Figure of a man with a lion

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Figure of a man with a lion

The figure of a man with a lion is an ivory figure excavated in 1939 from the Sanctuary of Delphi . The figure, broken into two parts above the feet and not completely preserved, is about 22.5 cm tall, with the large upper fragment alone reaching 18.5 cm. The figure was found in the east of the two so-called favissae , depots for holy objects and votive offerings, under the paving of the Holy Street below the retaining wall of the temple in front of the Athens Hall . The depot contained offerings from the 8th to the 5th century BC. To be dated. They were probably found here after the temple was destroyed around 420 BC. Bury.

The front of the figure is fully sculpted. The back, on the other hand, is rather flat and only worked sporadically. The ivory is partially burnt, which makes the figure gray today. The figure shows a standing man who rests his left hand on a lion. In his right hand he holds a spear against his chest. The man wears two robes, on the one hand a short tunic and over it a wide cloak. His hair is of medium length and parted in the middle. A person of high rank appears to be represented by the spear and the cloak. It may be a representation of the Lord of the Animals , who was a popular motif in Near Eastern art. But Apollo, as the owner of the sanctuary , is also closely connected to the lion. The figure is dated to the 7th century BC. Dated.

The place of manufacture of the figure is as controversial as the artistic environment from which it comes. Suggested solutions vary between a Greek-influenced artist from the Near East , especially Asia Minor , and an "oriental" influenced Greek artist. More recent considerations also assume that the work comes from Phrygia and thus from Asia Minor. The work can be classified in the orientalizing period , in which numerous works of art from the Near East came to Greece and influenced artistic creation there.

The figure is now in the Archaeological Museum Delphi (Inv. No. 9912).

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Pierre Amandry : Rapport préliminaire sur les statues chryséléphantines de Delphes. In: Bulletin de correspondance hellénique . Volume 63, 1939, pp. 87-90 with Fig. 1.
  2. ↑ Athanasia Psalti: Male figure with lion. In: Joan Aruz, Sarah Graff, Yelena Rakic ​​(Eds.): Assyria to Iberia: At the Dawn of the Classical Age. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York / New Haven 2014, ISBN 978-0-300-20808-5 , p. 308.