Bluish marble; height, 1 foot 4 inches; length, 5 feet 9 inches; width, 2 feet. The marble was probably the sculptured base of a statue or group. Afterwards it was roughly converted into a water-basin, and in modern times it served as a seat at the right side of the door of a church at Sigeum. The Sigean inscription formed a corresponding seat at the left side of the door. Lady M. Wortley Montagu, _Letter_ XLIV. (of July 31, 1718); Chandler, _Travels in Asia Minor_ (1775), p. 36; _Antiquities of Ionia_, I., p. i. (The original drawing by Pars is in the Brit. Mus.) Choiseul-Gouffier, _Voyage Pittoresque_, II., pl. 19; _Synopsis_, No. 324 (99); _Mus. Marbles_, IX., pl. 11.
[Sidenote: =790.=]
Relief: Cyrene crowned by Libya. This relief represents the nymph Cyrene in the act of strangling a lion, while, to commemorate this triumph, a crown is held over her head by Libya.
Inscribed: [Greek:
Kyrenen polion metroptolin hen stephei aute epeiron Libye trisson echousa kleos, enthad" hyper melathroio leontophonon theto Karpos, euxamenos, megales sema philoxenies.]
The inscription may be thus translated: "Here over the architrave, Karpos, making this dedication, placed Cyrene, mother of cities, slayer of lions, in token of great hospitality. Libya, who has the glory of being a third continent, herself crowns her."
Cyrene stands on the left, in attire very like that of Artemis as a huntress. She wears a chiton reaching to the knees, over which is a chlamys, and buskins; her hair is drawn back from her face. Both her arms are locked round the lion"s neck. Libya wears a long chiton girt at the waist, and a mantle fastened between the b.r.e.a.s.t.s and falling down behind; her hair, bound with a diadem, is arranged over her forehead in long, regular curls, and falls down her neck; at her side is an animal couchant, of which the head is broken off, and which is perhaps a gazelle. The scene takes place on rocky ground. Two vines arch their branches over the group.
According to the legend told by Pindar (_Pyth._ ix. 26) Cyrene was the daughter of Hypseus, king of the Lapiths in Thessaly, whose flocks she guarded against wild beasts. Apollo, seeing her slaying a lion in the valleys of Pelion, became enamoured of her, and carried her off to the part of Libya which afterwards bore her name. According to another legend (Scholiast on Apoll. Rhod. _Argon._, ii., 498, &c.), Eurypylos, king of Libya, had promised a portion of his kingdom to the person who would slay a lion then dreaded for his ravages. Cyrene performed this exploit, and received in reward the promised district. It is probably in connection with this later legend that Libya is introduced crowning Cyrene in the relief. Aristaeus, a mythic founder of Cyrene, was the son of Apollo and Cyrene. The form of the relief suggests that it may have been a metope, and the words [Greek: hyper melathroio] in the inscription have therefore been translated "above the architrave."--_Found outside the Temple of Aphrodite, Cyrene._
Marble; height, 3 feet 4 inches; width, 2 feet 3 inches. Smith and Porcher, pl. 76, p. 98; pl. 83, No. 19. R. C. Puckett, _De marmoribus tribus Cyrenaicis_; Bonn, 1868, p. 16, and Plate; _Guide to Graeco-Roman Sculptures_, Part II., No. 129; Overbeck, _Griech. Kunstmythologie_, III., p. 496; _Atlas_, pl. 26, fig. 16; Wolters, No. 1916; Studniczka, _Kyrene_, p. 31. The inscription is given by Kaibel, _add._ 842_a_ (in some points incorrectly). For the legends of Cyrene, see Studniczka, p. 39.
[Sidenote: =791.=]
Fragment from the right side of a votive relief. Heracles stands, nude, with the lion-skin and club on his left arm. The head and extended right hand are wanting. On the left is a fragment of a draped figure. The relief was contained in pilasters, surmounted by an entablature.
Pentelic marble; height, 2 feet 1/2 inch; width, 10 inches.
[Sidenote: =792.=]
Fragment of a votive relief. A beardless male figure stands to the front, with a chlamys on the raised left arm, and with a cup held out in his right hand. On the right is the right arm, and a portion of the skirt of another figure, perhaps female, of equal scale. On the left is the figure, much defaced, of a bearded worshipper.--_Elgin Coll._
Pentelic marble; height, 1 foot 1/4 inch; width, 10 inches.
_Synopsis_, No. 361 (84); _Mus. Marbles_, IX., pl. 35, fig. 3.
[Sidenote: =793.=]
Votive relief to Demeter and Persephone (?). Two female figures, each wearing a chiton and himation, stand to the front. Between them is the stump of a tree, on which the figure on the right (Persephone (?)) leans her right elbow.--_Castellani Coll._
Limestone; height, 1 foot; width, 10-3/4 inches.
Restorations:--Upper part of ground and frame of relief with top of tree and right forearm of Persephone.
[Sidenote: =794.=]
Fragment of relief, with the lower part of a draped female figure, standing on a nude prostrate figure of a boy. On the right is a Gryphon and on the left a large serpent.--_From Amphitheatre, Gortyna._
White marble; height, 1 foot; width, 11-1/4 inches. The Gryphon and serpent are attributes of Sarapis on a relief at Andriake in Lycia. Petersen, _Reisen in Lykien_, II., p. 42, fig. 31.
[Sidenote: =795.=]
Left side of votive tablet, on which is sculptured a female figure standing to the front, holding a bowl in her right hand: her head and left arm from above the elbow are broken away. Some vertical object, perhaps a censer, similar to that held by figure No. 56 in the eastern frieze of the Parthenon, or perhaps a fold of her mantle, is sculptured on the right.--_Athens._ _Inwood Coll._
Pentelic marble; height, 7-3/4 inches; width, 6 inches. _Elgin Room Guide_, Part II., No. F. 12.
[Sidenote: =796.=]
Fragment of relief, containing a part of a half-draped bearded man, standing as if leaning on a staff, to the right, holding what appears to be a flower in his right hand; and also part of the figure of a woman holding what appears to be a pomegranate. The figures may be those of suppliants with offerings on a votive relief.--_Cyrene._
White marble; height, 6-1/2 inches; width, 11 inches. Smith and Porcher, p. 107, No. 138.
[Sidenote: =797.=]
Fragment of relief containing a half-draped elderly male figure, and a female figure wearing a long chiton. Perhaps a fragment of a votive relief.--_Temple of Aphrodite, Cyrene._
White marble; height, 1 foot; width, 10 inches. Smith and Porcher, p. 104, No. 88.
[Sidenote: =798.=]
Votive relief, with two plaits of formally twisted hair, dedicated to Poseidon by Philombrotos and Aphthonetos. The relief is bounded by two pilasters and an entablature.
Inscribed: [Greek: Philombrotos, Aphthonetos Deinomachou, Poseidoni].--_From Phthiotic Thebes, in Thessaly._ _Presented by Col.
Leake, 1839._
Marble; height, 1 foot 1-1/2 inches; width, 1 foot 2-1/2 inches; Millingen, _Ancient Unedited Monuments_, Part II., pl. 16, fig.
2; Leake, _Travels in Northern Greece_, IV., p. 361; _Greek Inscriptions in Brit. Mus._, CLXIII.; Daremberg and Saglio, _Dict. des Antiqs._, _s.vv._ Coma and Donarium. On the custom of dedicating hair by youths reaching manhood, see Daremberg and Saglio, _loc. cit._, and _Bull. de Corr. h.e.l.lenique_, 1888, p.
479. See also _Mus. Worsleyanum_, pl. 9.
The following votive tablets (Nos. 799-808), with representations of portions of the human body and with votive inscriptions to Highest Zeus ([Greek: Zeus hypsistos]), were discovered by the fourth Earl of Aberdeen, in 1803. Excavations were made at the foot of the rock-wall near the rock-cut structure commonly known as the Bema of the Pnyx, and the tablets which were then found, are presumed to have fallen from niches cut to receive them in the rock above (Dodwell, _Tour_, i., p. 402). It has been argued that the spot where the reliefs were found was not the Pnyx, but the altar of Highest Zeus (Welcker, _Der Fels-Altar des Hochsten Zeus_, &c., 1852). The inscriptions, however, which are here described, are of Roman times, and are of little value for the decision of the question. (Cf. Hicks, _Greek Inscriptions in Brit. Mus._ lx.)
[Sidenote: =799.=]
Tablet with votive relief representing a female breast dedicated by Eutychis.
Inscribed: [Greek: Eutychis hypsisto euche(n)].--_Pnyx, Athens._ _Elgin Coll._
Pentelic marble; height, 5-3/4 inches; width, 5-1/2 inches.
Dodwell, _Tour_, I., p. 403; _Synopsis_, No. 210 (245); _Mus.
Marbles_, IX., pl. 41, fig. 3; _C.I.G._, 504; Ellis, _Elgin Marbles_, II., p. 105, No. 210; _Greek inscriptions in Brit.
Mus._, LXVI.
[Sidenote: =800.=]
Tablet with votive relief representing a female breast, dedicated by Isias.
Inscribed: [Greek: Eisias hyps[isto] eu[chen]].--_Pnyx, Athens._ _Elgin Coll._
Pentelic marble; height, 8 inches; width, 6-1/2 inches. Dodwell, _Tour_, I., p. 403; _Synopsis_, No. 209 (247); _Mus. Marbles_, IX., pl. 41, fig. 2; _C.I.G._, 505; Ellis, _Elgin Marbles_, II., p. 105, No. 209; _Greek Inscriptions in Brit. Mus._, LXVII.
[Sidenote: =801.=]
Tablet with votive relief, representing a pair of eyes, dedicated by Philemation.
Inscribed: [Greek: Philematin [e]uchen ane[th]eken].--_Pnyx, Athens._ _Elgin Coll._