Giacobbe Giusti, ギリシャ彫刻
ウィキペディア、フリー百科事典から。
プラクシテレス 、 ディオニュソスとエルメス 、紀元前4世紀の半分
彫刻は、おそらく最高の’の知られているギリシャの芸術 、これは考古学の大きい数は、例えば、のものに、より現在までに受信に起因する塗装に使用される材料の抵抗が低いです。 しかし、ギリシャの彫刻の出力のごく一部は、私たちに降りてきます。 古代の文献によって記述傑作の多くは、今ひどくバラバラ、失われ、またはのみのコピーを介して知られているローマ時代 以来ルネッサンス 、多くの彫刻はまた時々、オリジナル作品の外観と意味を変えること、現代の芸術家によって復元されました。
インデックス
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使用し、技術と材料
モニュメンタル彫刻
それは戦いに勝利するための記念碑を欠いていたが、ギリシャの芸術は、例えば、主に少なくとも太古の時代に、礼拝のニーズにリンクされていて、その彫刻しました。 偉大な芸術的業績は、教団の委員会や状態によって行われたが、ギリシャの神々にささげか死んとして芸術の構想民間人は、しながら、聖域であっても作品を捧げるために彼らの限られた資源を投資することができます芸術の分野で個人のイニシアティブで東文明は全く不明でした。 類型学の抽象に従って考案された個人の基準偏見にリンクされていないが、彫像は、帰依者の継続的な存在に証言しているクーロスとコレ。 [1]テーマであった、他の分野で人間の姿をしたその同じ神話エジプトとアッシリアの場合と同様に、日常生活や歴史的な戦いの表現の場面では、まれにしか直接神話の物語を通して、主に行われたと。 使用される材料は石（た大理石や石灰岩 ）、 ブロンズ 、木材、 粘土など
より多くの古代の石の彫刻では、それらは直接チッピングで実行されました。 使用される機器であったノミ 、ドリルや様々なノミ、マレットで操作すべて。 石のブロックの輸送が問題と高価なので、記念碑的な彫像は、彼らが骨折のリスクを示している場合、彼らは今日まで残っどこに放棄された採石場でのラフな形で切断されたとした。 [2]頭や腕、場合に付着していません本体は、別々に彫刻されて後に混合したペグ小さな部分がセメントで攻撃される可能性がありながら、通常、溶融鉛中に埋め込まれ、金属の石のウェッジ。 これらの彫刻は、常に他のすべてのような驚異的な現実の色の外観を塗装されていたと離れて彫像に着色されているとは異なる材料で作られたアクセサリーを加えて装飾された：目が着色石、ガラスペーストや象牙の一部でした。 金属、ティアラ、イヤリングやネックレスのカール。 槍、剣、手綱やブライドル。 材料はほとんどが失われ、そのうちのサポートの穴に残ってトレースします。
七世紀の作品のサイズの増加BCで、ブロンズ像は、古代からエジプトで実施され、それらを使用した6世紀紀元前の間に広がっていることを融合採石場の技術で製造されるようになりましたにおける技術ロストワックスは棚上げ行列です。 図は、通常のセクションで行われた後者の方法では、モデルではなく、ワックスの木で作られたとの融合のための足跡左湿った砂を充填した容器に撃沈されました。 石像に何が起こったとは対照的に、ブロンズは、自然の色を残したが、私たちが見てきたように、照射さは、他の材料を挿入します。
大きなサイズのテラコッタ像やレリーフがで発見された キプロスで、 エトルリア大理石が不足したシチリア島と南イタリアで、。 最も早い期間陶器片で、それらは、外壁を形成するための粘土のロールで形成されました。焼成時の変形や収縮を防ぐために、粘土、砂、焼成粘土の部分と合わせました。ヘレニズム時代とローマ時代では、金型を使用することがより一般的でした。
二十世紀考古学的発見の唯一の半分は前の過程を明らかにした金と象牙で作られたし 。
小さなプラスチックと「マイナー芸術“
芸術の目的のために小さなギリシャ人は、すでに述べた材料、象牙、骨、金、銀に加えて、使用されます。 切断して絶縁ジョイントされているオブジェクトの多くは、もともとの装飾部品であった三脚 、花瓶、ミラーやその他のツール、およびこれらの場合には、通常、穴がそれを通して、彼らが所属するオブジェクトにリンクされた持っています。他の時間は、彼らが聖域で提供され、吊り下げ用のフックを提示することができます。 溝は神社ドレインに彼らはおそらく彼らはこの日に埋もれたままで、新しい奉納のための部屋を作るために、ぎゅうぎゅう詰めたので、多くの彫像は、私たちに来ています。
小さな金属のオブジェクトは、採石場より少ない労力を要し、固体溶融することにより、主に得られました。 小像は、彼らの拠点で一緒に融合または対応する塩基でそれらを入力することができ、脚の底部にピンを持っていました。 装飾品の製造のためのギリシャ人からの好ましい金属は、銀、金、続いて、異なる合金で青銅でした。 ギリシャ神殿の在庫では、銀と青銅の鍋や調理器具は、常にカタログ表示されますが、最も貴重なオブジェクトは明らかに戦争の戦利品となり、私たちに降りてくるしていません。 聖域での発掘調査は、装飾的なモチーフで、ハーネスや様々な家庭用家具の部品を特に鎧をもたらしたエンボス加工 、落書きやラウンド。打ち出し技法金属箔中のベース上に配置された：使用される技術は異なっていた ビチューメンモデルがで発掘された金型内で逆に殴られた板金をハンマーで、法律で、逆に両方反論した固体パンチの姿貨幣は金属に直接押されました。 切開部を得ることが望まれる設計に応じて形状が変化する器具を用いて行きました。 また、着色石、ガラス、象牙、または他の金属常に多色の効果を得ることを目的とインレイを使用しました。
古代ギリシャで刻まれた宝石は、時には正式ので、それらの使用は、碑文に挙げることができ、シール又は識別マークとして富裕層が使用していました。 第5、第四世紀の寺院の宝物のリストでは、例えば、パルテノン神殿は、宝石を提供間で記憶されます。
ジュエリーの生産のためにギリシャ人によって好ましい材料は、 ‘の川岸に由来し、金であった小アジアで、 トラキアとロシア 。 処理の可能性が多くあった：モデリング、鋳造、打ち出し技法、彫刻、 造粒 、 フィリグリー 、 インレイやノミ 、技術がエジプトやメソポタミアの宝石商によっておそらく学びました。 でも銀は、宝石非常に古風な時代に用いられる金と銀の天然合金広く使用され、電気でした。 このような青銅、鉄、鉛や粘土などの少ない貴重な材料には貴重品を交換するために墓に入れリングやブレスレットに使用しました。 一次情報源は明らかに墓や神社で見つかった作品であるが、他の有用な詳細を提供碑文寺院や発掘調査によって再燃した聖職者の行為の在庫として、。 それはギリシャ本土のような比較的貧しいで古風な、類似したオブジェクトが着用されていなかった場合であっても、金や銀の装飾品、貴重なオブジェクトの慣習儀式申し出ました。 また、古代寺院に多くの場合、宝物を務め、緊急時に溶断することができた貴重品を維持しました。 最初の人間と動物の図は、概略的に表示され、次いで、従来のタイプに応じて、最終的にはより自然に：芸術、ギリシャ人は、様々な期間を通じて変化しても宝石の他の分野と同様に、]組成物は、単純なものから変化するのと同じ方法では時間の経過とともに大きく複雑性を前提としています。 [3]
期間
Museo del Louvre Br 86.馬の小像（オリンピア）、ブロンズ、H 8.7センチメートル、ルーヴル美術館のBr 86。
Museo del Louvre CA 573.小像ベル（テーベ）、紀元前7世紀、テラコッタ、H 39.5センチメートル、ルーブル美術館CA 573。
伝統的にギリシャ彫刻5周期に立ちます：
彫刻は次第にマーク地域の特性を提示：特にで行われたものの、ギリシャ大陸、特にクラシックと古風な作品は、次の世紀に海上貿易の通りを通って広く普及しています。 ヘレニズム時代に作品は、多くの場合、生成され、いくつかの地域の学校の創設と、ローカルで使用します。
起源
バック」に行くプラスチックの幾何学的技術は、人物や動物（馬、牛、鹿、鳥、等）を表す固体キャストの銅像があります。 彼らはアクションで8世紀のBCの数字、グループ、戦士の攻撃と騎兵だけでなく、ミュージシャンや職人の姿に帰属します。 [4]戦士のタイプを再現ブロンズのかなりの数、時には馬や戦車、それはの聖域から来オリンピアし、地域考古学博物館になりました。 [7]で、メトロポリタン美術館 、ニューヨークのではなく、それがゼウスとタイタンの間の闘争を読んで提案されたためにブロンズ群（8世紀の半分BC、H 11 cm）である（基としては人間の姿と図半人半馬）：自然の混入は、すでにこの時点で神と秩序の原始敵を示すことになる。 [5]では、ベルリン州立博物館もVIII世紀に属し、馬ですBC、特に、多くの他の類似の例の中で、ほとんどの有機実際モルフォロジーequinaより完全に任意の構造の達成を示している：丸みを帯びた手足、しなやかな身体と関節が指摘[6]以上の作品の中でも代表銅像の重要性アポロまたはアレス 」から来るアテネのアクロポリス （に保存高さ20センチメートルを、 アテネ国立考古学博物館 、広い目をした小さな腰と大きな頭を持つ管状の手足や胴体の三角形と、6613）。 [7]
粘土が広く描いた小さな奉納彫像のためにギリシャ人によって使用されました。 既に一般的なミケーネ時代が、それらは紀元前8世紀から豊富に存在し、粘土が広く利用可能であった世界のギリシャの作品、の定数の一つとなったされています。幾何学様式時代の土器や墓や神社で見つかった次は、同じフォームは同期間内の他の製品をまとめ、解剖学的構造要素にはほとんど関心を示しています。 主に手で成形し、いくつかは、行列によって形成された頭部を持っている、または完全に金型内で行われています。 時には彼らは、ジャーの蓋のハンドルとして、または他の日常のオブジェクトまたは奉納で装飾要素を務めました。 プラスチック粘土プロト幾何学の傑作は、小像形状でケンタウロス のIX世紀、（間に日付の墓で発見され、 の島で） エヴィア 。 馬体が中空円筒横型旋盤を成形し、幾何学的な絵画で装飾されています。 それはケンタウロスで、おそらくブランチまたはツリー、種の典型的な武器を振り回します。 それはカイロン、英雄の賢明な先生（ケンタウロスの右手は6本の指、古代の知恵の符号を有する）である可能性があります。 .彼の左の膝の上にカット、戦いで負ったけが、ヘラクレスが誤って膝カイロンを傷つける伝説への参照を負いません。 彼らはからの幾何学期間の置物に属し ベル状体、長い首とと頭を平坦化：本体はホイールにモデル化したが、図の残りの部分を手で成形し、彼の服は塗装飾り、鳥や他の動物に耐えることができる[9] 。 小さなプラスチック製テラコッタの陶器の他の例は二つのヘッド、戦士である[10]との女性、 ブロンズのアテナイとの類似性を示す、アテネの国立考古学博物館に保存（スパルタ）と芸術の影響の証言しますこの時期のペロポネソスのアテネ。
で象牙彼らは4の墓で見つかった小さなヌード女性像建設された 中旬日付（現在は国立考古学博物館で）アテネで 慎重に彼らは東のモデルからインスピレーションを描画しますが、ソフト成形体を詳細の説明は、背中の毛の鎖のように、技術革新のアテナイである[11] 。
彫刻術で生き生きと自然公演ハード石の上ミケーネ – オン：ギリシャ宝石がまだ原始的とミケーネ文化との関係に関しては、ギャップ、この文明の特徴を反映シール又は識別マークやヴィンテージ幾何として主に役立ちましたギリシャの宝石手作りソープストーンの入札の線画。 粒子の形状は、シリア、または円筒のように、円錐形のドーム型、角と丸みを帯びた可能性があります。 これらは、すべてのスレッドによって中断運ばれる掘削されました。 世紀の間にのみ、彼らは人物、動物、植物を現れ始めるが、常にまとめる形で。 [12]
この期間に属する宝石の比較的いくつかの作品はアッティカ、ペロポネソスや他のギリシャの場所の発掘調査で発見されています。 これは、主に片持ち装飾的な要素を持つ金属ストリップであり、ペンダント元素の形で刻まれた装飾モチーフ、ピンやネックレスで腓骨[13] 。
オリエンタル期間変更 | 編集テキスト ]
ペルセウスとゴルゴン、リリーフの東方（テーベ）の詳細。 テラコッタは、印刷や、キクラデス芸術、半ば紀元前7世紀、時間151センチメートル刻印します。 Parigi, Louvre CA795パリ、ルーヴル
この用語は、対象物の輸入とローカル再処理で発生する東と東の影響との関係の強化によって特徴付けられる、幾何以下、ギリシャの期間東方に材料を指し、セラミック彫金から、最終的にすべての症状でギリシャの芸術の新しいコースを出て、そこから技術。 大きな変化の今世紀、紀元前では、彫刻自体は最後の段階、ギリシャの記念碑的芸術の誕生を見ているものです。は熱狂的な最初の東洋の期間、割合のシステムと単一のフォームの新しい概念を置き換えると。
プリニウスはに属性テラコッタ緩和の発明。 彼は最初のレリーフなどの終端タイルで装飾う（。ナットシーッ、最初 のテラコッタは約登場 紀元前にしながら、救援で装飾され、女性の胸像で塗装、 メトープとサイムが描かれました。 は、三角形の同期間に占める空間に装飾を描いたペディメント次の世紀に石で作られたが開始されますプレートを用いて、。 これらのプラスチックの装飾や絵画の例には、主要相、塗装メトープ、職人からのコリント式の作品ですサーモスでアポロ神殿と の聖域 （の両方で の周りに日付、今アテネ国立考古学博物館）、
戦車と馬、農家とプラウ：では、それらはテラコッタの置物を生産し続けています。 ‘の終わりには紀元前8世紀には東からインポート行列の技術を、出演していたし、次の世紀に私たちは特に、成形体の大規模な生産を目撃ゴルテュナ（クレタ島）とコリント。 クレタ島は、多くの粘土板（から来 戦士と女神のイメージで）。 彼らはまた、神話の基であり、最も有名なの間では、クリュタイムネストラとアイギストスによるアガメムノンの殺害（紀元前7世紀の後半、8時間センチ、表現、ゴルテュナでアテナの神殿で見つかった、ある考古学博物館イラクリオン ）：シーンは、空間内の数字の巧みな配置を通して素晴らしい劇的な効果で表す。 [14]でもが頻繁にレリーフ装飾を考え出しました。 [15]
キャストレリーフで表現と胸像は中大型船舶に適用された青銅および金属板上の比喩レリーフ大きな神社を飾りました。アート東方の典型的な例は、モンスターや動物のエンボスレリーフが飾らクレタ島で見つかったシールド（約 です。 動物やモンスターのクマの彫刻：ギリシャの様々な保護区で見つかったプレート間（コラザクロウ、紀元前7世紀の後半、H 37センチ、アテネの国立考古学博物館と呼ばれる）オリンピアで見つかった胸の奥に、この期間に属していますならびにゼウスとアポロの出会いとして同定されているグループの場面など。 [16]グリフィンのヘッドは、拡散方法で発見された：東部原産の素晴らしい動物は馬に供される有機法律にギリシャの領土に提出されますおよび他のペット[17]セット間ギリシャ人の標本は、この正式な明快さと衝撃放置しているようだ。 [17]
東影響が刻まれた宝石の生産に感じられます。 象牙のシールの使用を拡大しているペロポネソスにいる間、島ミケーネは復活は、より丸みを帯びた形状や硬石のミケーネ旋盤加工と同じ技術につながる。 [18]ギリシャの島々と東でも、頻繁プレートであります金と銀は、ネックレスや他の宝石類に属する可能性が高い要素は、ケンタウロスのエンボスイメージまたはに関連した問題で飾らセロン 。 島で頻繁には、洗濯機および電気銀が細かく、中央ヘッドグリフィン、または他の比喩で働いていました。]テーマバックロードスやミロのイヤリングでグリフィン。 [19]
聖域のお店もの小さな彫刻の生産継続象牙を 、多くの場合、オブジェクトや家具のための装飾として使用されたその処理技術、一緒に東から輸入した材料のいずれかを。
アルカイック彫刻
この期間に生産がそれぞれ最も豊富 の複数形（「子」）と高麗（「女の子」）、人物、若者、男性と女性の、の、知的および物理的な開発の高さで、まだ退廃が触れていないということです。形状や体の動きを簡略化して低減され、像が動きを示すために、前脚（通常は左）と、多くの場合、またはほぼ等身大、（スタンディング）ダイエット、まだ硬いと聖職のポーズをとっています典型的で古風な笑顔 。 ヌードは、おそらく選手のカスタムに由来する裸競います。 彫像は、神社に神へのコミュニティのまたは個別の贈り物を配置することができる、彼らは神ご自身を表すことができ、捧げ、または美しく、完璧な人間だけの画像。 彼らは墓に入れることができ、あるが故人の画像である可能性があります。 その埋葬クーロスを持っている可能性があっても古い、我々は碑銘源持つ[20] 。
使用されたパロス島の大理石や地元の石、あるいはテラコッタ ：製錬の技術青銅を 、実際には、まだそれは大きな彫像の実現を可能にしませんでした。 作品は、顔料の損失の後、今誰が白とは対照的に、あっても明るい色で、過半数に塗られ、それが美的に形成されたネオクラシカル 。
彫刻古風それは古代ギリシャの様々な分野に関連して、いくつかの電流を区別するのが通例であるドリス式 、「 屋根裏とイオン 。 最初の彫刻巨大な体、対称、要約、時にはスクワット、オンラインと振動luministicの増加焦点の資格をよりほっそりとしたエレガントな第二、最終的には前の2つの文体の研究をまとめたもので、第3、表現する自然主義周囲の空間との関係に銅像を置くために意図。
古風な彫刻の重要な側面は、係る建築装飾の開発であるペディメント 、 メトープとフリーズし 、それは宗教的なアーキテクチャの文脈でギリシャ文明の進捗状況と手をつないで行きます。 今の社会的、政治的な側面に接続生産、特に別の大きな分野は墓石のような象徴的図と救済または列で装飾スラブから作られたということであるスフィンクスや簡単な手のひら 。 時代の偉大な彫刻家の名前のいくつかは、ソースによって受け継がれてきたか、彼らの作品に基づいて彼らの署名を残しています。 イオニアとキクラデス諸島からサモとの名前来るキオスのを、とテオドロ、彫刻家や建築家で、伝統はロストワックス技法でギリシャのブロンズ像の導入を割り当てます。 ギリシャ、東アッティカの間図リンクはあるパロスのAristion彫刻家の屋根裏部屋は完全にあったが、 と。
期間重度
の終わりに向かって6世紀紀元前から広がるペロポネソス 古典期間が言ったのと予想しているスタイルを、それが船尾またはを定義されています。 それは、他のもののうち、顔が常に笑顔のように提起された応じた古風な伝統の最後の克服をカバー。 人間の頭の解剖学的構造の知識の進歩のおかげで、丸顔基本的に球形になり、したがって、目と口が右割合やプレースメントでした。 新しい技術的な可能性は、この意味で、近づいて、顔の表情要求をロールプレイングから可能になった、より自然な表現に彫刻。 筋肉量は、拡散や筋肉のパワー感を増大させる たボディ構造、肩や胴体に調和分布しています。 アーチは、アーク上腹部を指摘され、彼は彼の膝を薄くし、図全体を。
この時代の彫刻のために最も広く使用される材料があった青銅マスターズ の技術の適切な実験的な態度の使用を含んで、。数値は、最初にモデル化された粘土 、その後の層でコーティングした、仕事の自由な作成と操作を可能にする、 ワックス ; 後者は再びだった金型を作成するために、粘土で覆われていた（で技術を鋳造溶融銅メダルを注ぐロストワックス ）。
時代の大きなブロンズ像は、材料の再利用に深刻な破壊を生き延びています。l ‘ デルファイの御者 、デボンシャー公爵に属しキプロスから来た頭、として知らアポロチャッツワース 、 で海で見つかった、 岬 有名なのと、少なくとも一つのブロンズ像 。常にブロンズではなく、唯一のローマ時代の大理石のコピーを使用して既知の作品だったマイロンするエル’ アテナとマルシュアス [22] 、これらの年の間に取得された図形の動きに関連した実験や研究を例示します、 「時間的に凍結した運動の一つの態様は：も参照のグループ 、 エギナのペディメントとオリンピアのゼウス神殿の西ペディメントを 。
古典期後期古典
に帰属半ば5世紀紀元前からローマのブロンズオリジナルのコピー。 ナポリ、国立考古学博物館。
世紀中期の紀元前に出現古典時代の彫刻の像は彫刻の装飾が例示されるパルテノン神殿とその彫刻Polykleitos 。 体の解剖学や彫刻家は、今、私たちは前の期に比べて、より自然で多様なポーズで神々や英雄を描くために、名前でほとんどの人が知っていることを可能にする技術的な専門知識の知識。 技術的熟練はの彫刻です五世紀によって新たな課題に開く、次の世紀に継続されます古典的な美学の最高峰、 リュシッポス 。
条約に固定されたコピーのみを、所有し、また、身体（の様々な部分の調和のとれたプロポーションのために、カノン（有料）を題した、ルールを失っ、 ディアドゥメノス ）。
記念碑的なカルトの彫像との建設始まる金と象牙で作られた 、すなわちでコーティングされ、 金や象牙のように、 オリンピアのゼウス像 （の1 世界の七不思議 」で） 同じ名前の寺院やのアテナパルテノスでパルテノン神殿 、両方によって作らFidia 。 の有名な彫刻ではパルテノン神殿 、アーティストが本物の叙事詩を作成し、すべての当事者は、前例のない明確な主題リンクと継続性プラスチックを持っています。イオンのフリーズで行列の現代人類、メトープで人類英雄神話、ゲーブルズの神。 クライマックスは、（「非常に自然製の厚さと豊かなドレープでドレス東ペディメントに描かれた彼らの神々に達するウェットカーテン 」）。
フィディアスの後、学生との従業員が含まれている期間、など、さまざまな環境で教育を受けた他のアーティスト以外にもカリマコスとメンデによって例示の移行期間があるがとして数値 エルダーそれは一般の父とみなされていることを、非常に重要なの彫刻家プラクシテレス、およびティモシー。
後期古典期 の間に、敗戦続き権力と富の損失ペロポネソス戦争は、重要な文化と芸術の中心地であり続けるためにアテネで停止しませんでした。この時期の芸術家は、しかし、彼らは経済成長の小さな町の当局による、または裕福な市民によって呼び出さ素晴らしい旅行者、となります。彫刻家は、常により多くの絶賛されている が四世紀プラクシテレスと彼の側では、配置されている 好きなアーティストアレキサンダー大王最終ブレークにつながった、比例システムと図形と空間との関係で重要なイノベーションの提唱者、古典的な技術とし、ヘレニズム美術行わ新たな問題を郵送。体のストレッチと洗練された位置の自然の比率でLisippoが強調されます。期間の他の重要な彫刻家であったのために働いた、偉大な彫刻家とブロンズ労働者フェリペ2世とマケドニア王朝。4世紀紀元前の最も重要な記念碑は間違いなくあったハリカルナッソスの霊廟が、ギリシャの彫刻の発展に等しく重要いたエピダウロスアスクレピオスの神殿とアテナアリアの寺院でテゲアを。
ヘレニズム時代
ベルヴェデーレトルソー。ローマ·バチカンの博物館 で。
ヘレニズム時代の彫刻は、正式な主題やコンテンツ決定的リニューアルとの最も創造的で前期とは異なります。それはもはや寺社や公共のお祝いのために確保するだけでなく、民間部門に入るし、豊かな一流の装飾として、例えばデロスの民家で発見を参照してくださいません。当社は、新たな科目を検索し、描画や日常生活の現実的な描写（古い酔っては、ガチョウで遊ん子）至上の技術スキルと妙技で処理されたが、カーテンを作りました。
紀元前3世紀の 年代から適切ヘレニズム日付彫刻、の死から数十年前、ながらアレキサンダー大王が信者と プラクシテレスとリュシッポスの学校に支配されている。[23]特に撮影中リュシッポスの学生新しいアートセンターの彫刻の最も革新的な側面の発展にとって非常に重要であったマスターの新しい美的を転送。この地域で最も重要な人物の中にあるとリンドスのカレスは。：半ば紀元前3世紀からの第二の中間に中間ヘレニズムの位相が、文化の発展の新たな中心の出現見るロードス、アレクサンドリアとペルガモンを。特に後者は政治的プロパガンダによって特徴付けられる アーティストの作品を通じて実装、哲学者や科学者は、裁判所の羊皮紙に引き寄せ。時代の最も有名な名前の中には ペルガモンとするアテネ。紀元前1世紀の半ばからアウグストゥスの時に最後のヘレニズム時代、とも呼ばれる古典の出現、見 クラシック時代の作品や前段ヘレニズムの復活で、およびneoellenismoを、時には再加工、 、主にバイヤーのローマからの需要の結果として。最もよく知られているの一つはclassicistsです。
成果文体特徴は、有名なような複雑なと名人芸の組成物、苦しめポーズまで達成技能が活用されるラクーンや有名なベルヴェデーレのトルソのバチカン美術館を。賞賛と研究ルネサンスにされ、これらの作品は、最後のヘレニズム期のものは、ミケランジェロを刺激します。でも表情はあなたが情熱的で困っ作り、あなたはヘレニズムの支配者、最初の肖像画のものとがあります。
注
- ^ ビアンキバンディネリ、。
- ^ 参照記念碑的な彫刻の荒加工や輸送に関連する問題の例について。バーナードアシュモール、「オリンピアのゼウス神殿。プロジェクトとその「古典的なギリシャの建築家や彫刻家、ニューヨーク、ニューヨーク大学、。
- ^ リヒター年に、ここかしこに。
- ^ リヒター頁。。
- ^ ニューヨーク、メトロポリタン美術館、ブロンズ男とケンタウロス、17.190.2072を。年2月25日に取り出されます。
- 年ビアンキバンディネリ、カード
- 年ビアンキバンディネリ、タブを
- 頁。
- ^ リヒター頁。
- 年ビアンキバンディネリ、タブを。
- 年ビアンキバンディネリ、タブを。
- ^ リヒター頁。
- ^ リヒター頁。
- 年ビアンキバンディネリ、タブ
- 年ビアンキバンディネリ、カード。
- 年ビアンキバンディネリ、タブ
- 年ビアンキバンディネリ、タブを。
- ^ リヒター頁。
- ^ リヒター頁。
- ^ ホーマン-頁。
- ^ ビアンキバンディネリ、
- ^ デベッキ- 頁。
- ^ ジュリアーノ、
参考文献
- エルンストホーマン- 古代ギリシャ、ミラノ、ベーシックブック、
- ジャンローランド·マーティン。フランソワ·ヴィラール、ギリシャ古風な から ）、ミラノ、リッツォーリ、年 存在しません
- ギゼラ リヒター、ギリシャの芸術、トリノ、エイナウディ、
- フックス、ギリシャの彫刻の歴史、ミラノ、からマーク·ジェフリーHurwit、初期のギリシャの芸術と文化：紀元前 年に、ロンドン、コーネル大学出版、年、
- ビアンキバンディネリ、エンリコパリベーニ、古典古代の芸術。ギリシャ、トリノ、図書館、
- アントニオ·ジュリアーノ、ギリシア美術：年齢古典的なヘレニズム時代から、ミラノ、試金、
- カルロバーテリ、アントネッラ。アンドレア·ガッティ、美術史：カロリング朝にその起源から、ミラノ、学校ブルーノモンダドーリ、
- マイケル·ガガーリン、エレイン古代ギリシャやローマのオックスフォード百科事典、オックスフォード、オックスフォード大学出版、年、
他のプロジェクト
その他のプロジェクト
外部リンク
Category Archives: パワーと情念
Giacobbe Giusti, KRAFT UND PATHOS: BRONZEN DER HELLENISTISCHEN WELT
Giacobbe Giusti, KRAFT UND PATHOS:BRONZEN DER HELLENISTISCHEN WELT
PATHOS:BRONZEN DER HELLENISTISCHEN WELT
14 März 2015
Die Ausstellung im Palazzo Strozzi, erzählt die künstlerischen Entwicklungen der hellenistischen Zeit (IV-I Jahrhundert vor Christus), durch außergewöhnliche Bronzestatuen. Zu sehen sind einige der größten Meisterwerke der Antike von den wichtigsten archäologischen Museen italienischen und internationalen.
Monumentale Statuen von Göttern, Sportler und Führungskräfte sind mit Porträts historischer Persönlichkeiten gepaart, den Weg, der den Besucher in der Analyse der Produktionstechniken führen wird, Gießen und Veredelung aus Bronze und entdecken Sie die Geschichten von den Ergebnissen dieser Meisterwerke.
In sieben thematische Abschnitte unterteilt, öffnet sich die Ausstellung mit der großen Statue von Arringatore, ein Teil der Sammlung von Cosimo I. de ‘Medici und der Sockel der Statue von Lysippos, im Jahre 1901 in Korinth gefunden.
Setzt sich mit der Übersicht über die Portraits der Macht, die die Bildnisse der einflussreichsten Menschen der Zeit bietet. Ausgestellt außergewöhnliche Beispiele, wie die Figur von Alexander dem Großen zu Pferde, der Kopf-Porträt von Arsinoe III Philopator, die eines Diadochus und die einer wahrscheinlichen General.
Der vierte Abschnitt mit dem Titel “Realismus und Ausdruck” analysiert die einzelnen Porträts, die Verwendung von Inlays und Farbe, um ein natürliches Aussehen zu erhalten und betont das Pathos und andere Formen der Charakterisierung, wie wir in dem Bild des jungen Aristokraten und viele andere zu sehen Heads-Porträt männlich.
Der fünfte Abschnitt “Replicas und Mimesis”, wollen die Idee von der Kapazität der Bronze geben mehrere “Original” zu schaffen, hat in der Tat, Reproduktionen von hellenistischen Werken in den Folgeperioden, die Nachahmung der Bronze in der dunklen Stein und andere Aufbewahrungs Bronzen auf See von den in der Erde gefunden.
Der sechste Abschnitt “Divinity”, mit Werken von außergewöhnlicher Schönheit, einschließlich der Minerva Arezzo, das Medaillon mit der Büste der Athena und dem Kopf der Aphrodite.
Schließlich ist der siebte Abschnitt “Stile der Vergangenheit”, will ein neues Interesse an den archaischen und klassischen Modellen zusammen mit dem Stilmix späthellenistischen entdecken. Zu den wichtigsten Beispiele für die so genannte Idolino Pesaro und dem Apollo der Louvre in Paris.
PALAZZO STROZZI
-Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, Italy
March 14 – June 21, 2015
http://www.palazzostrozzi.org
-J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA
July 28 – November 1, 2015
http://www.getty.edu
-National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
December 6, 2015 – March 20, 2016
http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/exhibitions/2015/power-and-pathos.html
Giacobbe Giusti, The Last Judgment by Michelangelo
Giacobbe Giusti, The Last Judgment by Michelangelo
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| Artist | Michelangelo |
|---|---|
| Year | 1536–1541 |
| Type | Fresco |
| Dimensions | 1370 cm × 1200 cm (539.3 in × 472.4 in) |
| Location | Sistine Chapel, Vatican City |
The Last Judgment, or The Last Judgement (Italian: Il Giudizio Universale),[1] is a fresco by the Italian Renaissance master Michelangelo executed on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City. It is a depiction of the Second Coming of Christ and the final and eternal judgment by God of all humanity. The souls of humans rise and descend to their fates, as judged by Christ surrounded by prominent saints including Saints Catherine of Alexandria, Peter, Lawrence, Bartholomew, Paul, Sebastian, John the Baptist, and others.
The work took four years to complete and was done between 1536 and 1541 (preparation of the altar wall began in 1535.) Michelangelo began working on it twenty five years after having finished the Sistine Chapel ceiling.
An older and more thoughtful Michelangelo originally accepted the commission for this important painting from Pope Clement VII.[2] The original subject of the mural was the resurrection, but with the Pope’s death, his successor, Pope Paul III, felt the Last Judgment was a more fitting subject for 1530s Rome and the judgmental impulses of the Counter-Reformation. While traditional medieval last judgments showed figures dressed according to their social positions, Michelangelo created a new standard. His groundbreaking concept of the event shows figures equalized in their nudity, stripped bare of rank. The artist portrayed the separation of the blessed and the damned by showing the saved ascending on the left and the damned descending on the right. The fresco is more monochromatic than the ceiling frescoes and is dominated by the tones of flesh and sky. The cleaning and restoration of the fresco, however, revealed a greater chromatic range than previously apparent. Orange, green, yellow, and blue are scattered throughout, animating and unifying the complex scene.
Reception and expurgation
1549 copy of the still unretouched mural by Marcello Venusti (Museo di Capodimonte, Naples).
The Last Judgment was an object of a heavy dispute between critics within the Catholic Counter-Reformation and those who appreciated the genius of the artist and the Mannerist style of the painting. Michelangelo was accused of being insensitive to proper decorum, in respect of nudity and other aspects of the work, and of flaunting personal style over appropriate depictions of content. He was considered to have gone much too far in his beardless and muscle-bound figure of Christ, which very clearly adapted classical sculptures of Apollo, and this path was rarely followed by other artists.
A few years after the fresco was completed, the decrees of the Council of Trent urged a tightening-up of church control of “unusual” sacred images. In response to certain accusers, when the Pope’s own Master of Ceremonies Biagio da Cesena said of the painting “it was mostly disgraceful that in so sacred a place there should have been depicted all those nude figures, exposing themselves so shamefully,” and that it was no work for a papal chapel but rather “for the public baths and taverns,” Michelangelo worked Cesena’s face into the scene as Minos, judge of the underworld (far bottom-right corner of the painting) with Donkey ears (i.e. indicating foolishness), while his nudity is covered by a coiled snake. It is said that when Cesena complained to the Pope, the pontiff joked that his jurisdiction did not extend to hell, so the portrait would have to remain.[3]
The genitalia in the fresco, referred to as ‘objectionable,’ were painted over with drapery after Michelangelo died in 1564 by the Mannerist artist Daniele da Volterra, when the Council of Trent condemned nudity in religious art.[1] The Council’s decree in part reads:
Every superstition shall be removed … all lasciviousness be avoided; in such wise that figures shall not be painted or adorned with a beauty exciting to lust… there be nothing seen that is disorderly, or that is unbecomingly or confusedly arranged, nothing that is profane, nothing indecorous, seeing that holiness becometh the house of God. And that these things may be the more faithfully observed, the holy Synod ordains, that no one be allowed to place, or cause to be placed, any unusual image, in any place, or church, howsoever exempted, except that image have been approved of by the bishop.[4]
Restoration
Main article: Restoration of the Sistine Chapel frescoes
The fresco was restored along with the Sistine vault between 1980 and 1994 under the supervision of curator of the Vatican Museums Fabrizio Mancinelli. The illustration reflects the restoration. During the course of the restoration about half of the censorship of the “Fig-Leaf Campaign” was removed. Numerous pieces of buried details, caught under the smoke and grime of scores of years were revealed after the restoration. It was discovered that the fresco of Biagio de Cesena as Minos with donkey ears was being bitten in the genitalia by a coiled snake. Another discovery is of the figure condemned to Hell directly below and to the right of St. Bartholomew with flayed skin. It was, for centuries, considered to be male until removal of the “fig leaf” showed that it was female.
Detail
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『最後の審判』（さいごのしんぱん、イタリア語 Giudizio Universale）は、ルネサンス期の芸術家ミケランジェロの代表作で、バチカン宮殿のシスティーナ礼拝堂の祭壇に描かれたフレスコ画である。1541年に完成した。
これより先、ミケランジェロはローマ教皇ユリウス2世よりシスティーナ礼拝堂の天井画を描くよう命じられ、1508年から1512年にかけて『創世記』をテーマにした作品を完成させている。それから20数年経ち、教皇クレメンス7世に祭壇画の制作を命じられ、後継のパウルス3世の治世である1535年から約5年の歳月をかけて1541年に『最後の審判』が完成した。天井画と祭壇画の間には、ローマ略奪という大事件があり、今日、美術史上でも盛期ルネサンスからマニエリスムの時代への転換期とされている。
ミケランジェロが『最後の審判』を描くより前、祭壇画としてペルジーノの『聖母被昇天』が描かれており、ミケランジェロは当初ペルジーノの画を残すプランを提案していた。しかしこの案はクレメンス7世により却下され、祭壇の壁面の漆喰を完全に剥がされてペルジーノの画は完全に失われた（スケッチのみが現存する）。 ペルジーノが描いた『聖母被昇天』には、画の発注主であるシクストゥス4世の姿が描かれていたことが判っており、パッツィ家の陰謀により実父を殺されたクレメンス7世による、事件の黒幕とされるシクストゥス4世への復讐であった可能性が指摘されている。
『最後の審判』には400名以上の人物が描かれている。中央では再臨したイエス・キリストが死者に裁きを下しており、向かって左側には天国へと昇天していく人々が、右側には地獄へと堕ちていく人々が描写されている。右下の水面に浮かんだ舟の上で、亡者に向かって櫂を振りかざしているのは冥府の渡し守カロンであり、この舟に乗せられた死者は、アケローン川を渡って地獄の各階層へと振り分けられていくという。ミケランジェロはこの地獄風景を描くのに、ダンテの『神曲』地獄篇のイメージを借りた。
群像に裸体が多く、儀典長からこの点を非難され、「着衣をさせよ」という勧告が出されたこともある。ミケランジェロはこれを怨んで、地獄に自分の芸術を理解しなかった儀典長を配したというエピソードもある。さらにこの件に対して儀典長がパウルス3世に抗議したところ、「煉獄はともかく、地獄では私は何の権限も無い」と冗談交じりに受け流されたという。また、キリストの右下には自身の生皮を持つバルトロマイが描かれているが、この生皮はミケランジェロの自画像とされる。 また画面左下方に、ミケランジェロが青年時代に説教を聴いたとされるサヴォナローラらしき人物も描かれている。
『最後の審判』などの壁画・天井画は、長年のすすで汚れていたが、日本テレビの支援により1981年から1994年までに修復作業が行われた。壁画・天井画は洗浄され製作当時の鮮やかな色彩が蘇った。ミケランジェロの死後、裸体を隠すために幾つかの衣装が書き込まれていたが、これは一部を除いて元の姿に復元された。
徳島県鳴門市の大塚国際美術館には実物大のレプリカが展示されている。 京都府京都市の京都府立陶板名画の庭にも、陶器製のほぼ原寸大のレプリカが展示されている。
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Judgment_(Michelangelo)
Giacobbe Giusti, MONTE FALTERONA, ‘IL LAGO DEGLI IDOLI’
Giacobbe Giusti, MONTE FALTERONA, Il lago degli idoli”
votive figure; Etruscan; 425BC-400BC; Chiusi; Falterona, Mount , British museum
votive figure; Etruscan; 400BC-350BC; Italy; Falterona, Mount , British museum
figure-fitting; Etruscan; 420BC-400BC; Italy; Falterona, Mount , British museum
figure; Etruscan; Italy; Falterona, Mount , British museim
http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/search.aspx?place=34986&plaA=34986-3-1
Kouros
bronzo – h. 18 cm
Etruria, prov. Falterona – secondo quarto del V secolo a.C.
Parigi, Musée du Louvre
Parigi, Musée du Louvre
stipe materiale: bronzo
dimensioni: cm 14
votiva del Falterona: offerente femminile
I bronzi degli Etruschi
Istituto Geografico De Agostini
Milano, 1985
FALTERONA, THE “LAKE OF IDOLS”.
“Nullus enim fons not sacer”
(Servius, ad Aen, 7, 84)
One day (in May 1838) In the woods
Monte Falterona a shepherdess saw emerge
on the shores of Lake of Ciliegeta (approximately
1,400 meters above sea level) the first piece of a
great archaeological discovery.
The shepherdess perhaps had not recognized
the bronze statue, which his hands had
extracted from the ground, Hercle (the Heracles – Hercules
classical mythology) but he understood that
it was a precious object.
Following this discovery it was organized in Stia
a society of “amateurs” local order
to organize further research.
The excavations led to the drying up
of the water and the discovery of
one of the richest in the world votive
Etruscan, he did take to the site
name “Lake of Idols”
(FORTUNA GIOVANNONI, 11 et seq .; DUCCI 2003
11 et seq.).
“In only one day on the banks it was
well found 335 bronzes and public
after other material is added, so as to
forming in a short time the exceptional
discovery of more than 600 pieces, including statues
Human complete, small heads, parts
anatomical (busts, eyes, arms, breasts,
legs, feet), animal figures, different
fibulas, some 1,000 pieces of aes rude (pieces
bronze irregular used as rudimentary
currency), a few pieces of aes signatum
(Pieces of cast bronze to form generally
ovoid with rough signs indicating the value) and
of aes grave (the very first coin form
round with figures that identify value
and origin) “, a coin, probably
Roman, portrayed with Janus and a temple,
“Over 2,000 arrowheads, several
fragments of iron weapons and pottery ”
(DUCCI 2003, 11).
These findings are not the flower
cap of some museum Tuscan.
Unfortunately, after being unnecessarily
Granducali offered Authority, the “members
researchers “got permission to sell
to third parties. The rich collection was sold in
block and cheaply. It was edited
an exhibition in December 1842 at
the German Archaeological Institute in Rome
and this is the last news we have of the
stipe complete.
At the British Museum the seven bronzes
from the Lake of Idols occupy a
place of honor; others are in the Louvre;
one in Baltimore and one bronze sheet is to
National Library in Paris (FORTUNA
GIOVANNONI, 16-18; DUCCI 2003, 13-15). The rest
dispersed who knows where, except, perhaps, those
which should be in stores
Hermitage in St Petersburg. The
recognition of the origin of some
finds it has been possible thanks to the descriptions
and drawings that had published the Micali
(1844).
The revival of interest in the lake
Idols coincided with the emergence of
so-called “archeology of the cult” in which
recent years is attracting attention
scholars, from prehistoric to pre-classic.
“The custom, probably
background ritual or votive, to throw in the waters
metallic objects of prestige or a redemption
close to them is a phenomenon that,
at least as regards Europe, it seems
involve all prehistoric societies and
protostoriche. Recent studies, in fact, reveal
that this particular rite, linked to water
(Rivers, streams, lakes, swamps, bogs) has
lasted quite long, that age
Copper (3,400 BC) comes up to the second
Iron Age (the second half of the first millennium
BC) with a peak in the late Bronze Age
(XIII – the first half of the twelfth century
A.C..). More recent surveys show,
then, that the weapons (swords, daggers, tips
spear, ax) are almost exclusive during
the Bronze Age, while towards the end of
this period and in the Iron will
or make an appearance alongside other
objects, such as pins, knives, razors, helmets,
pruning hooks, rings, bronze and pottery. ”
“The memory of this ancient
rite remains, however, with the end
of society classic. To evoke the ties
with these practices and prehistoric
protostoriche are just two examples:
Breton myth of Excalibur, the magic sword
King Arthur (now at death), which must
be thrown in the water and returned to the
Lady of the Lake; or, coming to our
time, the coins thrown into the fountain
Trevi in Rome, ‘… if late and playful’ (for
In the words of the philologist Walter Burkert)
‘Sacrifice for immersion …’ “(Swans
Sun, 47-48).
In the wake of the discovery of three more
bronzes very deteriorated, in 1972 it was decided
by the then Superintendent of Antiquities
Etruria a limited test excavation under the
direction of Francesco Nicosia (Profile of a
Valley, 52). But – as we learn from your site
the City of Stia – “the gods disturbed
They expressed their impatience with a
persistent rain, despite being full
August. ”
The recent project “Lake of Idols”
He foresaw the systematic excavation with
recovery of the material omitted from the excavations
nineteenth century, the study of the site, with analysis
pollen, stratigraphic and geomorphological:
work completed in September 2006. The results,
presented at a conference held in the Poppi
the end of the same month, have shown
the Lake of Idols appears to be the stipe
Votive that returned the highest number of
findings. E ‘provided for the restoration of the mirror
water of the lake, “to offer again
that image of the visitor magical place,
that the ancient Etruscans reached with
devotion and effort “(DUCCI 2003, 18, DUCCI
2004, 6-8). The results of the excavation
2003 conducted by Luca Fedeli were
presented in the exhibition “Sanctuaries in the Etruscans
Casentino “of 2004.
The pond, still in some papers
eighteenth century seems to indicate which source
Arno, although today is referred to as
“Capo d’Arno” the source which is about 500
meters from the site; “Some scholars was
It speculated that in ancient was also considered
the source of the Tiber, since the two rivers
still united through the dense network of canals
formed the Valdichiana “(DUCCI 2003, 16;
FORTUNA GIOVANNONI, 45-48: “Falterona, and Arno
Tiber “).
The sacredness of the Falterona not drift
only from the sources but, despite the
if not excessive height of the top
compared with those mountain (1,654 meters),
from the mountain of a dominant
wide area of Tuscany and neighboring regions.
Visible from the Florentine plain as
Arezzo and from which you can gaze on
a large part of the Apennine Mountains and valleys
adjacent. Near he was to pass a
Apennine road linking Etruria
internal and Etruria Padana as bronzes
found were attributed to factories
Etruscan Po Valley area, as well as Orvieto,
Umbrian and Greek (FORTUNA GIOVANNONI, 31-
36, DUCCI 2003, 14-15). Still at the end of
VII sec. B.C. Casentino was the
offshoot’s northernmost territory
Etruscan, in direct contact with two of
people who lived long ago Italy
Central: the Ligurians in the north and the east of Umbria
(DUCCI 2003 4 THE BRIDGE 1999 Profile of a
valley).
“As for the name of the mountain in
Specifically, Devoto (in ‘Studies Etruscans’, XIII,
1939, p. 311 et seq.) It considers derived from a
plural Etruscan FALTER or faltar, (…)
adds that FALTER derives his
Once a root PAL-FAL, which took
expansions in -T (FALT-, in fact), in -AT
(PALAT-, from which ‘palatium’, the ancient name
Palatino) or -AD (FALAD-, from which
‘Falado’, adaptation of a voice Etruscan
meant ‘sky’ second Festus v. M.
Pallottino, ‘Witness the tongue Etruscae’,
1968 n. 831). Also according to the Devoto, the
PAL-root / Falzone had to indicate ‘a
round shape or a shape object
unspecified which has the function of cover ‘, from
where the more specific meaning of ‘time’,
‘Dome’. The Falterona would be that ‘a
set of domes’. ”
“It ‘should be noted, however, that the current form has a
Termination (-NA) of Etruscan own (not
attested in those that would phases
according to previous language
reconstruction of Devoto) can not be excluded
namely, that the etymology today is an adaptation
min a form with that Etruscan
termination. And ‘perhaps too simplistic
think of a compound name forever from
root Falzone, ‘dome’, ‘time (blue)’ and
Truna (etymology Etruscan according Hesychius
He corresponded to greek ARKE ‘=’ power ‘,
‘Principle’) that would mean Falterona
‘Principle of heaven’? “(Fortuna in FORTUNA
GIOVANNONI, 37 n. 2).
So also in the name of the Falterona
She recalls its ties with the sacred.
“The sacredness is
their places
dark and shadowy,
in the twilight
thought it collects
and tempers
unfold according
facets of
heart.
Evocations
need
places elected and
forest, the kingdom of
darkness and silence,
It is a perfect place for
excellence.
And if the desert,
hermitage of
holy, it is the place of the truth because there
shadows are, in equal measure the wood is
place the enigma of life, where the shadows
a teeming multiplicity transform
landscape in a constant metamorphosis and
where the soul escaped the constraints of time and
Space unfolds according to natural rhythms
in a kind of empathy with nature, in violation
codes of communication usual. ”
“The forest has since ancient place
sacred and initiation. In the Celtic tradition
Druids celebrate their rites in the forest
where some trees, considered sacred, defined
spaces reserved for ceremonies. Even among
Germans the oldest sanctuaries were
probably natural woodland. In
symbolism of the forest come together two
elements: on one hand the opening towards the
sky, home of the divine, the other clear,
definition of a protected and secret,
where the rites were held. The sacredness extended
then also the cult of the trees (…). ”
“The forest is also the place where it was
kept the primordial knowledge and place
the initiation tests “(Maresca, 7).
The sacred grove is a lucus, but with lucus
etymologically he was intended to “clear”.
As also noted on the border between Dumézil
the two meanings is not absolute and
probably the passage of the meanings is
It took place in a stadium of the ancient language
(Dumézil 1989, 46). Perhaps it is good to remember that
concepts sacrum, sanctum and religiosum
They are not interchangeable. “The same can res
be ‘sacred’ as consecrated to the gods,
‘Holy’ as subject to sanction of law,
‘Religious’ as to violate it are offended
the gods “(BRIDGE 2003).
The sacred groves, although recognized
property of a god given (or not), were
under certain conditions accessible to action
profane (economic exploitation). Before
cut a part of the forest, according to the
ancient prayers handed down by Cato, the
farmer sacrificed a porco1 turning to
1 It is worth mentioning that “a requirement for the
validity of the offer and of the ritual that the
victim manifested in some way its
consent. For this reason the animal could not
be conducted in force at the altar, as this would
It represented a very bad omen for the success of
sacrifice “(SINI 2001, 200).
god or goddess of the place “anyone” 2. And for
the gods of the woods you get to talk to
“Fauns” and “sylvan” (Etruscan Selvans) to
plural forms of the ancient Latin Italic
Lord of the Animals (BRIDGE 1998 162-
163).
“Nullus lucus sine source, nullus fons
not sacer “reminds us Servius (ad Aen, 7, 84)
a natural association and sacredness
of one automatically switches to the other. But
what will be the divinity of the Lake of Idols? The
Roman calendar celebrates October 13
Fontinalia, devoted to natural sources in
which were thrown crowns and crowned the
wells, dedicated to Fons (Source) son of Janus
and Juturna (Juturna, Diuturna) (DEL PONTE
1998, 66, Dumézil 1977 339-340, Dumézil 1989
25-44, BEST 1981 14 SABBATUCCI, 29-30 and
328-329 [Which highlights, too, the link between
Fontinalia, festivity spring water, and meditrinalia,
October 11, one of the wine festivals, in their aspects
“Medicated”]). As part of Janus (I
I like to recall that the two-faced god is only
in the pantheon Latin Ianus, and in that
Etruscan Culsans), the “good owner” of the
Carmen Saliare, include sources, not
only as the father of the god-Fons and river
Tiber, for having saved Rome from
Sabine assailants doing gush before
them a hot spring them
frightened and routed them, but also because
patron of beginnings (BRIDGE 1992 and 1998
Dumézil 1977 D’ANNA).
Not taking into account these
characteristics, the currency found in Giano
pond might seem the result of
some random fact but also the spread
of hydronyms derived from the name of DIO3
It helps to prove otherwise.
Especially near the name “Mount
2 Cato, De agr. 139: Locum conlucare Roman Opinions more
sic oportet: pig piacolo facito, verba sic conceived:
“It deus, you goddess es quorum illud sacrum est, ut tibi ius
east hog piacolo illiusce sacred coercendi ergo
harumque rerum ergo, sive ego sive quis iussu meo
fecerit, uti id recte factum siet, eius rei te hoc ergo
pig piacolo immolating bonas preces precor uti sies
volens Propitius mihi, domo familiaeque meae
liberisque meis, harumce rerum ego Macte hoc porcum
piacolo immolating esto “(SINI in 1991, 114, n. 97).
3 Fatucchi A., Janus on the trail of the cult of the Sun in
Arezzo area, Arezzo S.A., cited in FORTUNA
GIOVANNONI 1989, 40 n. 5.
Gianni “vulgar corruption of the Latin” Mons
Iani “(Apparently, in fact, still in the nineteenth century cha
the location was called Monte di Giano,
although the popular mispronunciation beginning
to indicate its present name) making
conceivable “that even the patronage of
god involve the entire Monte and
considering the name of the township
casentinese the same way as the Latin oronimo
Falterona “(Profile of a valley, 105 FORTUNA
GIOVANNONI, 39-40 and relevant bibliography).
“Macrobius (1, 11) evoked, among
insights of the ancient world of investigators
archaic, one that brightly in -anscorgeva
the ‘heaven’ “recalls Semerano
referring to said component within the
names Culsans and Ianus (123). A Further
relationship between Janus and Falterona?
Excluding the currency with the two-faced god, the only
This deity is Hercules (the famous
bronze now in the British Museum and in another
now lost but played between designs
Micali, probably produced umbra)
suggesting that it was the tutelary deity
the sanctuary.
The cult of Hercules was widespread
in ancient Italy, he traveled back with
the oxen of Geryon or in search of
Garden of the Hesperides, among the various peoples of the
Saturnia Tellus (BRIDGE 2003
MASTROCINQUE 1994). “Elected deity
patron of spring water, and worshiped
as patron saint of travelers, shepherds and
merchants: the presence of images of
animals, cattle, sheep and poultry, reproduced in
miniaturization in place of the real,
suggests the protection required to
god from pastors who probably
with their flocks migrated along the pass
Apennine restaurant nearby. The remains of
numerous weapons, together with the representation
warriors and armed youths, recall
instead the request for protection by
military, which in large numbers must be
passed near the lake. Lastly, the presence
anatomical parts of the human body seems
addressing the request for a pardon or
votive offering to the god of a body part
where it could have happened a healing “(
DUCCI 2003, 16).
But Hercules was also the ancestor
“Common” of the Etruscans and Romans.
“Son of Hercules and Omphale was
Tirreno (Dion.Hal.I.28; Paus.II.21.3; Hygin., Fab.
274), or the king Tuscus (Fest., P.487 L .;
Paul.Fest., P. 486 L), founders of the Tirreni ”
(MASTROCINQUE 1993, 23). While according to
some traditions Ercole with the daughter of Fauno
begot Latino (MASTROCINQUE 1993 and 23-41
relevant bibliography). As he wrote
the scholar Giovanni Nanni Annio in bloom
humanism, Hercules would divinity
protect Arno (FORTUNA GIOVANNONI
1989, 27-28, n. 17).
We hope to see again in the coming years
in Casentino, during a show in
programming, the “Idols” Falterona
dispersed throughout the world, at least those
identified, along with the latest discoveries.
Mario Enzo Migliori
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_Falterona
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_Falterona
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont_Falterona
Click to access 2007-MarioEnzoMigliori-FalteronaLagoDegliIdoli.pdf
Giacobbe Giusti, PUISSANCE ET PATHOS. Bronzes du Monde Hellénistique
Giacobbe Giusti, PUISSANCE ET PATHOS. Bronzes du Monde Hellénistique
La beauté à l’époque hellénistique bronzes exposés au Palazzo Strozzi
En collaboration avec J. Paul Getty Museum de Los Angeles di, la National Gallery of Art de Washington et de l’Archaeological Survey of Toscane, coup d’envoi de l’exposition «Pouvoir et pathos. Bronzes du monde hellénistique »dans le prestigieux Palazzo Strozzi.
Les animateurs, jusqu’au 21 Juin, Palazzo Strozzi à Florence, une extraordinaire série de sculptures à partir du quatrième siècle avant JC. au premier siècle D.C..
Pour la première fois réunis à Florence sur les 50 chefs-d’œuvre en bronze de la période hellénistique, IV-I siècle avant JC, qualité très expressive, faite avec des techniques raffinées dans un langage artistique très élaborée, y compris Apoxyomenos Vienne bronze et la version en marbre Offices utilisé pour sa restauration; i due Apollo-Kouroi, archaïsant au Louvre et à Pompéi.
Jusqu’à présent, aucun des couples ne avait jamais été exposé un à côté de l’autre.
Le Apoxyomenos est l’athlète qui nettoie la sueur à la fin d’une course, avec un métal incurvée outil spécial, ce strigile.
Les sculpteurs hellénistiques qui le premier a poussé à la limite les effets dramatiques de les rideaux étaient balançant, les cheveux en désordre, grimaces dents serrées; était entre leurs mains que les formes extérieures de la sculpture sont devenus tout aussi expressive de triomphe et de tragédie intérieure; et ce est dans leurs images de taille que nous voyons pour la première fois une représentation de tous les individus crédibles et événements réels, ils étaient des scènes de la vie quotidienne ou le combat entre Achille et chevaux de Troie.
La représentation artistique de la figure humaine est centrale dans la plupart des cultures anciennes, mais la Grèce est l’endroit où il avait plus d’importance et d’influence sur l’histoire ultérieure de l’art.
L’art sculptural était destiné à embellir les rues et les espaces publics, où commémorant gens et les événements, et le sanctuaire, où ils ont été utilisés comme des “votes”, o le case, où il a servi comme éléments décoratifs, ou dans les cimetières, où les symboles funéraires représentés.
Alla fine dell’età classica gli scultori greci avevano raggiunto un’abilità straordinaria, sans précédent dans le monde de l’art, imitant le corps de disposition et la forme plastique.
Le bronze, pour sa qualité, a toujours été considéré comme un métal noble et les artistes du monde antique étaient les maîtres dans le processus de fabrication du complexe métallique.
L’exposition est divisée en sept sections thématiques, ouverture avec la grande statue de la soi-disant Arringatore, ce était déjà partie de la collection de Cosme Ier de Médicis, pour indiquer combien d’intérêt produit les œuvres hellénistiques déjà à la Renaissance; poi prosegue con una vasta sezione di ritratti di personaggi influenti, nouveau genre artistique qui est né avec Alexandre le Grand.
Organismes idéaux, organismes extrêmes vous permet de vérifier le développement de nouvelles formes de disciplines artistiques de la vie quotidienne, positions avec dynamique.
La sixième section, “Divinité”, aborde la place d’un sujet important et présente des œuvres d’une beauté extraordinaire, y compris la Minerve d’Arezzo, le médaillon avec le buste d’Athéna et de la Tête d’Aphrodite.
Cecilia Chiavisteli
Par le nombre 57 – Année II 25/03/2015
Puissance et de pathos. Bronzes du monde hellénistique
Jusqu’au 21 Juin 2015
Palais Strozzi – Florence
Info: 055 2645155 – http://www.palazzostrozzi.org
cb
Apoxyomène
L’Apoxyomène dans le cabinet auquel il a donné son nom, musée Pio-Clementino
L’Apoxyomène (en grec ancienἀποξυόμενος / apoxuómenos, de ἀποξὐω / apoxúô, « racler, gratter ») est un marbre d’après Lysippe, représentant, comme son nom l’indique, un athlète nu se raclant la peau avec un strigile. Il est conservé au musée Pio-Clementino (musées du Vatican) sous le numéro Inv. 1185.
Sommaire
[masquer]
Découverte
En 1849, dans le quartier romain du Trastevere, des ouvriers découvrent dans les ruines de ce qu’on croit alors être des thermes romains la statue d’un jeune homme nu se raclant avec un strigile[1]. Son premier commentateur, l’architecte et antiquaire Luigi Canina, l’identifie comme une copie du sculpteur grec Polyclète[2], mais dès l’année suivante, l’archéologue allemand August Braun[3] y reconnaît une copie d’un type en bronze de Lysippe (vers 330–320 av. J.-C.), que nous connaissons uniquement par une mention de Pline l’Ancien dans son Histoire naturelle : « [Lysippe] réalisa, comme nous l’avons dit, le plus grand nombre de statues de tous, avec un art très fécond, et parmi elles, un athlète en train de se nettoyer avec un strigile (destringens se)[4]. »
Le type est fameux dès l’Antiquité : toujours selon Pline, la statue est consacrée par le général Marcus Agrippa devant les thermes qui portent son nom. L’empereur Tibère, grand admirateur de la statue, la fait enlever et transporter dans sa chambre. « Il en résulta une telle fronde du peuple romain », raconte Pline, « qu’il réclama dans les clameurs du théâtre qu’on restituât l’Apoxyomène et que le prince, malgré son amour, le restitua[4]. »
Braun se fonde d’une part sur la pose de la statue, d’autre part sur les remarques de Pline sur le canon lysippéen, plus élancé que celui de Polyclète[5] : effectivement, la tête est plus petite par rapport au corps, plus fin — il faut toutefois remarquer qu’à l’époque, le Doryphore n’avait pas encore été reconnu comme tel[6]. Dans l’ensemble, les arguments avancés par Braun sont assez faibles[7] : d’abord, l’athlète au strigile est un type commun dans l’Antiquité. Ensuite, le canon élancé, bien qu’utilisé de manière intensive par Lysippe et son école, n’est pas spécifique à cet artiste : on le retrouve par exemple dans les combattants de la frise du Mausolée d’Halicarnasse[8]. Cependant, malgré des contestations, l’attribution à Lysippe est largement admise aujourd’hui[9].
La statue jouit d’une grande popularité dès sa découverte. Elle est restaurée par le sculpteur italien Pietro Tenerani qui complète les doigts de la main droite, le bout du nez, restitue le strigile disparu de la main gauche et cache le sexe de l’athlète par une feuille de vigne[10] — ces restaurations ont été supprimées récemment. De nombreux moulages en sont réalisés. Jacob Burckhardt la cite dans son Cicerone (guide de Rome) de 1865[11].
Description
Détail de la tête et des bras
La statue, réalisée en marbre du Pentélique est légèrement plus grande que nature : elle mesure 2,05 mètres[12]. Elle représente un jeune homme nu, debout, raclant la face postérieure de l’avant-bras droit à l’aide d’un strigile tenu de la main gauche. Il hoche légèrement la tête et regarde devant lui. Un tronc d’arbre sert d’étai à la jambe gauche ; un autre étai, aujourd’hui brisé, faisait supporter le poids du bras droit tendu sur la jambe droite.
La statue frappe d’abord par sa composition : elle n’est plus uniquement frontale, comme dans le Doryphore ou le Discobole. Le bras tendu à angle droit de l’athlète oblige le spectateur, s’il veut bien saisir le mouvement, à se déplacer sur les côtés. Elle se distingue également par l’emploi du contrapposto (« déhanché ») : le poids du corps repose sur la seule jambe gauche, la droite étant légèrement avancée et repliée. De ce fait, les hanches sont orientées vers la gauche, alors que les épaules sont tournées dans le sens inverse, suivant le mouvement du bras droit, créant ainsi un mouvement de torsion que le spectateur ne peut pleinement saisir qu’en reproduisant lui-même la pose. La musculature est rendue de manière moins marquée que chez Polyclète. Alors que le torse représente traditionnellement le morceau de bravoure du sculpteur, il est ici partiellement dissimulé par la position des bras.
La tête frappe par sa petite taille : elle représente un huitième du corps entier, contre un septième dans le canon polyclétéen. L’historienne de l’art Brunilde Sismondo Ridgway juge même l’effet « presque comique[13] ». Autre nouveauté, la tête est traitée comme un portrait : la chevelure est représentée en désordre, le front est marqué et les yeux, enfoncés. Pour R. R. R. Smith, ces caractéristiques rendent la tête plus vivante[14], mais Ridgway les considère comme des défauts attribuables au copiste, ou à une erreur de présentation de la statue : elle aurait pu être présentée sur une base surélevée[15].
Copies et variantes
L’Apoxyomène d’Éphèse
L’Apoxyomène de Croatie
L’Apoxyomène du Vatican est le seul exemplaire entier en marbre de ce type[16]. Un torse très abîmé des réserves du Musée national romain, d’origine inconnue, a été reconnu en 1967 comme une réplique, mais dont la pose est inversée. Un autre torse, décorant la façade du Bâtiment M (probablement une bibliothèque) à Sidé, en Pamphylie, a été identifiée comme une variante en 1973. Enfin, un torse de proportions beaucoup plus réduites, découvert à Fiesole (Toscane) a été rattaché à l’Apoxyomène, mais son authenticité a été contestée[17]. Cette relative absence de copies s’explique mal : Rome comptait plusieurs ateliers de copistes[18]. Par ailleurs, aucun obstacle technique ne semble avoir pu empêcher la réalisation de moulages, Pline ne mentionnant aucune dorure.
Un type différent a été découvert en 1898 à Éphèse ; la statue, en bronze, est actuellement conservée au musée d’histoire de l’art de Vienne (Inv. 3168). Haute de 1,92 mètre, cette copie romaine représente un athlète à la musculature puissante qui, ayant terminé de se racler le corps, nettoie son strigile : il le tient de la main droite et enlève la sueur et la poussière du racloir avec l’index et le pouce de la main gauche ; la position des jambes et plus généralement le mouvement de torsion sont inversés par rapport à l’Apoxyomène du Vatican. Contrairement à ce dernier, qui semble regarder dans la vague, l’athlète d’Éphèse est concentré sur sa tâche.
Un autre exemplaire en bronze, l’Apoxyomène de Croatie a été découvert en 1996 en mer Adriatique, remonté en 1999 et restauré jusqu’en 2005[19]. Son apparence est proche de l’Apoxyomène d’Éphèse et de la tête se trouvant au musée d’art Kimbell de Fort Worth (Texas). La particularité de l’Apoxyomène de Croatie est d’être pratiquement complet (il lui manque l’auriculaire de la main gauche), dans un état de conservation exceptionnel et d’avoir encore sa plinthe antique[20].
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apoxyom%C3%A8ne
http://www.laterrazzadimichelangelo.it/news/la-bellezza-nei-bronzi-ellenistici-in-mostra-a-palazzo-strozzi/?lang=fr
http://www.giacobbegiusti.com
Giacobbe Giusti, Zurück zur Klassik
Giacobbe Giusti, Zurück zur Klassik
Die Statue eines Faustkämpfers aus Rom (Quirinal), Bronze, 2. Hälfte des vierte Jahrhunderts v. Chr. oder des dritten Jahrhunderts v. Chr. ist hier zu sehen.
Foto: Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Liebighaus
Das Frankfurter Liebieghaus präsentiert erlesene griechische Skulpturen unter dem Titel “Zurück zur Klassik”: Hier ein geflügelter Kopf des Hypnos, Original des vierten Jahrhunderts v. Chr. oder römische Wiederholung des ersten Jahrhunderts v. Chr..
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Foto: Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Liebighaus
Die Statue eines Faustkämpfers aus Rom (Quirinal), Bronze, 2. Hälfte des vierte Jahrhunderts v. Chr. oder des dritten Jahrhunderts v. Chr. ist hier zu sehen.
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Foto: Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Liebighaus
Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770–1840) schuf den Kopf des rechten Vorkämpfers (l.) als Ergänzung für den Westgiebel des Aphaia-Tempels von Aigina zwischen 1812 und 1818. (l.) Rechts ist der Gegner des rechten Vorkämpfers ausgestellt (480/479 v. Chr.).
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Foto: Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Liebighaus
Der Kopf des Apollon Sauroktonos des Praxiteles, späthellenistische Kopie (vor der Mitte des ersten Jahrhunderts v. Chr.) nach einem Vorbild um 350 v. Chr. ist ebenfalls ein Exponat.
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Foto: © Staatliche Kunstsammlungen
Buchrezension
Zurück zur Klassik
Vinzenz Brinkmann (Hrsg.)
– Ein neuer Blick auf das alte Griechenland
München: Hirmer Verlag 2013, 380 S., 518 farb. Abb., 75 Farbtafeln, 30 S/W-Abb., 49,90 Euro
Die griechische Klassik steht für eine Zeit voller Innovationen und prägte die spätere europäische Kultur entscheidend. Ob Architektur, philosophische Schriften, Dichtungen oder Kunst: Die kulturellen Erzeugnisse des 5. und 4. Jh. v.Chr. in Griechenland wurden von allen darauffolgenden Epochen rezipiert, weil sie als vorbildlich und normativ, eben als klassisch galten.
Der an jener Zeit Interessierte wird sowohl bei seinem Besuch der Ausstellung »Zurück zur Klassik« in der Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung in Frankfurt am Main als auch beim Lesen des gleichnamigen Katalogs überrascht sein: Fundierte Beiträge und 518 Abbildungen von mehr als 80 Originalen machen ihm bewusst, wie tiefgreifend das heutige Bild der griechischen Klassik während der vergangenen 2500 Jahre eingeschränkt und verzerrt wurde. Viele Kunstwerke wie z.B. Malereien gingen aufgrund ihrer Beschaffenheit verloren, andere wurden wiederum ganz bewusst selektiert und zerstört.
Renommierte Wissenschaftler stellen aktuelle Ergebnisse vor – von der Rekonstruktionsarbeit an den berühmten Bronzen von Riace bis hin zur Malerei des 5. und 4. Jh. v.Chr. Anhand der Originale lernt der Leser jene Epoche noch einmal neu kennen, weil sie weniger von Idealen, vielmehr vom Leben selbst erzählen und unerwartet realistisch erscheinen. Der Katalog bietet ein neues, anderes, vor allem aber ein unverfälschtes Bild zur griechischen Klassik.
Leoni Hellmayr
Bild zum Vergrößern anklicken.
Giacobbe Giusti, Power and Pathos
Giacobbe Giusti, Power and Pathos
Atleta con strigile (Apoxyomenos di Efeso). 1-50 d.C.; bronzo; cm 205,4 x 78,7 x 77,5. Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, inv. Antikensammlung VI 3168. Ph. Fernando Guerrini (Archivio Fotografico della Soprintendenza Archeologia della Toscana)
Giacobbe Giusti, Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World
Giacobbe Giusti, Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World
First-Ever Major Exhibition of Hellenistic Bronze Sculptures Will Travel Internationally
The Getty, the Palazzo Strozzi, and the National Gallery of Art collaborate with the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Toscana to present
Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World
March 2015 – March 2016
in Florence, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C.
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MEDIA CONTACT:
Amy Hood
Getty Communications
(310) 440-6427
ahood@getty.edu
Amy Hood
Getty Communications
(310) 440-6427
ahood@getty.edu
Beginning in March 2015, the Palazzo Strozzi, Florence; the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., will present Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World, the first major international exhibition to bring together approximately 50 ancient bronzes from the Mediterranean region and beyond ranging from the 4th century B.C. to the 1st century A.D.
During the Hellenistic era, artists around the Mediterranean created innovative, realistic sculptures of physical power and emotional intensity. Bronze—with its reflective surface, tensile strength, and ability to hold the finest details—was employed for dynamic compositions, graphic expressions of age and character, and dazzling displays of the human form.
From sculptures known since the Renaissance, such as the Arringatore (Orator) from Sanguineto (in the collection of the Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Florence), to spectacular recent discoveries that have never before been exhibited in the United States, the exhibition is the most comprehensive museum survey of Hellenistic bronzes ever organized. In each showing of the exhibition, recent finds—many salvaged from the sea—will be exhibited for the first time alongside well-known works. The works of art on view will range in scale from statuettes, busts and heads to life-size figures and herms.
Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World is especially remarkable for bringing together works of art that, because of their rarity, are usually exhibited in isolation. When viewed in proximity to one another, the variety of styles and techniques employed by ancient sculptors is emphasized to greater effect, as are the varying functions and histories of the bronze sculptures.
Bronze was a material well-suited to reproduction, and the exhibition provides an unprecedented opportunity to see objects of the same type, and even from the same workshop together for the first time.
The travel schedule for Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World is:
- Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, Italy
March 14 – June 21, 2015
http://www.palazzostrozzi.org - J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA
July 28 – November 1, 2015
http://www.getty.edu - National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
December 6, 2015 – March 20, 2016
http://www.nga.gov
This exhibition is curated by Jens Daehner and Kenneth Lapatin of the J. Paul Getty Museum and co-organized by the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Florence; and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; with the participation of Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Toscana. It is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
Bank of America is the National Presenting Sponsor of this exhibition. The Los Angeles presentation is also supported by the Getty Museum’s Villa Council.
# # #
Image: Portrait of a Man, about 100 B.C. Bronze, white paste, and dark stone, 32.5 x 22 x 22 cm. Courtesy of the National Archaeological Museum, Athens. Photo: Marie Mauzy/Art Resource, NY
# # #
The J. Paul Getty Trust is an international cultural and philanthropic institution devoted to the visual arts that includes the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Research Institute, the Getty Conservation Institute, and the Getty Foundation. The J. Paul Getty Trust and Getty programs serve a varied audience from two locations: the Getty Center in Los Angeles and the Getty Villa in Malibu.
The J. Paul Getty Museum collects in seven distinct areas, including Greek and Roman antiquities, European paintings, drawings, manuscripts, sculpture and decorative arts, and photographs gathered internationally. The Museum’s mission is to make the collection meaningful and attractive to a broad audience by presenting and interpreting the works of art through educational programs, special exhibitions, publications, conservation, and research.
Visiting the Getty Center
The Getty Center is open Tuesday through Friday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. It is closed Monday and most major holidays. Admission to the Getty Center is always free. Parking is $15 per car, but reduced to $10 after 5 p.m. on Saturdays and for evening events throughout the week. No reservation is required for parking or general admission. Reservations are required for event seating and groups of 15 or more. Please call (310) 440-7300 (English or Spanish) for reservations and information. The TTY line for callers who are deaf or hearing impaired is (310) 440-7305. The Getty Center is at 1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles, California.
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http://news.getty.edu/press-materials/press-releases/hellenistic-bronze-sculptures-travel-internationally-.htm
http://www.giacobbegiusti.com
Giacobbe Giusti, Chimera of Arezzo
Giacobbe Giusti, Chimera of Arezzo
Chimera of Arezzo
 |
|
| Year | c. 400 BC |
|---|---|
| Type | bronze |
The bronze “Chimera of Arezzo” is one of the best known examples of the art of the Etruscans. It was found in Arezzo, an ancient Etruscan and Roman city in Tuscany, in 1553 and was quickly claimed for the collection of the Medici Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo I, who placed it publicly in the Palazzo Vecchio, and placed the smaller bronzes from the trove in his own studiolo at Palazzo Pitti, where “the Duke took great pleasure in cleaning them by himself, with some goldsmith’s tools,” Benvenuto Cellini reported in his autobiography. The Chimera is still conserved in Florence, now in the Archaeological Museum. It is approximately 80 cm in height.[1]
In Greek mythology the monstrous Chimera ravaged its homeland, Lycia, until it was slain by Bellerophon. The goat head of the Chimera has a wound inflicted by this Greek hero. Based on the cowering, representation of fear, and the wound inflicted, this sculpture may have been part of a set that would have included a bronze sculpture of Bellerophon. This bronze was at first identified as a lion by its discoverers in Arezzo, for its tail, which would have taken the form of a serpent, is missing. It was soon recognized as representing the chimera of myth and in fact, among smaller bronze pieces and fragments brought to Florence, a section of the tail was soon recovered, according to Giorgio Vasari. The present bronze tail is an 18th-century restoration.
The Chimera was one of a hoard of bronzes that had been carefully buried for safety some time in antiquity. They were discovered by accident, when trenches were being dug just outside the Porta San Laurentino in the city walls. A bronze replica now stands near the spot.
Inscribed on its right foreleg is an inscription which has been variously read, but most recently is agreed to be TINSCVIL, showing that the bronze was a votive object dedicated to the supreme Etruscan god of day, Tin or Tinia. The original statue is estimated to have been created around 400 BC.
In 2009 and 2010 the statue traveled to the United States where it was displayed at the Getty Villa in Malibu, California.[1][2][3]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimera_of_Arezzo
Chimera di Arezzo
| Chimera di Arezzo | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Autore | sconosciuto |
| Data | seconda metà o fine V sec. a.C. circa |
| Materiale | bronzo |
| Altezza | 65 cm |
| Ubicazione | Museo archeologico nazionale, Firenze
|
La firma
La Chimera di Arezzo è un bronzo etrusco, probabilmente opera di un équipe di artigiani attiva nella zona di Arezzo, che combinava modello e forma stilistica di ascendenza greca o italiota all’abilità tecnica fornita da maestranze etrusche[1]. È conservata presso il Museo archeologico nazionale di Firenze ed è alta 65 cm.
Storia
La sua datazione viene fatta risalire ad un periodo compreso tra l’ultimo quarto del V e i primi decenni del IV secolo a.C. Faceva parte di un gruppo di bronzi sepolti nell’antichità per poterli preservare.
Con l’aiuto di Pegaso, Bellerofonte riuscì a sconfiggere Chimera con le sue stesse terribili armi: immerse la punta del suo giavellotto nelle fauci della belva, il fuoco che ne usciva sciolse il piombo che uccise l’animale.
Si tratta di una statua di bronzo rinvenuta il 15 novembre 1553 in Toscana,La chimera è stata representata in modi diversi.è stata creata per incudere peura e terrore. precisamente nella città d’Arezzo durante la costruzione di fortificazioni medicee alla periferia della cittadina, fuori da Porta San Lorentino (dove oggi si trova una replica in bronzo). Venne subito reclamata dal granduca di Toscana Cosimo I de’ Medici per la sua collezione, il quale la espose pubblicamente presso il Palazzo Vecchio, nella sala di Leone X. Venne poi trasferita presso il suo studiolo di Palazzo Pitti, in cui, come riportato da Benvenuto Cellini nella sua autobiografia, “il duca ricavava grande piacere nel pulirla personalmente con attrezzi da orafo”.
Dalle notizie del ritrovamento, presenti nell’Archivio di Arezzo, risulta che questo bronzo venne identificato inizialmente con un leone poiché la coda, rintracciata in seguito da Giorgio Vasari, non era ancora stata trovata e fu ricomposta solo nel XVIII secolo grazie ad un restauro visibile ancora oggi. Vasari nei suoi Ragionamenti sopra le invenzioni da lui dipinte in Firenze nel palazzo di loro Altezze Serenissime[2] risponde così ad un interlocutore che gli domanda se si tratta proprio della Chimera di Bellerofonte
| « Signor sì, perché ce n’è il riscontro delle medaglie che ha il Duca mio signore, che vennono da Roma con la testa di capra appiccicata in sul collo di questo leone, il quale come vede V.E., ha anche il ventre di serpente, e abbiamo ritrovato la coda che era rotta fra que’ fragmenti di bronzo con tante figurine di metallo che V.E. ha veduto tutte, e le ferite che ella ha addosso, lo dimostrano, e ancora il dolore, che si conosce nella prontezza della testa di questo animale… » |
Il restauro alla coda è però un restauro sbagliato: il serpente doveva avventarsi minacciosamente contro Bellerofonte e non mordere un corno della testa della capra.
Nel 1718 venne poi trasportata nella Galleria degli Uffizi e in seguito fu trasferita nuovamente, insieme all’Idolino e ad altri bronzi classici, presso il Palazzo della Crocetta, dove si trova tuttora, nell’odierno Museo archeologico di Firenze.
Descrizione e stile
Nella mitologia greca la chimera (il cui nome in greco significa letteralmente capra) era un mostro che sputava fuoco, talvolta alato, con il corpo e la testa di leone, la coda a forma di serpente e con una testa di capra nel mezzo della schiena, che terrorizzava la terra della Licia. Venne uccisa da Bellerofonte in un epico scontro con l’aiuto del cavallo alato Pegaso.
La Chimera di Arezzo raffigura il mostro uccidente, che si ritrae di lato, e volge la testa in atteggiamento drammatico di notevole sofferenza, con la bocca spalancata e la criniera irta. La testa di capra sul dorso è già reclinata e morente a causa delle ferite ricevute. Il corpo è modellato in maniera da mostrare le costole del torace, mentre le vene solcano il ventre e le gambe. Probabilmente, la Chimera faceva parte di un gruppo con Bellerofonte e Pegaso ma non si può escludere completamente l’ipotesi che si trattasse di un’offerta votiva a sé stante. Quest’ipotesi sembra essere confermata dalla presenza di un’iscrizione sulla branca anteriore destra, in cui vi si legge la scritta TINSCVIL o TINS’VIL (TLE^2 663), che significa “donata al dio Tin“, supremo dio etrusco del giorno.
La Chimera presenta elementi arcaici, come la criniera schematica e il muso leonino simile a modelli greci del V secolo a.C., mentre il corpo è di una secchezza austera. Altri tratti sono invece più spiccatamente naturalistici, come l’accentuazione drammatica della posa e la sofisticata postura del corpo e delle zampe. Questa commistione è tipica del gusto etrusco della prima metà del IV secolo a.C. e attraverso il confronto con leoni funerari coevi si è giunti a una datazione attorno al 380–360 a.C. È da osservare il particolare della criniera, molto lavorata, e che riproduce abbastanza fedelmente (per l’epoca) l’aspetto naturale della fiera.
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimera_di_Arezzo
https://softbrightness.wordpress.com/
Giacobbe Giusti, The Celts
Giacobbe Giusti, The Celts
Celts
This article is about the ancient and medieval peoples of Europe. For Celts of the present day, see Celts (modern). For other uses, see Celt (disambiguation).
Diachronic distribution of Celtic peoples:
core Hallstatt territory, by the 6th century BC
maximal Celtic expansion, by 275 BC
Lusitanian area of Iberia where Celtic presence is uncertain
the six Celtic nations which retained significant numbers of Celtic speakers into the Early Modern period
areas where Celtic languages remain widely spoken today
The Wandsworth Shield-boss, in the plastic style, found in London
| Part of a series on |
| Indo-European topics |
|---|
The Celts (/ˈkɛlts/, occasionally /ˈsɛlts/, see pronunciation of Celtic) were people in Iron Age and Medieval Europe who spoke Celtic languages and had cultural similarites,[1] although the relationship between ethnic, linguistic and cultural factors in the Celtic world remains uncertain and controversial.[2] The exact geographic spread of the ancient Celts is also disputed; in particular, the ways in which the Iron Age inhabitants of Great Britain and Ireland should be regarded as Celts has become a subject of controversy.[1][2][3][4]
The history of pre-Celtic Europe remains very uncertain. According to one theory, the common root of the Celtic languages, a language known as Proto-Celtic, arose in the Late Bronze Age Urnfield culture of Central Europe, which flourished from around 1200 BC.[5] In addition, according to a theory proposed in the 19th century, the first people to adopt cultural characteristics regarded as Celtic were the people of the Iron Age Hallstatt culture in central Europe (c. 800–450 BC), named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria.[5][6] Thus this area is sometimes called the ‘Celtic homeland’. By or during the later La Tène period (c. 450 BC up to the Roman conquest), this Celtic culture was supposed to have expanded by diffusion or migration to the British Isles (Insular Celts), France and The Low Countries (Gauls), Bohemia, Poland and much of Central Europe, the Iberian Peninsula (Celtiberians, Celtici, Lusitanians and Gallaeci) and Italy (Canegrate, Golaseccans and Cisalpine Gauls)[7] and, following the Gallic invasion of the Balkans in 279 BC, as far east as central Anatolia (Galatians).[8]
The earliest undisputed direct examples of a Celtic language are the Lepontic inscriptions, beginning in the 6th century BC.[9] Continental Celtic languages are attested almost exclusively through inscriptions and place-names. Insular Celtic is attested beginning around the 4th century AD through Ogham inscriptions, although it was clearly being spoken much earlier. Celtic literary tradition begins with Old Irish texts around the 8th century. Coherent texts of Early Irish literature, such as the Táin Bó Cúailnge (The Cattle Raid of Cooley), survive in 12th-century recensions.
By the mid 1st millennium AD, with the expansion of the Roman Empire and the Great Migrations (Migration Period) of Germanic peoples, Celtic culture and Insular Celtic had become restricted to Ireland, the western and northern parts of Great Britain (Wales, Scotland, and Cornwall), the Isle of Man, and Brittany. Between the 5th and 8th centuries, the Celtic-speaking communities in these Atlantic regions emerged as a reasonably cohesive cultural entity. They had a common linguistic, religious, and artistic heritage that distinguished them from the culture of the surrounding polities.[10] By the 6th century, however, the Continental Celtic languages were no longer in wide use.
Insular Celtic culture diversified into that of the Gaels (Irish, Scottish and Manx) and the Brythonic Celts (Welsh, Cornish, and Bretons) of the medieval and modern periods. A modern “Celtic identity” was constructed as part of the Romanticist Celtic Revival in Great Britain, Ireland, and other European territories, such as Portugal and Spanish Galicia.[11] Today, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, and Breton are still spoken in parts of their historical territories, and Cornish and Manx are undergoing a revival.
Contents
Names and terminology
Celtic stele from Galicia, 2nd century AD: “APANA·AMBO / LLI·
F(ilia)·CELTICA / SUPERTAM(arica)· /
(j) MIOBRI· / AN(norum)·
XXV·H(ic)·S(ita)·E(st)· / APANUS·FR(ater)·
F(aciendum)·C(uravit)”
Main article: Names of the Celts
The first recorded use of the name of Celts – as Κελτοί – to refer to an ethnic group was by Hecataeus of Miletus, the Greek geographer, in 517 BC,[12] when writing about a people living near Massilia (modern Marseille).[13] According to the testimony of Julius Caesar and Strabo, the Latin name Celtus (pl. Celti or Celtae) and the Greek Κέλτης (pl. Κέλται) or Κελτός (pl. Κελτοί) were borrowed from a native Celtic tribal name.[14][15] Pliny the Elder cited its use in Lusitania as a tribal surname,[16] which epigraphic findings have confirmed.[17][18]
Latin Gallus (pl. Galli) might also stem from a Celtic ethnic or tribal name originally, perhaps one borrowed into Latin during the Celtic expansions into Italy during the early 5th century BC. Its root may be the Common Celtic *galno, meaning “power, strength”, hence Old Irish gal “boldness, ferocity” and Welsh gallu “to be able, power”. The tribal names of Gallaeci and the Greek Γαλάται (Galatai, Latinized Galatae; see the region Galatia in Anatolia) most probably go with the same origin.[19] The suffix -atai might be an Ancient Greek inflection.[20] Classical writers did not apply the terms Κελτοί or “Celtae” to the inhabitants of Britain or Ireland,[1][2][3] which has led to some scholars preferring not to use the term for the Iron Age inhabitants of those islands.[1][2][3][4]
Celt is a modern English word, first attested in 1707, in the writing of Edward Lhuyd, whose work, along with that of other late 17th-century scholars, brought academic attention to the languages and history of the early Celtic inhabitants of Great Britain.[21] The English form Gaul (first recorded in the 17th century) and Gaulish come from the French Gaule and Gaulois, a borrowing from Frankish *Walholant, “Land of foreigners or Romans” (see Gaul: Name), the root of which is Proto-Germanic *walha-, “foreigner”’, or “Celt”, whence the English word Welsh (Anglo-Saxon wælisċ < *walhiska-), South German welsch, meaning “Celtic speaker”, “French speaker” or “Italian speaker” in different contexts, and Old Norse valskr, pl. valir, “Gaulish, French”). Proto-Germanic *walha is derived ultimately from the name of the Volcae,[22] a Celtic tribe who lived first in the South of Germany and emigrated then to Gaul.[23] This means that English Gaul, despite its superficial similarity, is not actually derived from Latin Gallia (which should have produced **Jaille in French), though it does refer to the same ancient region.
Celtic refers to a family of languages and, more generally, means “of the Celts” or “in the style of the Celts”. Several archaeological cultures are considered Celtic in nature, based on unique sets of artefacts. The link between language and artefact is aided by the presence of inscriptions.[24] (See Celtic (disambiguation) for other applications of the term.) The relatively modern idea of an identifiable Celtic cultural identity or “Celticity” generally focuses on similarities among languages, works of art, and classical texts,[25] and sometimes also among material artefacts, social organisation, homeland and mythology.[26] Earlier theories held that these similarities suggest a common racial origin for the various Celtic peoples, but more recent theories hold that they reflect a common cultural and language heritage more than a genetic one. Celtic cultures seem to have been widely diverse, with the use of a Celtic language being the main thing they have in common.[1]
Today, the term Celtic generally refers to the languages and respective cultures of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, the Isle of Man, and Brittany, also known as the Celtic nations. These are the regions where four Celtic languages are still spoken to some extent as mother tongues. The four are Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, and Breton; plus two recent revivals, Cornish (one of the Brythonic languages) and Manx (one of the Goidelic languages). There are also attempts to reconstruct the Cumbric language (a Brythonic language from North West England and South West Scotland). Celtic regions of Continental Europe are those whose residents claim a Celtic heritage, but where no Celtic language has survived; these areas include the western Iberian Peninsula, i.e. Portugal, and north-central Spain (Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, Castile and León, Extremadura).[27] (See also: Modern Celts.)
Continental Celts are the Celtic-speaking people of mainland Europe and Insular Celts are the Celtic-speaking peoples of the British and Irish islands and their descendants. The Celts of Brittany derive their language from migrating insular Celts, mainly from Wales and Cornwall, and so are grouped accordingly.[28]
Origins
Overview of the Hallstatt and La Tène cultures:
The core Hallstatt territory (HaC, 800 BC) is shown in solid yellow,
the eventual area of Hallstatt influence (by 500 BC, HaD) in light yellow.
The core territory of the La Tène culture (450 BC) is shown in solid green,
the eventual area of La Tène influence (by 250 BC) in light green.
Main articles: Pre-Celtic and Celticization
The territories of some major Celtic tribes of the late La Tène period are labelled.
Reconstruction of a late La Tène period settlement in Altburg near Bundenbach (1st century BC).
Reconstruction of a late La Tène period settlement in Havranok, Slovakia (2nd–1st century BC).
The Celtic languages form a branch of the larger Indo-European family. By the time speakers of Celtic languages enter history around 400 BC, they were already split into several language groups, and spread over much of Western continental Europe, the Iberian Peninsula, Ireland and Britain.
Some scholars think that the Urnfield culture of Western Middle Europe represents an origin for the Celts as a distinct cultural branch of the Indo-European family.[5] This culture was preeminent in central Europe during the late Bronze Age, from c. 1200 BC until 700 BC, itself following the Unetice and Tumulus cultures. The Urnfield period saw a dramatic increase in population in the region, probably due to innovations in technology and agricultural practices. The Greek historian Ephoros of Cyme in Asia Minor, writing in the 4th century BC, believed that the Celts came from the islands off the mouth of the Rhine and were “driven from their homes by the frequency of wars and the violent rising of the sea”.
The spread of iron-working led to the development of the Hallstatt culture directly from the Urnfield (c. 700 to 500 BC). Proto-Celtic, the latest common ancestor of all known Celtic languages, is considered by this school of thought to have been spoken at the time of the late Urnfield or early Hallstatt cultures, in the early 1st millennium BC. The spread of the Celtic languages to Iberia, Ireland and Britain would have occurred during the first half of the 1st millennium BC, the earliest chariot burials in Britain dating to c. 500 BC. Other scholars see Celtic languages as covering Britain and Ireland, and parts of the Continent, long before any evidence of “Celtic” culture is found in archaeology. Over the centuries the language(s) developed into the separate Celtiberian, Goidelic and Brythonic languages.
The Hallstatt culture was succeeded by the La Tène culture of central Europe, which was overrun by the Roman Empire, though traces of La Tène style are still to be seen in Gallo-Roman artefacts. In Britain and Ireland La Tène style in art survived precariously to re-emerge in Insular art. Early Irish literature casts light on the flavour and tradition of the heroic warrior elites who dominated Celtic societies. Celtic river-names are found in great numbers around the upper reaches of the Danube and Rhine, which led many Celtic scholars to place the ethnogenesis of the Celts in this area. A recent book about an ancient site in northern Germany, concludes that it was the most significant Celtic sacred site in Europe. It is called the “Externsteine”, the strange carvings and astronomical orientation of the chambers of this site are presented as solid evidence for a Celtic origin. In view of the large number of sites excavated in recent years in Germany, and formally defined as ‘Celtic”, Pryor’s research appears to be on solid ground. (Damien Pryor, The Externsteine, 2011, Threshold Publishing, ISBN 978-0-9581341-7-0 )
Diodorus Siculus and Strabo both suggest that the heartland of the people they called Celts was in southern France. The former says that the Gauls were to the north of the Celts, but that the Romans referred to both as Gauls (in linguistic terms the Gauls were certainly Celts). Before the discoveries at Hallstatt and La Tène, it was generally considered that the Celtic heartland was southern France, see Encyclopædia Britannica for 1813.
Linguistic evidence
Main article: Proto-Celtic language
Further information: Celtic toponymy
The Proto-Celtic language is usually dated to the Late Bronze Age.[5] The earliest records of a Celtic language are the Lepontic inscriptions of Cisalpine Gaul (Northern Italy), the oldest of which still predate the La Tène period. Other early inscriptions, appearing from the early La Tène period in the area of Massilia, are in Gaulish, which was written in the Greek alphabet until the Roman conquest. Celtiberian inscriptions, using their own Iberian script, appear later, after about 200 BC. Evidence of Insular Celtic is available only from about 400 AD, in the form of Primitive Irish Ogham inscriptions.
Besides epigraphical evidence, an important source of information on early Celtic is toponymy.[29]
Archaeological evidence
Map of the Hallstatt Culture
Further information: Iron Age Europe
Before the 19th century, scholars[who?] assumed that the original land of the Celts was west of the Rhine, more precisely in Gaul, because it was where Greek and Roman ancient sources, namely Caesar, located the Celts. This view was challenged by the 19th-century historian Marie Henri d’Arbois de Jubainville[citation needed] who placed the land of origin of the Celts east of the Rhine. Jubainville based his arguments on a phrase of Herodotus’ that placed the Celts at the source of the Danube, and argued that Herodotus had meant to place the Celtic homeland in southern Germany. The finding of the prehistoric cemetery of Hallstat in 1846 by Johan Ramsauer and the finding of the archaeological site of La Tène by Hansli Kopp in 1857 drew attention to this area.
The concept that the Hallstatt and La Tène cultures could be seen not just as chronological periods but as “Culture Groups”, entities composed of people of the same ethnicity and language, started to grow by the end of the 19th century. In the beginning of the 20th century the belief that those “Culture Groups” could be thought in racial or ethnic terms was strongly held by Gordon Childe whose theory was influenced by the writings of Gustaf Kossinna.[30] Along the 20th century the racial ethnic interpretation of La Tène culture rooted much stronger, and any findings of “La Tène culture” and “flat inhumation cemeteries” were directly associated with the celts and the Celtic language.[31] The Iron Age Hallstatt (c. 800–475 BC) and La Tène (c. 500–50 BC) cultures are typically associated with Proto-Celtic and Celtic culture.[32]
In various[clarification needed] academic disciplines the Celts were considered a Central European Iron Age phenomenon, through the cultures of Hallstatt and La Tène. However, archaeological finds from the Halstatt and La Tène culture were rare in the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern France, northern and western Britain, southern Ireland and Galatia[33][34] and did not provide enough evidence for a cultural scenario comparable to that of Central Europe. It is considered equally difficult to maintain that the origin of the Peninsular Celts can be linked to the preceding Urnfield culture, leading to a more recent approach that introduces a ‘proto-Celtic’ substratum and a process of Celticisation having its initial roots in the Bronze Age Bell Beaker culture.[35]
Expansion of the Celtic culture in the 3rd century BC according to Francisco Villar[36]
The La Tène culture developed and flourished during the late Iron Age (from 450 BC to the Roman conquest in the 1st century BC) in eastern France, Switzerland, Austria, southwest Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. It developed out of the Hallstatt culture without any definite cultural break, under the impetus of considerable Mediterranean influence from Greek, and later Etruscan civilisations. A shift of settlement centres took place in the 4th century.
The western La Tène culture corresponds to historical Celtic Gaul. Whether this means that the whole of La Tène culture can be attributed to a unified Celtic people is difficult to assess; archaeologists have repeatedly concluded that language, material culture, and political affiliation do not necessarily run parallel. Frey notes that in the 5th century, “burial customs in the Celtic world were not uniform; rather, localised groups had their own beliefs, which, in consequence, also gave rise to distinct artistic expressions”.[37] Thus, while the La Tène culture is certainly associated with the Gauls, the presence of La Tène artefacts may be due to cultural contact and does not imply the permanent presence of Celtic speakers.
Historical evidence
Polybius published a history of Rome about 150 BC in which he describes the Gauls of Italy and their conflict with Rome. Pausanias in the 2nd century AD says that the Gauls “originally called Celts”, “live on the remotest region of Europe on the coast of an enormous tidal sea”. Posidonius described the southern Gauls about 100 BC. Though his original work is lost it was used by later writers such as Strabo. The latter, writing in the early 1st century AD, deals with Britain and Gaul as well as Hispania, Italy and Galatia. Caesar wrote extensively about his Gallic Wars in 58–51 BC. Diodorus Siculus wrote about the Celts of Gaul and Britain in his 1st-century history.
The world according to Herodotus
Borders of the region known as Celtica at time of the Roman conquest c. 54 BC; they soon renamed it Gallia Lugdunensis.
Minority views
Myles Dillon and Nora Kershaw Chadwick accepted that “the Celtic settlement of the British Isles” might have to be dated to the Beaker period concluding that “There is no reason why so early a date for the coming of the Celts should be impossible”.[38][39] Martín Almagro Gorbea[40] proposed the origins of the Celts could be traced back to the 3rd millennium BC, seeking the initial roots in the Bell Beaker culture, thus offering the wide dispersion of the Celts throughout western Europe, as well as the variability of the different Celtic peoples, and the existence of ancestral traditions an ancient perspective. Using a multidisciplinary approach Alberto J. Lorrio and Gonzalo Ruiz Zapatero reviewed and built on Almagro Gorbea’s work to present a model for the origin of the Celtic archaeological groups in the Iberian Peninsula (Celtiberian, Vetton, Vaccean, the Castro Culture of the northwest, Asturian-Cantabrian and Celtic of the southwest) and proposing a rethinking the meaning of “Celtic” from a European perspective.[41] More recently, John Koch[42] and Barry Cunliffe[43] have suggested that Celtic origins lie with the Atlantic Bronze Age, roughly contemporaneous with the Hallstatt culture but positioned considerably to the West, extending along the Atlantic coast of Europe.
Stephen Oppenheimer[44] points out that the only written evidence that locates the Keltoi near the source of the Danube (i.e. in the Hallstatt region) is in the Histories of Herodotus. However, Oppenheimer shows that Herodotus seemed to believe the Danube rose near the Pyrenees, which would place the Ancient Celts in a region which is more in agreement with later Classical writers and historians (i.e. in Gaul and the Iberian peninsula).
Distribution
Continental Celts
Gaul
Main article: Gauls
The Romans knew the Celts then living in what became present-day France as Gauls. The territory of these peoples probably included the Low Countries, the Alps and present-day northern Italy. Julius Caesar in his Gallic Wars described the 1st-century BC descendants of those Gauls.
Eastern Gaul became the centre of the western La Tène culture. In later Iron Age Gaul, the social organisation resembled that of the Romans, with large towns. From the 3rd century BC the Gauls adopted coinage, and texts with Greek characters from southern Gaul have survived from the 2nd century BC.
Greek traders founded Massalia about 600 BC, with some objects (mostly drinking ceramics) being traded up the Rhone valley. But trade became disrupted soon after 500 BC and re-oriented over the Alps to the Po valley in the Italian peninsula. The Romans arrived in the Rhone valley in the 2nd century BC and encountered a mostly Celtic-speaking Gaul. Rome wanted land communications with its Iberian provinces and fought a major battle with the Saluvii at Entremont in 124–123 BC. Gradually Roman control extended, and the Roman Province of Gallia Transalpina developed along the Mediterranean coast.[45][46] The Romans knew the remainder of Gaul as Gallia Comata – “Hairy Gaul”.
In 58 BC the Helvetii planned to migrate westward but Julius Caesar forced them back. He then became involved in fighting the various tribes in Gaul, and by 55 BC had overrun most of Gaul. In 52 BC Vercingetorix led a revolt against the Roman occupation but was defeated at the siege of Alesia and surrendered.
Following the Gallic Wars of 58–51 BC, Caesar’s Celtica formed the main part of Roman Gaul, becoming the province of Gallia Lugdunensis. This territory of the Celtic tribes was bounded on the south by the Garonne and on the north by the Seine and the Marne.[47] The Romans attached large swathes of this region to neighboring provinces Belgica and Aquitania, particularly under Augustus.
Place- and personal-name analysis and inscriptions suggest that the Gaulish Celtic language was spoken over most of what is now France.[48][49]
Main language areas in Iberia, showing Celtic languages in beige, c. 300 BC.
Iberia
Main articles: Celtiberians and Gallaeci
See also: Castro culture, Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula, Prehistoric Iberia, Hispania, Lusitania, Gallaecia and Celtici
Until the end of the 19th century, traditional scholarship dealing with the Celts did acknowledge their presence in the Iberian Peninsula[50][51] as a material culture relatable to the Hallstatt and La Tène cultures. However, since according to the definition of the Iron Age in the 19th century Celtic populations were supposedly rare in Iberia and did not provide a cultural scenario that could easily be linked to that of Central Europe, the presence of Celtic culture in that region was generally not fully recognised. Three divisions of the Celts of the Iberian Peninsula were assumed to have existed: the Celtiberians in the mountains near the centre of the peninsula, the Celtici in the southwest, and the Celts in the northwest (in Gallaecia and Asturias).[52]
Modern scholarship, however, has clearly proven that Celtic presence and influences were most substantial in what is today Spain and Portugal (with perhaps the highest settlement saturation in Western Europe), particularly in the central, western and northern regions.[53][54] The Celts in Iberia were divided into two main archaeological and cultural groups,[55] even though that division is not very clear:
Triskelion and spirals on a Galician torc terminal (Museu do castro de Santa Tegra).
- One group was spread out along Galicia[56] and the Iberian Atlantic shores. They were made up of the Proto / Para-Celtic Lusitanians (in Portugal)[57] and the Celtic region that Strabo called Celtica in the southwestern Iberian peninsula,[58] including the Algarve, which was inhabited by the Celtici, the Vettones and Vacceani peoples[59] (of central-western Spain and Portugal), and the Gallaecian, Astures and Cantabrian peoples of the Castro culture of northern and northwestern Spain and Portugal.[60]
- The Celtiberian group of central Spain and the upper Ebro valley.[61] This group originated when Celts (mainly Gauls and some Celtic-Germanic groups) migrated from what is now France and integrated with the local Iberian people.
The origins of the Celtiberians might provide a key to understanding the Celticisation process in the rest of the Peninsula. The process of Celticisation of the southwestern area of the peninsula by the Keltoi and of the northwestern area is, however, not a simple Celtiberian question. Recent investigations about the Callaici[62] and Bracari[63] in northwestern Portugal are providing new approaches to understanding Celtic culture (language, art and religion) in western Iberia.[64]
John T. Koch of Aberystwyth University suggested that Tartessian inscriptions of the 8th century BC might be classified as Celtic. This would mean that Tartessian is the earliest attested trace of Celtic by a margin of more than a century.[65]
Alps and Italy
Peoples of northern Italy during the 4th to 3rd centuries BC.
Further information: History of the Alps
The Canegrate culture (13th century BC) represents the first migratory wave of the proto-Celtic[66] population from the northwest part of the Alps that, through the Alpine passes, had already penetrated and settled in the western Po valley between Lake Maggiore and Lake Como (Scamozzina culture). They brought a new funerary practice—cremation—which supplanted inhumation.
It had been known for some time that there was an early, Celtic (Lepontic, sometimes called Cisalpine Celtic) presence in Northern Italy since inscriptions dated to the 6th century BC have been found there.
The site of Golasecca, where the Ticino exits from Lake Maggiore, was particularly suitable for long-distance exchanges, in which Golaseccans acted as intermediaries between Etruscans and the Halstatt culture of Austria, supported on the all-important trade in salt.
Ligures lived in Northern Mediterranean Coast straddling South-east French and North-west Italian coasts, including parts of Tuscany, Elba island and Corsica. Xavier Delamarre argues that Ligurian was a Celtic language, similar to, but not the same as Gaulish.[67][68] The Ligurian-Celtic question is also discussed by Barruol (1999). Ancient Ligurian is either listed as Celtic (epigraphic),[69] or Para-Celtic (onomastic).[70]
In 391 BC Celts “who had their homes beyond the Alps streamed through the passes in great strength and seized the territory that lay between the Apennine mountains and the Alps” according to Diodorus Siculus. The Po Valley and the rest of northern Italy (known to the Romans as Cisalpine Gaul) was inhabited by Celtic-speakers who founded cities such as Milan.[71] Later the Roman army was routed at the battle of Allia and Rome was sacked in 390 BC by the Senones.
The oldest known Lepontic inscription (from Castelletto sopra Ticino), dated ca. 575 BC.
Clear La Tène Celtic presence in Italy was found as far south as among the Umbri, who were thought to be descended from an ancient Gaulish tribe by many Roman writers, and related to the Insubres and the Ambrones.[72][73]
At the battle of Telamon in 225 BC a large Celtic army was trapped between two Roman forces and crushed.
The defeat of the combined Samnite, Celtic and Etruscan alliance by the Romans in the Third Samnite War sounded the beginning of the end of the Celtic domination in mainland Europe, but it was not until 192 BC that the Roman armies conquered the last remaining independent Celtic kingdoms in Italy.
Eastward expansion
Celtic tribes in S.E.Europe, c. 1st century BC (in purple)
Main article: Gallic invasion of the Balkans
The Celts also expanded down the Danube river and its tributaries. One of the most influential tribes, the Scordisci, had established their capital at Singidunum in 3rd century BC, which is present-day Belgrade, Serbia. The concentration of hill-forts and cemeteries shows a density of population in the Tisza valley of modern-day Vojvodina, Serbia, Hungary and into Ukraine. Expansion into Romania was however blocked by the Dacians.
Further south, Celts settled in Thrace (Bulgaria), which they ruled for over a century, and Anatolia, where they settled as the Galatians (see also: Gallic Invasion of Greece). Despite their geographical isolation from the rest of the Celtic world, the Galatians maintained their Celtic language for at least 700 years. St Jerome, who visited Ancyra (modern-day Ankara) in 373 AD, likened their language to that of the Treveri of northern Gaul.
For Venceslas Kruta, Galatia in central Turkey was an area of dense Celtic settlement.
The Boii tribe gave their name to Bohemia, Bologna and possibly Bavaria, and Celtic artefacts and cemeteries have been discovered further east in what is now Poland and Slovakia. A Celtic coin (Biatec) from Bratislava‘s mint was displayed on the old Slovak 5-crown coin.
As there is no archaeological evidence for large-scale invasions in some of the other areas, one current school of thought holds that Celtic language and culture spread to those areas by contact rather than invasion.[74] However, the Celtic invasions of Italy and the expedition in Greece and western Anatolia, are well documented in Greek and Latin history.
There are records of Celtic mercenaries in Egypt serving the Ptolemies. Thousands were employed in 283–246 BC and they were also in service around 186 BC. They attempted to overthrow Ptolemy II.
Insular Celts
Principal sites in Roman Britain, with indication of tribal territories.
Main article: Insular Celts
Further information: Iron Age Britain and Celtic immigration to the British Isles
Further information: Iron Age tribes in Britain, Goidelic substrate hypothesis and O’Rahilly’s historical model
All Celtic languages extant today belong to the Insular Celtic languages, derived from the Celtic languages spoken in Iron Age Britain and Ireland.[75] They were separated into a Goidelic and a Brythonic branch from an early period.
Linguists have been arguing for many years whether a Celtic language came to Britain and Ireland and then split or whether there were two separate “invasions”. The older view of prehistorians was that the Celtic influence in the British Isles was the result of successive invasions from the European continent by diverse Celtic-speaking peoples over the course of several centuries, accounting for the P-Celtic vs. Q-Celtic isogloss. This view has fallen into disfavour,[dubious ] to be replaced by the model of a phylogenetic Insular Celtic dialect group.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, scholars commonly dated the “arrival” of Celtic culture in Britain (via an invasion model) to the 6th century BC, corresponding to archaeological evidence of Hallstatt influence and the appearance of chariot burials in what is now England. Some Iron Age migration does seem to have occurred but the nature of the interactions with the indigenous populations of the isles is unknown. In the late Iron Age. According to this model, by about the 6th century (Sub-Roman Britain), most of the inhabitants of the Isles were speaking Celtic languages of either the Goidelic or the Brythonic branch. Since the late 20th century, a new model has emerged (championed by archaeologists such as Barry Cunliffe and Celtic historians such as John T. Koch) which places the emergence of Celtic culture in Britain much earlier, in the Bronze Age, and credits its spread not to invasion, but due to a gradual emergence in situ out of Proto-Indo-European culture (perhaps introduced to the region by the Bell Beaker People, and enabled by an extensive network of contacts that existed between the peoples of Britain and Ireland and those of the Atlantic seaboard.[76][77]
It should be noted, however, that Classical writers did not apply the terms Κελτοί or “Celtae” to the inhabitants of Britain or Ireland,[1][2][3] leading a number of scholars to question the use of the term Celt to describe the Iron Age inhabitants of those islands.[1][2][3][4] The first historical account of the islands of Britain and Ireland was by Pytheas, a Greek from the city of Massalia, who around 310-306 BC, sailed around what he called the “Pretannikai nesoi”, which can be translated as the “Pretannic Isles”.[78] In general, classical writers referred to the inhabitants of Britain as Pretannoi or Britanni.[79] Strabo, writing in the Roman era, clearly distinguished between the Celts and Britons.[80]
Romanisation
Main article: Gallo-Roman culture
The Roman republic and its neighbours in 58 BC.
Under Caesar the Romans conquered Celtic Gaul, and from Claudius onward the Roman empire absorbed parts of Britain. Roman local government of these regions closely mirrored pre-Roman tribal boundaries, and archaeological finds suggest native involvement in local government.
The native peoples under Roman rule became Romanised and keen to adopt Roman ways. Celtic art had already incorporated classical influences, and surviving Gallo-Roman pieces interpret classical subjects or keep faith with old traditions despite a Roman overlay.
The Roman occupation of Gaul, and to a lesser extent of Britain, led to Roman-Celtic syncretism. In the case of the continental Celts, this eventually resulted in a language shift to Vulgar Latin, while the Insular Celts retained their language.
There was also considerable cultural influence exerted by Gaul on Rome, particularly in military matters and horsemanship, as the Gauls often served in the Roman cavalry. The Romans adopted the Celtic cavalry sword, the spatha, and Epona, the Celtic horse goddess.[81][82]
Society
To the extent that sources are available, they depict a pre-Christian Iron Age Celtic social structure based formally on class and kingship, although this may only have been a particular late phase of organization in Celtic societies. Patron-client relationships similar to those of Roman society are also described by Caesar and others in the Gaul of the 1st century BC.
In the main, the evidence is of tribes being led by kings, although some argue that there is also evidence of oligarchical republican forms of government eventually emerging in areas which had close contact with Rome. Most descriptions of Celtic societies portray them as being divided into three groups: a warrior aristocracy; an intellectual class including professions such as druid, poet, and jurist; and everyone else. In historical times, the offices of high and low kings in Ireland and Scotland were filled by election under the system of tanistry, which eventually came into conflict with the feudal principle of primogeniture in which succession goes to the first-born son.
Stone head from Mšecké Žehrovice, Czech Republic, wearing a torc, late La Tène culture.
The Dying Gaul, a Roman marble copy of a Hellenistic work of the late 3rd century BC Capitoline Museums, Rome
Little is known of family structure among the Celts. Patterns of settlement varied from decentralised to urban. The popular stereotype of non-urbanised societies settled in hillforts and duns,[83] drawn from Britain and Ireland (there are about 3,000 hill forts known in Britain)[84] contrasts with the urban settlements present in the core Hallstatt and La Tène areas, with the many significant oppida of Gaul late in the first millennium BC, and with the towns of Gallia Cisalpina.
Slavery, as practised by the Celts, was very likely similar to the better documented practice in ancient Greece and Rome.[85] Slaves were acquired from war, raids, and penal and debt servitude.[85] Slavery was hereditary[citation needed], though manumission was possible. The Old Irish word for slave, cacht, and the Welsh term caeth are likely derived from the Latin captus, captive, suggesting that slave trade was an early venue of contact between Latin and Celtic societies.[85] In the Middle Ages, slavery was especially prevalent in the Celtic countries.[86] Manumissions were discouraged by law and the word for “female slave”, cumal, was used as a general unit of value in Ireland.[87]
Archaeological evidence suggests that the pre-Roman Celtic societies were linked to the network of overland trade routes that spanned Eurasia. Archaeologists have discovered large prehistoric trackways crossing bogs in Ireland and Germany. Due to their substantial nature, these are believed to have been created for wheeled transport as part of an extensive roadway system that facilitated trade.[88] The territory held by the Celts contained tin, lead, iron, silver and gold.[89] Celtic smiths and metalworkers created weapons and jewellery for international trade, particularly with the Romans.
The myth that the Celtic monetary system consisted of wholly barter is a common one, but is in part false. The monetary system was complex and is still not understood (much like the late Roman coinages), and due to the absence of large numbers of coin items, it is assumed that “proto-money” was used. This included bronze items made from the early La Tène period and onwards, which were often in the shape of axeheads, rings, or bells. Due to the large number of these present in some burials, it is thought they had a relatively high monetary value, and could be used for “day to day” purchases. Low-value coinages of potin, a bronze alloy with high tin content, were minted in most Celtic areas of the continent and in South-East Britain prior to the Roman conquest of these lands. Higher-value coinages, suitable for use in trade, were minted in gold, silver, and high-quality bronze. Gold coinage was much more common than silver coinage, despite being worth substantially more, as while there were around 100 mines in Southern Britain and Central France, silver was more rarely mined. This was due partly to the relative sparcity of mines and the amount of effort needed for extraction compared to the profit gained. As the Roman civilisation grew in importance and expanded its trade with the Celtic world, silver and bronze coinage became more common. This coincided with a major increase in gold production in Celtic areas to meet the Roman demand, due to the high value Romans put on the metal. The large number of gold mines in France is thought to be a major reason why Caesar invaded.
There are only very limited records from pre-Christian times written in Celtic languages. These are mostly inscriptions in the Roman and sometimes Greek alphabets. The Ogham script, an Early Medieval alphabet, was mostly used in early Christian times in Ireland and Scotland (but also in Wales and England), and was only used for ceremonial purposes such as inscriptions on gravestones. The available evidence is of a strong oral tradition, such as that preserved by bards in Ireland, and eventually recorded by monasteries. Celtic art also produced a great deal of intricate and beautiful metalwork, examples of which have been preserved by their distinctive burial rites.
In some regards the Atlantic Celts were conservative: for example, they still used chariots in combat long after they had been reduced to ceremonial roles by the Greeks and Romans. However, despite being outdated, Celtic chariot tactics were able to repel the invasion of Britain attempted by Julius Caesar.
According to Diodorus Siculus:
The Gauls are tall of body with rippling muscles and white of skin and their hair is blond, and not only naturally so for they also make it their practice by artificial means to increase the distinguishing colour which nature has given it. For they are always washing their hair in limewater and they pull it back from the forehead to the nape of the neck, with the result that their appearance is like that of Satyrs and Pans since the treatment of their hair makes it so heavy and coarse that it differs in no respect from the mane of horses. Some of them shave the beard but others let it grow a little; and the nobles shave their cheeks but they let the moustache grow until it covers the mouth.
The Waterloo Helmet
Clothing
Celtic costumes par in Przeworsk culture (3rd century BC, La Tène period), Archaeological Museum of Kraków.
During the later Iron Age the Gauls generally wore long-sleeved shirts or tunics and long trousers (called braccae by the Romans).[90] Clothes were made of wool or linen, with some silk being used by the rich. Cloaks were worn in the winter. Brooches and armlets were used, but the most famous item of jewellery was the torc, a neck collar of metal, sometimes gold. The horned Waterloo Helmet in the British Museum, which long set the standard for modern images of Celtic warriors, is in fact a unique survival, and may have been a piece for ceremonial rather than military wear.
Gender and sexual norms
Reconstruction of a German Iron Age Celtic warrior’s garments
According to Aristotle, most “belligerent nations” were strongly influenced by their women, but the Celts were unusual because their men openly preferred male lovers (Politics II 1269b).[91] H. D. Rankin in Celts and the Classical World notes that “Athenaeus echoes this comment (603a) and so does Ammianus (30.9). It seems to be the general opinion of antiquity.”[92] In book XIII of his Deipnosophists, the Roman Greek rhetorician and grammarian Athenaeus, repeating assertions made by Diodorus Siculus in the 1st century BC (Bibliotheca historica 5:32), wrote that Celtic women were beautiful but that the men preferred to sleep together. Diodorus went further, stating that “the young men will offer themselves to strangers and are insulted if the offer is refused”. Rankin argues that the ultimate source of these assertions is likely to be Poseidonius and speculates that these authors may be recording male “bonding rituals”.[93]
The sexual freedom of women in Britain was noted by Cassius Dio:
… a very witty remark is reported to have been made by the wife of Argentocoxus, a Caledonian, to Julia Augusta. When the empress was jesting with her, after the treaty, about the free intercourse of her sex with men in Britain, she replied: “We fulfill the demands of nature in a much better way than do you Roman women; for we consort openly with the best men, whereas you let yourselves be debauched in secret by the vilest.” Such was the retort of the British woman.[94]
There are instances recorded where women participated both in warfare and in kingship, although they were in the minority in these areas. Plutarch reports that Celtic women acted as ambassadors to avoid a war among Celts chiefdoms in the Po valley during the 4th century BC.[95]
Very few reliable sources exist regarding Celtic views towards gender divisions and societal status, though some archaeological evidence does suggest that their views towards gender roles may differ from contemporary and less egalitarian classical counterparts of the Roman era.[96][97]
There are some general indications from Iron Age burial sites in the Champagne and Bourgogne regions of Northeastern France suggesting that women may have had roles in combat during the earlier La Tène period. However, the evidence is far from conclusive.[98] Examples of individuals buried with both female jewellery and weaponry have been identified, such as the Vix Grave, and there are questions about the gender of some skeletons that were buried with warrior assemblages. However, it has been suggested that “the weapons may indicate rank instead of masculinity”.[99]
Among the insular Celts, there is a greater amount of historic documentation to suggest warrior roles for women. In addition to commentary by Tacitus about Boudica, there are indications from later period histories that also suggest a more substantial role for “women as warriors”, in symbolic if not actual roles. Posidonius and Strabo described an island of women where men could not venture for fear of death, and where the women ripped each other apart.[100] Other writers, such as Ammianus Marcellinus and Tacitus, mentioned Celtic women inciting, participating in, and leading battles.[101] Poseidonius’ anthropological comments on the Celts had common themes, primarily primitivism, extreme ferocity, cruel sacrificial practices, and the strength and courage of their women.[102]
Under Brehon Law, which was written down in early Medieval Ireland after conversion to Christianity, a woman had the right to divorce her husband and gain his property if he was unable to perform his marital duties due to impotence, obesity, homosexual inclination or preference for other women.[103]
Celtic art
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The reverse side of a British bronze mirror, with spiral and trumpet motifs typical of La Tène Celtic art in Britain
Main article: Celtic art
Celtic art is generally used by art historians to refer to art of the La Tène period across Europe, while the Early Medieval art of Britain and Ireland, that is what “Celtic art” evokes for much of the general public, is called Insular art in art history. Both styles absorbed considerable influences from non-Celtic sources, but retained a preference for geometrical decoration over figurative subjects, which are often extremely stylised when they do appear; narrative scenes only appear under outside influence. Energetic circular forms, triskeles and spirals are characteristic. Much of the surviving material is in precious metal, which no doubt gives a very unrepresentative picture, but apart from Pictish stones and the Insular high crosses, large monumental sculpture, even with decorative carving, is very rare; possibly it was originally common in wood.
The interlace patterns that are often regarded as typical of “Celtic art” were in fact introduced to Insular art from the animal Style II of Germanic Migration Period art, though taken up with great skill and enthusiasm by Celtic artists in metalwork and illuminated manuscripts. Equally, the forms used for the finest Insular art were all adopted from the Roman world: Gospel books like the Book of Kells and Book of Lindisfarne, chalices like the Ardagh Chalice and Derrynaflan Chalice, and penannular brooches like the Tara Brooch. These works are from the period of peak achievement of Insular art, which lasted from the 7th to the 9th centuries, before the Viking attacks sharply set back cultural life.
In contrast the less well known but often spectacular art of the richest earlier Continental Celts, before they were conquered by the Romans, often adopted elements of Roman, Greek and other “foreign” styles (and possibly used imported craftsmen) to decorate objects that were distinctively Celtic. After the Roman conquests, some Celtic elements remained in popular art, especially Ancient Roman pottery, of which Gaul was actually the largest producer, mostly in Italian styles, but also producing work in local taste, including figurines of deities and wares painted with animals and other subjects in highly formalised styles. Roman Britain also took more interest in enamel than most of the Empire, and its development of champlevé technique was probably important to the later Medieval art of the whole of Europe, of which the energy and freedom of Insular decoration was an important element. Rising nationalism brought Celtic revivals from the 19th century.
Warfare and weapons
Parade Helmet, Agris, France. 350 BC, with stylistic borrowings from around the Mediterranean.
Main articles: Celtic warfare and Celtic sword
Tribal warfare appears to have been a regular feature of Celtic societies. While epic literature depicts this as more of a sport focused on raids and hunting rather than organised territorial conquest, the historical record is more of tribes using warfare to exert political control and harass rivals, for economic advantage, and in some instances to conquer territory.[citation needed]
The Celts were described by classical writers such as Strabo, Livy, Pausanias, and Florus as fighting like “wild beasts”, and as hordes. Dionysius said that their “manner of fighting, being in large measure that of wild beasts and frenzied, was an erratic procedure, quite lacking in military science. Thus, at one moment they would raise their swords aloft and smite after the manner of wild boars, throwing the whole weight of their bodies into the blow like hewers of wood or men digging with mattocks, and again they would deliver crosswise blows aimed at no target, as if they intended to cut to pieces the entire bodies of their adversaries, protective armour and all”.[104] Such descriptions have been challenged by contemporary historians.[105]
Polybius (2.33) indicates that the principal Celtic weapon was a long bladed sword which was used for hacking edgewise rather than stabbing. Celtic warriors are described by Polybius and Plutarch as frequently having to cease fighting in order to straighten their sword blades. This claim has been questioned by some archaeologists, who note that Noric steel, steel produced in Celtic Noricum, was famous in the Roman Empire period and was used to equip the Roman military.[106][107] However, Radomir Pleiner, in The Celtic Sword (1993) argues that “the metallographic evidence shows that Polybius was right up to a point”, as around one third of surviving swords from the period might well have behaved as he describes.[108]
Polybius also asserts that certain of the Celts fought naked, “The appearance of these naked warriors was a terrifying spectacle, for they were all men of splendid physique and in the prime of life.”[109] According to Livy this was also true of the Celts of Asia Minor.[110]
A Gallic statue of a Celtic warrior, in the Museum of Brittany
Head hunting
Celts had a reputation as head hunters. According to Paul Jacobsthal, “Amongst the Celts the human head was venerated above all else, since the head was to the Celt the soul, centre of the emotions as well as of life itself, a symbol of divinity and of the powers of the other-world.”[111] Arguments for a Celtic cult of the severed head include the many sculptured representations of severed heads in La Tène carvings, and the surviving Celtic mythology, which is full of stories of the severed heads of heroes and the saints who carry their own severed heads, right down to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, where the Green Knight picks up his own severed head after Gawain has struck it off, just as St. Denis carried his head to the top of Montmartre.
A further example of this regeneration after beheading lies in the tales of Connemara‘s St. Feichin, who after being beheaded by Viking pirates carried his head to the Holy Well on Omey Island and on dipping the head into the well placed it back upon his neck and was restored to full health.
Diodorus Siculus, in his 1st-century History had this to say about Celtic head-hunting:
They cut off the heads of enemies slain in battle and attach them to the necks of their horses. The blood-stained spoils they hand over to their attendants and striking up a paean and singing a song of victory; and they nail up these first fruits upon their houses, just as do those who lay low wild animals in certain kinds of hunting. They embalm in cedar oil the heads of the most distinguished enemies, and preserve them carefully in a chest, and display them with pride to strangers, saying that for this head one of their ancestors, or his father, or the man himself, refused the offer of a large sum of money. They say that some of them boast that they refused the weight of the head in gold
In Gods and Fighting Men, Lady Gregory‘s Celtic Revival translation of Irish mythology, heads of men killed in battle are described in the beginning of the story The Fight with the Fir Bolgs as pleasing to Macha, one aspect of the war goddess Morrigu.
Religion
A statuette in the Museum of Brittany, Rennes, probably depicting Brigantia/Brigid: c. 1st century AD, with iconography derived from Roman statues of Minerva.
Polytheism
Main articles: Celtic polytheism and Celtic animism
Like other European Iron Age tribal societies, the Celts practised a polytheistic religion.[112] Many Celtic gods are known from texts and inscriptions from the Roman period. Rites and sacrifices were carried out by priests known as druids. The Celts did not see their gods as having human shapes until late in the Iron Age. Celtic shrines were situated in remote areas such as hilltops, groves, and lakes.
Celtic religious patterns were regionally variable; however, some patterns of deity forms, and ways of worshipping these deities, appeared over a wide geographical and temporal range. The Celts worshipped both gods and goddesses. In general, Celtic gods were deities of particular skills, such as the many-skilled Lugh and Dagda, while goddesses were associated with natural features, particularly rivers (such as Boann, goddess of the River Boyne). This was not universal, however, as goddesses such as Brighid and The Morrígan were associated with both natural features (holy wells and the River Unius) and skills such as blacksmithing and healing.[113]
Triplicity is a common theme in Celtic cosmology, and a number of deities were seen as threefold.[114] This trait is exhibited by The Three Mothers, a group of goddesses worshipped by many Celtic tribes (with regional variations).[115]
The Celts had literally hundreds of deities, some of which were unknown outside a single family or tribe, while others were popular enough to have a following that crossed lingual and cultural barriers. For instance, the Irish god Lugh, associated with storms, lightning, and culture, is seen in similar forms as Lugos in Gaul and Lleu in Wales. Similar patterns are also seen with the continental Celtic horse goddess Epona and what may well be her Irish and Welsh counterparts, Macha and Rhiannon, respectively.[116]
Roman reports of the druids mention ceremonies being held in sacred groves. La Tène Celts built temples of varying size and shape, though they also maintained shrines at sacred trees and votive pools.[112]
Druids fulfilled a variety of roles in Celtic religion, serving as priests and religious officiants, but also as judges, sacrificers, teachers, and lore-keepers. Druids organised and ran religious ceremonies, and they memorised and taught the calendar. Other classes of druids performed ceremonial sacrifices of crops and animals for the perceived benefit of the community.[117]
Gallic calendar
The Coligny calendar, which was found in 1897 in Coligny, Ain, was engraved on a bronze tablet, preserved in 73 fragments, that originally was 1.48 m wide and 0.9 m high (Lambert p. 111). Based on the style of lettering and the accompanying objects, it probably dates to the end of the 2nd century.[118] It is written in Latin inscriptional capitals, and is in the Gallic language. The restored tablet contains 16 vertical columns, with 62 months distributed over 5 years.
The French archaeologist J. Monard speculated that it was recorded by druids wishing to preserve their tradition of timekeeping in a time when the Julian calendar was imposed throughout the Roman Empire. However, the general form of the calendar suggests the public peg calendars (or parapegmata) found throughout the Greek and Roman world.[119]
Roman influence
Further information: Gallo-Roman culture
The Roman invasion of Gaul brought a great deal of Celtic peoples into the Roman Empire. Roman culture had a profound effect on the Celtic tribes which came under the empire’s control. Roman influence led to many changes in Celtic religion, the most noticeable of which was the weakening of the druid class, especially religiously; the druids were to eventually disappear altogether. Romano-Celtic deities also began to appear: these deities often had both Roman and Celtic attributes and combined the names of Roman and Celtic deities. Other changes included the adaptation of the Jupiter Pole, a sacred pole which was used throughout Celtic regions of the empire, primarily in the north. Another major change in religious practice was the use of stone monuments to represent gods and goddesses. The Celts had only created wooden idols (including monuments carved into trees, which were known as sacred poles) previously to Roman conquest.[115]
Celtic Christianity
Main article: Celtic Christianity
While the regions under Roman rule adopted Christianity along with the rest of the Roman empire, unconquered areas of Ireland and Scotland began to move from Celtic polytheism to Christianity in the 5th century. Ireland was converted by missionaries from Britain, such as Saint Patrick. Later missionaries from Ireland were a major source of missionary work in Scotland, Anglo-Saxon parts of Britain, and central Europe (see Hiberno-Scottish mission). Celtic Christianity, the forms of Christianity that took hold in Britain and Ireland at this time, had for some centuries only limited and intermittent contact with Rome and continental Christianity, as well as some contacts with Coptic Christianity. Some elements of Celtic Christianity developed, or retained, features that made them distinct from the rest of Western Christianity, most famously their conservative method of calculating the date of Easter. In 664 the Synod of Whitby began to resolve these differences, mostly by adopting the current Roman practices, which the Gregorian Mission from Rome had introduced to Anglo-Saxon England.
Giacobbe Giusti, a new world 