Chapter 5-Dying Warrior Among the best-preserved fragments from the west pediment is the DYING WARRIOR from the far right corner (FIG. 5–14). This tragic figure struggles to rise up, supported on bent leg and elbow, in order to extract an arrow from his chest even though his death seems certain. The figure originally would have been painted and fitted with authentic bronze accessories, heightening the sense of reality. 5–14 DYING WARRIOR From the right corner of the west pediment of the Temple of Aphaia, Aegina. c. 500–490 or 470s BCE. Marble, length 5′6″ (1.68 m). Staatliche Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek, Munich. A similar figure appeared on the east pediment (FIG. 5–15), traditionally seen as postdating the west pediment by a decade or so. The sculptor of this dying warrior also exploited the difficult framework of the pediment corner, only here, instead of an uplifted frontal form in profile, we see a body turning in space. The figure is more precariously balanced on his shield, clearly about to collapse. There is an increased sense of softness in the portrayal of human flesh and a greater sophistication in fitting the bodily posture not only to the tapering shape of the pediment, but also to the expression of the warrior’s own agony and vulnerability, which in turn inspires a sense of pathos or empathy in the viewer. 5–15 DYING WARRIOR From the left corner of the east pediment of the Temple of Aphaia, Aegina. c. 490–480 or 470s BCE. Marble, length 6′ (1.83 m). Staatliche Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek, Munich. Chapter 6-Novios Plautios-The Ficoroni Cista This exquisitely wrought and richly decorated example—THE FICORONI CISTA, named after an eighteenth-century owner—was made in the second half of the fourth century BCE and excavated in Palestrina (FIG. 6–1). It was commissioned by an Etruscan woman named Dindia Macolnia as a gift for her daughter, perhaps on the occasion of her marriage. The artist Novios Plautios signed the precisely engraved drawings around the cylinder, accomplished while the hammered bronze sheet from which it was constructed was still flat. First he incised lines within the metal, then filled them with a white substance to make them stand out. The cista’s legs and handle—created by the figural group of Dionysus between two satyrs—were cast as separate pieces, attached during the assembly process. 6–1 Novios Plautios THE FICORONI CISTA 350–300 BCE. Bronze, height 2′614″ (78.6 cm). Museo Nazionale di Villa Giulia, Rome. Chapter 8-David Battling Goliath The robust figures on this huge silver plate (FIG. 8–1) enact three signature episodes in the youthful hero David’s combat with the Philistine giant Goliath (1 Samuel 17:41–51). In the upper register, David—easily identified by his youth and as the “good guy” by his prominent halo—and Goliath challenge each other on either side of a seated Classical personification of the stream that will be the source of David’s stones for the ensuing battle. The confrontation itself appears in the middle of the plate, in a broad figural frieze whose size signals its primary importance. Goliath is most notable here for his superior armaments—helmet, spear, sword, and an enormous shield. At the bottom, David, stones and slingshot flung behind him, seals his victory by severing the head of his foe, whose imposing weapons and armor are scattered uselessly behind him. 8–1 DAVID BATTLING GOLIATH One of the “David Plates,” made in Constantinople. 629–630 CE. Silver, diameter 1978″ (49.4 cm). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Chapter 9-Yahya Ibn al-Wasiti The Maqamat of Al-Hariri THE MAQAMAT (“Assemblies”) by al-Hariri (1054–1122) belongs to a popular Islamic literary genre of cautionary tales. Al-Hariri’s stories revolve around a silver-tongued scoundrel named Abu Zayd, whose cunning inevitably triumphs over other people’s naivety. His exploits take place in a world of colorful settings—including desert camps, ships, pilgrim caravans, apothecary shops, mosques, gardens, libraries, cemeteries, and courts of law. Comic stories of trickery in such settings would seem perfectly suited for illustration, and that is the case in this engaging manuscript, made in Baghdad during the thirteenth century. Human activity permeates the compositions. And the vivid visualizations provide us with rare windows into ordinary Muslim life: here, prayer in the congregational mosque (FIG. 9–1), a religious and social institution at the center of Islamic culture. 9–1 Yahya Ibn al-Wasiti THE MAQAMAT OF AL-HARIRI From Baghdad, Iraq. 1237. Ink, pigments, and gold on paper, 1334×1014″ (35×25 cm). Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. Arabic MS. 5847, fol. 18v.
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