The best artists of Greece put forth all their powers in painting and sculpture in their representations of the seaborn Aphrodite, and if we except Zeus himself, there is no other divinity of the Greek mythology that has served so much as a model for the loveliest creations of the plastic genius of the Greeks. The grandest conception of the goddess as a work of art is the Venus of Milo, found in 1820 in the island of Melos (Milo) (Fig. 271), and now in the Louvre. The grandeur and majesty of this famous piece of sculpture is beyond praise. It ought to be seen in the Louvre, to be appreciated at its worth, as drawings and casts do not give an adequate idea of its beauty. The Medicean Venus is a work of the Athenian artist Cleomenes, of the later Attic school, in the second century B.C. A statue of Venus Anadyomene (rising from the sea), of “Venus crouching in the Bath” (Vatican collection), and of “Venus loosing her Sandal,” are all of this later and declining period of Greek sculpture, where the goddess is represented undraped and more realistic in conception. Venus had many attributes. The dove, sparrow, and the dolphin, and in plants the myrtle, rose, apple, poppy, and lime-tree, were sacred to her, but varied according to the locality and times.
Fig. 271.—Venus of Milo.
Fig. 272.—Statue of Hermes, Capitol.
Hermes (Mercury) is the god of shepherds and of pastures, and also of commerce and trade. When a child he invented the lyre from a tortoise-shell which he was forced to give up to Apollo. He is represented with wings on his cap and feet, and a herald’s staff as the messenger of the gods, and with a well-filled purse as an emblem of trade (Fig. 272).
Fig. 273.—Diana of Versailles.
Artemis (Diana) was the twin-sister of Apollo, and was at first the goddess of the moon. Her favourite amusement is the chase, but in the statue (Fig. 273) from the Villa Hadrian, now in the Louvre, she is represented as the protectress of wild animals.
Fig. 274.—Melpomene, Vatican.
Mnemosyne (Memory) is the mother of the Muses. The nine Muses are—Clio (history), Melpomene (tragedy) (Fig. 274), Terpsichore (dancing), Polyhymnia (religious service), Thalia (comedy), Urania (astronomy), Euterpe (lyric poetry), Erato (erotic poetry and geometry), and Calliope (epic poetry and science generally).
Fig. 275.—Dionysus and the Lion, from the Monument of Lysikrates.
Dionysus or Bacchus is, with both Greeks and Romans, the god of wine, of vineyards, and of autumn blessings. Naxos was the chief seat of his worship. It was on this island that he met and married Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, King of Crete, who had been deserted here by Theseus, her former lover. The story of Dionysus punishing the Tyrrhenian pirates who took him prisoner, intending to sell him as a slave, and of his changing himself to a lion and so terrifying the sailors, who jumped overboard and were changed into dolphins, is the subject of the fine relief on the frieze of the Lysikrates monument (Fig. 275 and rontispiece).
The lion, tiger, bull, and ram are his favourite animal attributes. Among plants, the vine, the ivy, and the laurel were sacred to him.
Bacchanalian subjects and festivals of Dionysus occupy a large and important place in the art of Greece, Rome, and Pompeii.
Fig. 276.—Victory, Munich Collection.
Nice, Victoria, or Victory is always represented with wings, a palm branch, and holding a laurel wreath, and, as would be expected, was more extensively venerated at Rome than in Greece. In the latter country her statues are generally of a small size, and she is an accompanying goddess to Athene and Zeus (Fig. 276).
CHAPTER XII.
ART IN PRIMITIVE GREECE.
It was not only on their temples and images of their gods that the Greeks put their best efforts in art; but in their vases, jewellery, furniture, and humbler utensils of the household and of every-day life, we find the Greek artist pouring out some of his richest fancies, and the same spell of beauty is cast over them all. And did not Pericles, the son of Xanthippus, eulogise his countrymen in his famous speech on those who had fallen in the Peleponnesian War, as “lovers of justice and wisdom,” “philosophers, lovers of beauty, and foremost among men”?
In Egypt, Assyria, and Persia we find all the artistic knowledge of these countries was lavished on the temples, and to the glorification of their autocratic rulers; but scarcely any remains are found that would imply a fostering of the minor arts among the common people. On the contrary, in Greece art impregnated the life and work of all classes, from the highest to the lowest in the state. This was only possible when entire freedom prevailed, as it did in the mass of the Greek people.
Some of the oldest monuments of primitive Greece have been found at Mycenæ, Troy (Hissarlik), and Tiryns. These consist of domed tombs, such as the tomb of Agamemnon, or the so-called “Treasure-house” of Atreus, and others, as the rock-cut tombs. The site of ancient “Troy divine” was discovered by Dr. Schliemann in the year 1875, under the mound of the modern Hissarlik, in the Trojan plain, in the north-west corner of Asia Minor. The character of the stone, clay, wood, and lime materials, and similarity of the construction, enable the archæologist to place the remains found at these three places as belonging to the same epoch of time and style of art which has been called Mycenian. The oldest monument of Greek sculpture yet discovered is supposed to be the Lion’s Gate of the Mycenian Acropolis (Fig. 277).
Fig. 277.—Perspective View of the Lion’s Gate. (P. & C.)
Fig. 278.—Alabaster Frieze, Tiryns. (P. & C.)
Fig. 279.—Plan of Fig. 278, Alabaster Frieze. (P. & C.)
Pausanias thus alludes to Mycenæ and Tiryns:—"A portion of the enclosure wall still remains, and the principal gate, with the lions over it. These (the walls) were built by the Cyclops who made the wall at Tiryns for Præteus. Among the ruins at Mycenæ is the fountain called Perseia, and the subterraneous buildings of Atreus and his children, in which their treasures were stored."
Fig. 280.—Ivory Plaque from Mycenæ. (P. & C.)
Fig. 281.—Fragment of Frieze from Mycenæ. (P. & C.)
The sculptured lions are still there, so is the spring Perseia, and the wonderful treasure-house of Atreus is still the best preserved of all the domed tomb buildings of Mycenæ.
Fig. 282.—Mycenian Palace, Second Epoch. Architrave and Frieze. (P. & C.)
Fig.