foundmale head, whichis alsoin poorpreservation, andissomewhat sketchily finished, issimilarin character totherest. Buttheinterestofthenewdiscoveries centresintheheadand torso in Parian marble, which, as wehaveseen, probably belong toeach other, and are to be assigned totheAtalantaof the pediment. Sheis clad in a chiton which isfastened upon theleftshoulder only, leavicngtherightbreast bare.The folds ofits drapery are indicatedwithaflow and vigour whichatfirst sight suggest a comparison withtheAtticworkofthelatter part ofthefifth century, and thework under thesameinfluencewhichwefindat Epidaurus andelsewhereinthe earlypart ofthefourth century. Butacloser examinationrevealsfeatureswhichratherrecallthecharacteristicsof Hellenistic art, intherestlessnessof detail, andtheminutetouchesof realism; thisis especially noticeableinthefolds just beneaththe girdle, whichare likethoseinthetorsoof Apollo Citharcedus fromthe Mausoleum, another work of theSchoolof Scopas. Suchan anticipation of thecharacter- isticsofalater age is fully inaccordwiththe style ofthemaleheads from the Tegeanpediments; but, whenwecometoconsider theheadwhich, aswehaveseenreasonto believe, almost certainlybelongs tothis figure of Atalanta, weareatonceconfrontedwitharemarkabledifference.The expression is,indeed, nolessfulloflifeand vigour thaninthemale heads, and theexecutionexcelstheirsinfreshness and delicacy. Butwecan findintheAtalanta nothing ofthat passionateintensity of gaze which distinguishes themaleheadsof Tegeabeyond allothers thathavesurvived fromancienttimes.The eyes arenotsetin deep belowthe brow, nor 173 ERNESTGARDN ER have they the wide-open, dilated pupils thatwehavenoticedinthe otherheads byScopas; insteadofthis they are rather long and narrow, and symmetrical in shape. Norare theyoverhung attheoutersides by a heavy massofflesh. This, perhaps, ina youthful femaleheadwas hardly to be expected. But, insteadofit,wenoticeacuriouscharacteristicwhich isnotdissimilarin character; thisisa clearly marked, though delicately rounded, rolloffleshbetweenthebrowandthe uppereyelid, whichis continued right round above theinnercorner of the eye, to join the swelling atthesideofthe nose, whichitself passes onintothecheek.Ido notknow any lieadinwhich thiscurious characteristic is so clearly indicated, butseveraloftheheads usually regardedaseitherattributableto Scopas himselfor shewing hisinfluenceshew itin some degree; 3 and itcan be traced back, ina rudimentary form, totheheadsoftenassociatedwithCresilas.4 Though thelower part ofthefacehasa longer, moreAtticovalthan themale heads, wecanstill see, inthedistendednostriland half-openlips, a temperament akintothoseofthe warriors, though lessviolentand unrestrained; the general formandcharacterofthefaceremindsusof theArtemisfrom the greatLycosura groupby Damophon. Weneed, then, feelno insuperable objection to attributing this figure of Atalantaalsoto Scopas; butthecontrastin expression betweenAtalanta and theheroes who surround herinthehunt certainly calls for some explana- tion.Thecontrastbetweenthecalmof Apollo and theexcitementofthe Lapiths who join inthecombat onthe Olympianpedimentsuggests itself as an analogy; butthereisno reason to suppose thatAtalantawas present Donlyas a spectator; theactionofher torso certainly belies it; nor havewe any(roundsfor doubting theidentificationas given us byPausanias,5 and supposing the figure tobea goddess-say Artemis.Itseemsmore probable thatthe explanationmay befound partly inthesexandthe youthfulness ofthemaiden huntress; andeveninthefourth century there may still haveremained a halfconscioustraditionthatAtalantawasnomereheroine but originally a goddess herself.Sheshould not,then, show thestress and passion of combat thathavelefttheirtrace onthefaces oftheheroes.For thecontrastbetweencalm and passion inthefaces ofthose engaged inthe samecontestwe maycompare alsothe Lapiths andCentaursofthe Parthenon metopes; thereit distinguishes thehumanfromthebestial combatants;here, perhaps, theheroine goddess from her human companions. Wemustremember alsothatthisextremeof expression wasanew experi- ment, andthat Scopasmight not improbably haveshrunkfrom applying ittofemaleheads as wellas tomaleheads at once, inthis earlypiece ofhis work.Later wesee something of thesame tendency inhisfemaleheads also, though never inso extremeaform.Foran analogous contrastbetweenthe 3 E.g. The Apollo from the Mausoleum, Brit.Museum, and theNelson Athlete, J.H.S.xviii. Mus.Catalogue, vol.2,P1. XX.2.J.H.S. P1. XI. xxiii. p. 122.We may also see itintheDemeter 5 Some supportmay be gained for this sug- rofCnidus.gestionbyquoting Pausanias' similarmistake 4 E.g. TheHeadofPericlesintheBritishat Olympia, when hetook Apollo for Pirithous. 174 THEATALANTAOFTEGEA. maleand female types used by thesame artist, weneed go nofurtherthan toPraxiteles.Thereis hardly morecontrastbetweentheHeraclesand the Atalantaof Tegea, thanbetweentheHermesof Olympia and the Aphrodite ofCnidus. Among femaleheads thathavebeenassociatedwith Scopas, and that thereforeoffer themselvesherefor comparison, isthewell-knownheadfrom theS.of the Acropolis at Athens; 6 though thishascertain points ofresem- blance withthe Atalanta, italsoshows points of difference; itisbroader and morematurein type. Butasitsassociationwith Scopas is purelyupon grounds of style, itdoesnotafforda very safecriterionfor accepting or rejecting such association in a case wherethe external evidence is strong. Itis otherwisewiththe copy ofthemaenad of Scopas published by Prof. Treu in the Mflanges Perrot.7Herethehead issimilar incharacter tothemaleheads from Tegea, andso far tells against anattributionto Scopas oftheheadof the Atalanta; butwe may wellimaginethathe may laterhave applied to histreatmentofa female head, inthe ecstasy of passion, thesamedevices whichhehad restrictedtothemaleheadsat Tegea, buthadrefrainedfrom using for hismaiden heroine.On theother hand, the drapery of themaenad initsrealistic touches, especially inthefoldsbeneaththe girdle, remindsus strongly of the Tegean Atalanta. Iftheconclusion here laid down be accepted, we shall have a new criterion to apply totheidentificationofworks tobeassociated with Scopas ortobe regarded as showing hisinfluence.Wehave already notedtheresemblance totheAtalantaoftheheadofArtemisfrom Lycosura, andthe consequent confirmationof thefourth century dateof Damophon. Butitwould leadus too far afield ifwewere to pursue this investigation at present. Themorewe study thecharacteroftheartof Scopas, thewiderand deeper wefind hisinfluencetohave been, and itcan hardly bedoubted that newdatafor comparison willleadtothisinfluence being tracedintonew channelsand recognized innew developments. ERNEST GARDNER. 6 E.A. Gardner, Handbook of Sculpture, Fig. 101. 7 Fig. V. pp. 317 sqq. 175