Material for Workshop #4: Hellenistic Relief Sculpture & the Gods

I. Visual evidence: various 4th century and Hellenistic reliefs

1. Relief of a Family Sacrifice. 2nd c BCE, marble, now in Munich, Glyptothek.
   
   
   
   
2. Relief depicting Dionysos visiting a poet. Roman copy of a 1st (?) century BCE original; marble, now in London, British Museum.
   
   
   
   
3. Drawing of a late 4th c BCE relief from Brauron (Brauron 1151). Inscription on architrave says it was erected in accordance with a prayer by Aristonike, wife of Antiphates from the deme Thorai. One figure carries a kanoun (sacrificial basket), and another a kiste (basket/box) on her head.
   
   
4. Early 4th c relief from the sanctuary of Asklepios in Athens (National Museum 1338). The goddess Hygieia extends her hand and almost touches the head of the man on the left.
   
   
   
   
5. A late 4th/early 3rd c relief from the sanctuary of Asklepios at Athens, Paris, Louvre 755.Compare this image of Hygieia with the one in relief #4.
   
   
   
   
6. Late 4th / early c BCE relief from the sanctuary of Asklepios at Athens (NM 1841).
   
   
   
   
7. A 4th c relief from the Peiraeus, Athens National Museum 1408. Note the presence of the kneeling figure at the front of the procession.
   
   
   
   
8. Relief from Phaleron (Attica). Now in Athens, NM 2756. Dedicated by Xenokrateia, mother of young boy Xeniades, to Kephisos and the gods who shared his altar (xunbomoi theoi). She also founded the shrine to Kephisos.
   
   
   
9. A late 4th/early 3rd c relief from Eleusis. Note the scale of the figures.
   
   
   
   
10. Hellenistic relief from Thessaly, Volos 573. Third figure from right is Artemis.
    
    
    
    
11. Relief from Piraeus. Dionysos visits the home of a poet. Now in Paris, Louvre.
    
    
    
    
12. Drawing of a Hellenistic relief from Kula in Lydia. Inscription says it was set up by Erastos, his wife and children to Theos Hosios kai Dikaios ("the Holy and Just God") in accordance with a prayer.
    
    Click on the drawing for a larger image.
    
    
13. Drawing of a votive relief in the Usak Museum (1.3.74).
    
    Click on the drawing for a larger image.
    
    
14. Late 2nd c (?) relief from Kavak. Now in Istanbul (inv. 1909). Dedicated to Zeus Olbious by the priest Euodion, at the god's own command (kathos ekeleusen).
    
    Click on the drawing for a larger image.
    
    
15. Relief from Kyzikos. Now in Vienna (I439). Inscription says it was dedicated to Apollo Krateanos.
    
    
    
    
16. Relief from Kyzikos, Cophenhagen, NM 4763. Dedicated by Pytheoas son of Dionysios, on behalf of himself and his wife and children to Theos Patroa in accordance with a prayer.
    
    
    
    
17. Relief from sanctuary near Apameia on the Propontis, now in Athens NM 1486.
    
    
    
    
18. Late 2nd c relief from Mysia. Inscription names the gods as Zeus Megisto, Apollo Bathylimeneites, and Artemis. Now in Istanbul (inv. 4407).
    
    Click on the drawing for a larger image.
    
    
19. Relief dedicated to Bendis. From the Piraeus, very end of the 4th c BCE. Now in London, British Museum, GR 1895.10-28.1.
    
    
    
    
20. Relief from Deble Köy/Bandirma. Now in Istanbul (inv. 676). Dedicated to Meter Tolypiané.
    
    Click on the drawing for a larger image.
    
    
21. A 1st c relief from Kyzikos. Now in Paris, Louvre 2850. Incomplete. Dedicated to Meter Kotiané who must have been depicted in the upper register which is now largely gone; her cymbals hang in the tree in the lower register. Lengthy inscription reveals that it was dedicated by Soterides, who was a gallos of Meter and offered the stele for the safety of his companion Markos Stlakkios who had sailed to Libya and had been made a prisoner of war. Meter appeared to Soterides in a dream and said Markos could be saved by invoking the goddess. The inscription is incomplete.
    
    
    
    
22. A 2nd c CE relief from Kula. Now in Boston, MFA 94.14. Dedicated to Artemis Anaeitis and Men Tiamou. Inscription says they "witness the omnipotence of the gods."
    
    Click on the drawing for a larger image.
    
    
23. Relief from Phrygia. Dedicated to Zeus Ampelites. Roman (?) period.
    
    
    
    
24. Votive relief to the Nymphs. Marble, ca. 300 BCE. Now in Athens, National Museum, no. 4466.
    
    
    

I. Some literary sources

1. Aelius Aristides, Sacred Tales 2.31f:

   "It was revealed in the clearest way possible, just as countless other things also made the presence of the god [Asklepios] manifest. For I seemed almost to touch him and to percieve that he himself was coming, and to be halfway between sleep and waking and to want to get the power of vision and to be anxious lest he depart beforehand, and to have turned by ears to listen, sometimes as in a dream, sometimes as in a waking vision."

2. Section of Drakon's law code cited by Porphyry, De abstinentia 4.22:

   "People should worship the gods and the local heroes, communally (en koinoi) in accordance with the ancestral laws, privately (idiai) according to their means."

3. From a sacred law of Thasos, late 4th c BCE, F. Sokolowski, Lois sacrées des cités grecques: Supplément. (Paris: 1962), no. 67:

   specific animals are to be sacrificed to Dionysos and "and private worshipers whatever they want (hoi de idi[otai hoti an]: thelos[in])."

Examine all of this material closely and come to class prepared to discuss and analyze it. I do not want anyone to do any outside reading or research on the assigned source material; the idea is to approach the material with a fresh perspective, to think deeply and critically about it, and thereby to develop strategies for interpreting archaeological data.

For example, first ask yourself what kinds of information you have been given and then determine what kinds of questions you can legitimately ask of this material. Only then try to interpret it.

The idea is to train you in how to analyze material and develop hypotheses about it, not to ask you to memorize established interpretations of the material.

Have fun!