A catalogue of sculpture in the Department of ... - Warburg Institute

THE PROPYLAEA. 259The statue is that of a colossal seated figure, thehead, arms, and right foot to the instep wanting. Thebody is clad in a talaric chiton, over which is a panther'sskin, passing like a scarf from the left shoulder to therightside, and hound round the waist by a broad girdle,under which is seen the panther's face and teeth; anample mantle passes from the back of the fi.gure overthe lower limbs, falling in rich folds across the lap.The head and left arm of this statue were of separatepieces of marble, and were originally morticed to thebody. The head was wanting as early as the visit ofSpon and Wheler to Athens in 1676. On the left thighis a sinking about 6 inches deep, 5 long, and 1^ wide,in which some object may have been inserted, butwhich may have been used when the statue was beingplaced in position. On the drapery of the left shoulderthere is a hole for a rivet. It seems probable that theGod was represented with a lyre, the base of which restedon his left thigh. This instrument was the attribute ofDionysos Melpomenos (see Gerhard, Ant.Bildwerhe, text,p. 240), and the costume of the figure seems assimilatedto that of a citharist.Elgin Coll.Pentelic marble ;height, 6 feet 3 inches. The stone is roughlyhewnout at the back to lighten the figure. Wheler, Journey,p. 368 ; Le Roy, Euines, pi. 8 ; Stuart, II., ch. IV., pis. 3, 6Mus. Marbles, IX., pi. 1 ; Ellis, Elgin Marbles, II., p. 90 ; Overbeck,Gr. Plast., 3rd ed., II., p. 94 ; Reisch, Athenische Mittheilungen,XIII. (1888) pi. 8, p. 383; Stereoscopic, No. 114; Brunn,Denkmaeler, No. 119.THE PROPYLAEA.The Propylaea, or gateways to the Acropolis, wereconstructed by Mnesicles under the administration ofPericles, in the five years 436-431 b.c.S 2