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

( 69 )CASTS FROM SELINUS.The following sculptures, Nos. 135-139, were excavatedat Selinus in 1823 by the architects William Harris andSamuel Angell. They are divided into two series, derivedfrom different temples.Selinus, a colony of Megara, in the south-west ofSicily, was founded about 628 B.C. The temple (commonlyknown as C), from which the sculptures, Nos. 185-137,were obtained, is the oldest temple on the Acropolis, andit is therefore probable that its construction was begunnot long after the foundation of the city. The earliersculptures are therefore assigned tothe beginning of thesixth century B.C.The second series, Nos. 138-139, were obtained fromthe temple commonly known as F. This is the third oryoungest temple in the group shown by architecturalevidence to be the oldest. An exact date cannot beassigned, but the sculptures probably belong to the closeof the sixth century.The originals, which are made of acoarse limestone, are preserved in the Museum at Palermo.The metopes were drawn on their discovery byWilliam Harris. Harris died of malarial fever contractedat Selinus, and the work was published by Angell andEvans, Sculptured Metopes . . . of Selinus, 1826. Forfurther literature, see Benndorf, Die Metopen von Selinunt.135. Cast of a metope, from the oldest temple at Selinus.Perseus slaying Medusa in the presence of Athene.Perseus holds the hair of the Gorgon in his left hand,and cuts off her head with his sword. Athene stands onthe left. The Gorgon is represented as embracing thewinged horse, Pegasos, who sprang from her spilt blood.— Presented by S. Angell, Esq.Angell and Evans, pi. 7 ; Benndorf, p. 44, pi. 1 ; Overbeck, Or. I'last.,3rd ed. I,, p. 80, fig. 5 ; Wolters , No. 149