Artemis Elaphebolos (Kassel)

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The depiction of Artemis Elaphebolos (Ἐλαφηβόλος = deer killer) in the Kassel Collection of Antiquities at Wilhelmshöhe Castle is an Attic consecration relief from the late 5th century BC. The work of art was probably found in Athens and reached Kassel in 1688. It has the inventory number Sk 41.

History and description

The consecration relief was built around 420/410 BC. Carved from white, medium-crystalline marble . It was brought back from Greece by Hessian troops in 1688 for Landgrave Karl . It was restored in 1912/1913. The Second World War left slight fire damage to the work of art. During a restoration in 1973/1975, the plate was cleaned, strengthened and provided with a suspension.

The stone is partly weathered and chipped. The image is heavily rubbed and has a brown patina. The work of art is 42 centimeters high and 30 centimeters wide at the bottom. At the top it is one centimeter narrower. The plate that bears the relief is 7 centimeters thick, the relief up to 1.5 centimeters deep. The marble slab was probably originally set into a wall. The edges are smoothed and the reverse is pecked. The relief has a high base and a low cover strip. The side edges are also designed as strips, but only weakly.

The relief shows Artemis , turned to the right, hunting a stag . The animal tries to flee uphill, but is already collapsing: hit in the neck by a spear, the goddess grabs it by the antlers. With her right hand, she wields another spear and strikes the stag with a fatal blow. Artemis stands in a leaning position almost frontal to the viewer of the scenery, but her face is shown in profile. Her hair is tied up, the goddess is dressed in a thin chiton with a flap and a knee-length coat that flutters around her back, as well as sandals. The folds of their robes underline their movements. The posture of the goddess and the lines of the two spears point to the central event in the lower right quarter of the picture. The stag falling down shows an opposite movement with its head stretched up and the left front leg prized open, which overlaps the edge. Spatial depth is achieved primarily through the staggering of the image content; the abdomen of the stag is hidden behind the left leg of the goddess and her robes. Likewise, the first spear to hit the stag in the neck runs behind Artemis' body.

classification

The parallel arrangement of the figures on the relief base, as well as the free movement of the goddess and the folds of the robes, point to the creation of the work of art in an Attic sculptor's workshop in the late 5th century BC. The relief image of the fleeing woman on panel D of the frieze from the Ilissos temple (Berlin Sk 1483) was identified as the closest parallel in terms of time and style . Here, too, a woman is shown walking on rocky ground, whose upper body is nevertheless shown almost frontally and whose body contours shine through her robe. In addition, this relief image has similar dimensions to the Kassler sculpture.

The temple frieze of the Ilissos temple is on the same level as the Nike temple , whose balustrade reliefs 410 BC. Were completed. The frieze dates from the period between the construction of the new Propylaea between 437 and 432 BC. And the completion of the Erechtheion in the years 421 to 406 BC. Assigned.

Assumptions about the origin

The votive relief could come from the sanctuary of Artemis Brauronia on the Acropolis in Athens. Another possibility would be the sanctuary of Artemis Agrotera , which was near the Acropolis in the Ilissos- Kallirhoe area south of the Olympieion . Artemis has been venerated in Greece since the Minoan - Mycenaean period and embodied numerous traits. Among other things, she was considered to be the mistress of the animals that they, especially the deer, tended in the wild. According to Peter Gercke, depictions of Artemis killing animals or humans were only used from the late 5th century BC onwards. Created. The Kassler Artemis relief is one of the early examples of this group. The relief could have been offered as thanks for or as an intercession for hunting success.

Artemis as a huntress on a pelike in the British Museum

Artemis is mentioned earlier in literary terms in connection with animals, including deer, and the hunting motif can be heard in some cases. Thus, in the sixth book of the Odyssey, in verses 102 to 104, there is a comparison of Phäakin Nausicaa with Artemis. There she has the epithet ἰοχέαιρα ("archer") and enjoys wild animals in the mountains, including deer. For example, while Schadewaldt translates the passage as literally as possible and thus more cautiously, Johann Heinrich Voss interprets the goddess' joy in animals as joy in hunting. His translation of the verses is:

Just as Artemis walks wonderfully, glad of the projectile,
Across Taygetus ' Höhn and the forest mountains Erymanthos ,
and enjoys hunting forest boars and fleeing deer [...]

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Artemis Elaphebolos on antikeskulptur.museum-kassel.de . The text is identical to that in ancient sculptures. Antikensammlung Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel (see bibliography).
  2. ↑ Illustration of section D of the temple frieze on www.bildindex.de
  3. ↑ An example is the painting on a pelike in the British Museum , which dates from 410/400 BC. Is dated. See the illustration and description of the pelike on www.britishmuseum.org .
  4. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 6,102 ff. ( Online ).
  5. ↑ Cf. Fritz Graf : Elaphebolos. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 3, Metzler, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-476-01473-8 , Sp. 960.
  6. ↑ Homer: Iliad and Odyssey . German by Johann Heinrich Voss. With pictures by Bonaventura Genelli . Rheingauer Verlagsgesellschaft, Eltville am Rhein 1980, ISBN 3-88102-005-5 , p. 566.