- Museum number
- 1865,0723.1
- Title
-
Series: The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
-
Series: The Amazon Frieze
- Description
-
Marble slab of the Amazon frieze of the Mausoleum of Halikarnassos. It represents combats between Greeks and Amazons.
This slab shows five figures, two Greeks and three Amazons. On the left, part of a horse, mainly carved on the adjacent slab (slab missing), then an Amazon attacking a kneeling Greek. The horse’s tail and traces of its hindquarters are visible on the far left. The Amazon strides to the right with her shield extended in front of her. She may have wielded an axe. Her opponent, a Greek, is down on his left knee. The Amazon wears a tall Phrygian cap with neck-guard, chiton belted at the waist, chlamys, attached under her chin, and high boots with flaps. The Greek wears an Attic helmet and an exomis belted around the waist, leaving his right shoulder and right chest bare, and holds a shield.
To the right an Amazon attacks a Greek from behind. The Greek, facing right, is about to dispatch a kneeling Amazon. The Amazon strides to the right. Her right hand may have held a weapon, probably an axe, about to strike the Greek. The Amazon wears a chiton belted around the waist, chlamys, hanging over her left forearm, and high boots. The Greek, nude apart from a chlamys, wrapped round his left forearm, sword belt and scabbard, grasps a kneeling Amazon by the hair and is about to strike. The Amazon is down on her left knee, her arms extended towards the Greek, as if to entreat for mercy. She wears a chiton belted at the waist and her hair is drawn up in a roll on top of her head.
The weapons were attached in metal, carved or may have been painted.
This slab was taken to Italy, where its surface partially is reworked. This explains why the carved details are so much better preserved than on the other frieze slabs.
- Production date
- 350BC (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Length: 2.15 metres
- Curator's comments
- Both ends preserved; upper moulding cut away. This slab, once in Genoa in the possession of the Serra and di Negro families, was recognized as coming from the Mausoleum by Sybille Mertens-Schaffhausen. It is not clear how it reached Genoa: for discussions see Bettini, 71-7; Stampolides, "ProSympCop", 188; and Luttrell in "Maussolleion", 2, 168 and 205 with n.150.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2017 13 Jul-15 Oct, Madrid, Caixa Forum, Ancient Greeks
2017-2018 23 Nov-18 Feb, Barcelona, Caixa Forum, Ancient Greeks
2018 20 Mar-24 Jun, Sevilla, Caixa Forum, Ancient Greeks
2018 24 Jul-4 Nov, Zaragoza, Caixa Forum, Ancient Greeks
2018-2019 18 Dec-31 Mar, Palma, Caixa Forum, Ancient Greeks
2021 19 Jun-7 Nov, Australia, Perth, Western Australian Museum, Ancient Greeks
2021-2022 16 Dec-1 May, Australia, Canberra, National Museum of Australia, Ancient Greeks
2022 10 Jun-06 Nov, New Zealand, Auckland, Auckland War Memorial Museum, Ancient Greeks
- Acquisition date
- 1865
- Department
- Greek and Roman
- Registration number
- 1865,0723.1
