THE LION
YOU may already have done some reading about the Lion of Amphipolis from your previous work on archaeological sources. To revise, the archaeologist Dimitris Lazarides excavated the Lion in 1964, and dated it to the 4th Century BCE, making it compatible with the supposed timing of construction of the Kasta Hill tomb. In the extract shown below, Oscar Broneer discusses some of the features of the Lion and its typological differences with other Lion statues. His ideas about similar Lion statues found in Ionian Greek states (ancient Greek states on the western coast of Asia Minor) are quite interesting and point to the purpose of the statue as well as the nature of Alexander's rule.
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"The worship of Alexander Theos and Alexander Herakles [as a cult of worship that viewed Alexander as being godlike] ushered in a revival of interest in the lion. 53 Many cities of Greece and Asia Minor added the lion, either alone or in the act of attacking and devouring his prey, to the already existing devices on their coins. The Alexander sarcophagus, the Mausoleum of Halikarnassos, the Knidos monument, and the Mausoleum of Belevi are typical examples showing the prevalence of the lion motive in Hellenistic monumental art.
In the preceding chapter it has been pointed out that the seated type of lion was used by preference, though not exclusively, in funeral monuments, 54 sometimes on graves of private individuals like the stele of Leon referred to above, but especially as the statuary emblem on multiple graves of citizens slain in battle, as in the polyandria [common tombs] of Thespiai and Chaironeia. The best known examples are all, with the exception of the Amphipolis monument, found in Central Greece, especially in Boeotia.
If the Lion of Amphipolis, taken by itself, could be best explained on such analogies as a war memorial, the monument supporting the lion points to a different origin. Examples of colonnaded monuments like that at Amphipolis are found chiefly in Ionia. The chief difference is that the monuments of Asia Minor are as a rule larger and more sumptuously decorated, usually surround with a free-standing colonnade and often surmounted by a stepped pyramid supporting some sculptured emblem. The best known of these monuments is the Mausoleum of Halikarnassos, 55 of which numerous restorations have been made, differing widely in particulars, but agreeing in the main features, the Ionic peristyle raised above a socle and surmounted by a stepped pyramid supporting a sculptured group. Among the statuary from the building were several lions, in walking or reclining attitude, one of which is now in the British Museum.
YOU may already have done some reading about the Lion of Amphipolis from your previous work on archaeological sources. To revise, the archaeologist Dimitris Lazarides excavated the Lion in 1964, and dated it to the 4th Century BCE, making it compatible with the supposed timing of construction of the Kasta Hill tomb. In the extract shown below, Oscar Broneer discusses some of the features of the Lion and its typological differences with other Lion statues. His ideas about similar Lion statues found in Ionian Greek states (ancient Greek states on the western coast of Asia Minor) are quite interesting and point to the purpose of the statue as well as the nature of Alexander's rule.
* Copy and paste the extract from Broneer into your own notes.
* Read and highlight the main points.
* Use the links in text to find out about terms and concepts you don't understand.
* To annotate your copy in Microsoft word;
>Highlight the part of the text that you want to write a note about.
>Click 'Review'
>Click 'New comment'
>Type your annotation in the balloon that opens up in the margin.
"The worship of Alexander Theos and Alexander Herakles [as a cult of worship that viewed Alexander as being godlike] ushered in a revival of interest in the lion. 53 Many cities of Greece and Asia Minor added the lion, either alone or in the act of attacking and devouring his prey, to the already existing devices on their coins. The Alexander sarcophagus, the Mausoleum of Halikarnassos, the Knidos monument, and the Mausoleum of Belevi are typical examples showing the prevalence of the lion motive in Hellenistic monumental art.
In the preceding chapter it has been pointed out that the seated type of lion was used by preference, though not exclusively, in funeral monuments, 54 sometimes on graves of private individuals like the stele of Leon referred to above, but especially as the statuary emblem on multiple graves of citizens slain in battle, as in the polyandria [common tombs] of Thespiai and Chaironeia. The best known examples are all, with the exception of the Amphipolis monument, found in Central Greece, especially in Boeotia.
If the Lion of Amphipolis, taken by itself, could be best explained on such analogies as a war memorial, the monument supporting the lion points to a different origin. Examples of colonnaded monuments like that at Amphipolis are found chiefly in Ionia. The chief difference is that the monuments of Asia Minor are as a rule larger and more sumptuously decorated, usually surround with a free-standing colonnade and often surmounted by a stepped pyramid supporting some sculptured emblem. The best known of these monuments is the Mausoleum of Halikarnassos, 55 of which numerous restorations have been made, differing widely in particulars, but agreeing in the main features, the Ionic peristyle raised above a socle and surmounted by a stepped pyramid supporting a sculptured group. Among the statuary from the building were several lions, in walking or reclining attitude, one of which is now in the British Museum.
The Alexander Sarcophagus: note the lion at the top. Image: http://galleryhip.com/sarcophagus.html
Lions sit between the columns of the Ionic peristyle on this reconstruction of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus. The original building is now in ruins. Image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mausoleum_at_Halicarnassus
Lion from the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus. Image from the British Museum, http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details/collection_image_gallery.aspx?partid=1&assetid=213524&objectid=460576
The Lion of Knidos. Image: https://mulchman.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/dsc_0018.jpg
Lion from the Mausoleum of Belevi, a tomb built for Alexander's general, Lysimachus
in Ephesus, Asia Minor. Image: http://www.livius.org/be-bm/belevi/belevi.html
in Ephesus, Asia Minor. Image: http://www.livius.org/be-bm/belevi/belevi.html
The Lion of Chaeronea. Image from: http://galleryhip.com/battle-of-chaeronea.html
The closest parallel to the monument at Amphipolis is offered by the so-called lion tomb at Knidos, excavated by Newton. It has been restored 56 with a socle resting on three steps and above it a Doric façade of four engaged half columns on each side, and a regular Doric entablature, surmounted by a truncated pyramid of steps, on the top of which is a pedestal supporting a recumbent lion. 57 The restoration is uncertain in many respects, but its close resemblance to our monument at Amphipolis is striking. The suggestion made by Newton and followed by Gardner and others, that the Knidos monument was erected in commemoration of Konon's victory in 394 B.C. over the Spartan navy off Knidos, is based on the universal penchant for relating archaeological discoveries to known events, rather than on a stylistic and technical study of the monument itself. The relative size of the monument and of the lion of Knidos as compared with the Amphipolis monument reveals the most important difference between the two structures. Although the Knidos monument is the larger of the two, measuring more than thirteen meters on the base as compared with almost ten meters, the Knidos lion is less than half as large as the Amphipolis lion, 58 and because of its posture and its size in comparison with the size of the monument it would have appeared still smaller. The Knidos lion was designed as the chief decorative feature of the monument with added symbolical significance; the Amphipolis monument was designed as the architectural support of the monument.
A sketch of the Lion Tomb at Knidos. Image: http://www.lookandlearn.com/history-images/M085576/Lion-Tomb-at-Cnidus
All the Asia Minor monuments 59 of the series appear to have been tombs of important personages. Though in some cases the entombed may have been a military leader - and this fact would have been suggested by the sculptural decoration - the monuments as such are not war memorials but private tombs. On the other hand, the closest parallels to the Lion of Amphipolis are found to be battle monuments of central and northern Greece. These facts must guide us in trying to determine the purpose of the monument under discussion."
NOTES
NOTES
From: Broneer, O. (1941) "The Lion Monument at Amphipolis", Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
QUESTIONS
* What does Broneer suggest was the purpose of using the motif of the lion?
* What are the similarities and differences in the styles of lions that he makes examples of?
* Create a table that lists the examples of monuments with lions that Broneer identifies. In one column list the names of each lion monument. In the next column, find and write the approximate period of time that the monument is from.
* Given what Broneer has written, what do you suggest was the purpose for the Lion of Amphipolis?
* What does Broneer suggest was the purpose of using the motif of the lion?
* What are the similarities and differences in the styles of lions that he makes examples of?
* Create a table that lists the examples of monuments with lions that Broneer identifies. In one column list the names of each lion monument. In the next column, find and write the approximate period of time that the monument is from.
* Given what Broneer has written, what do you suggest was the purpose for the Lion of Amphipolis?
The evidence for the inclusion of the Lion as part of the Kasta Hill tomb is compelling, however, scientific evidence has since discounted the likelihood of this.
* Read the article from the Greek Reporter and explain the reasons why the Lion may not have been positioned on top of the tomb. * Does this mean that the Lion was not associated with the tomb at all? Why / why not? |
THE WALL
Read the extract from the Daily Beast article below.
"One mystery at least was cleared up, in a press conference on November 29. The sculpted lion and dozens of marble slabs, today found at a site several miles from the Kasta hill, were apparently moved by British troops during the first World War in an effort to take them out of the country, according to the chief architect working at the site, Michalis Lefantzis. Austrian and Bulgarian forces attacked on the very day these objects were to be transported, Lefantzis claimed, driving the British off. Thus the lion, rebuilt in 1937 out of the fragments in which it lay, stands as isolated today as Shelley’s Ozymandias. Another heap of slabs, some bearing Greek inscriptions, ended up in nearby Lake Kerkinitis, despoiled some 80 years ago for use in building a dam."
"One mystery at least was cleared up, in a press conference on November 29. The sculpted lion and dozens of marble slabs, today found at a site several miles from the Kasta hill, were apparently moved by British troops during the first World War in an effort to take them out of the country, according to the chief architect working at the site, Michalis Lefantzis. Austrian and Bulgarian forces attacked on the very day these objects were to be transported, Lefantzis claimed, driving the British off. Thus the lion, rebuilt in 1937 out of the fragments in which it lay, stands as isolated today as Shelley’s Ozymandias. Another heap of slabs, some bearing Greek inscriptions, ended up in nearby Lake Kerkinitis, despoiled some 80 years ago for use in building a dam."
1. What was the mystery according to the article? What is significant about the mystery being 'cleared up'.
2. How could the marble slabs hold the key to understanding the tomb?
3. What problem does war hold for archaeologists and historians that can be referred to in this article?
4. Find the publication details of the Daily Beast. How reliable is it as a source in your opinion?
2. How could the marble slabs hold the key to understanding the tomb?
3. What problem does war hold for archaeologists and historians that can be referred to in this article?
4. Find the publication details of the Daily Beast. How reliable is it as a source in your opinion?