Nikè Sacrificing a Bull

Nikè Sacrificing a BullAuthor(s): Cecil SmithSource: The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 7 (1886), pp. 275-285Published by: The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/623646 .

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NIKt SACRIFICING A BULL. 275

NIKE SACRIFICING A BULL.

[PLATES D, E.]

THE group of Nike 'ovOv-roV-a is one which is already so well known among works of ancient art, that in adducing further instances of this type we cannot hope to bring forward much that adds to our previous knowledge of the subject. It is, however, just one of those cases which, from the very frequency of its recurrence in a'ncient art, has a special claim upon our attention; a motive which, starting as it doubtless does, from a great Greek original, continues favourite down to late Roman times, is worthy of study in the phases of development which different material and different periods bring about, and therefore I think no apology is needed for introducing the fresh examples of it now before us.

The starting point, the Jfaupttypus so far as we know, of this motive, is of course the small fragment which remains to prove that it existed in the reliefs on the balustrade of the temple of Athena Nik6 at Athens. In his admirable monograph on these sculptures,' published in 1869, Kekuld contented himself with a brief description of this fragment, without being able to identify the original motive of the group from which it came, or its position on the frieze. In his subsequent publication, however, on the same subject,2 he was enabled to compare it with several representations on ancient works of art, with results which clearly prove that the fragment of the relief yet surviving is part of the group of Nik6 sacrificing a bull, of which the knee of the figure resting on the back of the bull is unfortunately all that remains. This discovery is of the greatest importance,

1 Die Balustrade des Tempels der Athena Nik- in Athen. Leipzig, 1869.

2 Die Reliefs an der Balustrade des

Tempels der Athena NikB. Stuttgart, 1881.



276 NIKE SACRIFICING A BULL.

because it enables us to trace back, perhaps to its origin, the existence of a group which from this time forward continues one of the most favourite motives in decorative art of all subsequent times. Kekuld gives several instances of its repetition on erra-cottas of a late period, and quotes its occurrence on certain coins. In the British Museum alone, we have a great number of

representations of this scheme, and it is my present purpose, in

giving some account of them, to attempt in some measure to date these instances, and in so doing to trace the development of the type through all the different periods of its appearance in art from the balustrade downwards.

First in point of date as in importance in our list, comes the bronze mirror case, of which the relief given on Plate D is the decoration; it is said to have been found at Megara, and was

acquired last year by the British Museum. The diameter of the mirror is

14"5 centim., the greatest width of the relief, 8 centim., greatest height, 12 centim., and greatest projection, 1-5 centim.

The relief is chased from a thin sheet of metal, and was fastened to the top of the disk which served as a cover for the

protection of the polished surface of the mirror.1 The bull has fallen on its knees to the right and is pressed downwards in that

position by Nike, whose knees rest against the shoulders of the animal; with her left hand she grasps the bull's nose, forcing its neck back in readiness to deal it the coup de grdce with the knife which she holds in her right hand. Beside the bull, on the

right-hand side of its neck, the groundwork of the relief is not as elsewhere cut away close to the design, but extends for about a I in. outside the line of the bull's neck. The reason of this is apparent if we look at the top of this space; here is an object in slight relief, formed by two lines converging outwards, evidently part of some object which is meant to be indicated as in the background beside the bull. It is difficult to say what this object was; but I think this is a proof that the artist was copying from some well-known group, in which the original

1 Unfortunately the Plate before us gives only a general idea of the group, without at all expressing the delicacy and refinement of the original. This was no fault of the artist, who has done as much as was possible in very difficult circumstances. The patination

of the metal, and the foreshortening employed, made photography almost useless, and upon a very imperfect negative the lines of the original had to be painted in, and were then reproduced by autotype process.



A



NIKE SACRIFICING A BULL. 277

intention of this detail would be sufficiently recalled to the spectators for whom the mirror copy was intended.

As it is, it seems almost as if added as an afterthought; possibly the artist may have desired to break the monotony of the long line formed by the upraised throat of the bull continued on into the line of Nike's wing, and for this purpose it certainly has an artistic value; it may be that we have part of a loutron or small altar, such as would be natural in a sacrificial group, and of which one or two examples occur on the Balustrade. The relief is by this means made to assume an ear-shape, a form very suitable for application as ornament to a circular space, and one which, whether intentionally or not, the designers of this class of bronze reliefs frequently adopted.

Since the publication of M. Mylonas upon Greek mirrors,' the list of known mirror cases with appliques which he there collected has been considerably increased, and the number of those already described amounts to upwards of forty. So far as can be judged from the published notices, none of these go back to a period earlier than the beginning of the third, or end of the fourth century. This date seems to have been most fertile for this style of bronze relief, and the class of subjects usually chosen is just what we should expect from the idyllic temperament of the period, which delighted in genre scenes of loves and ladies.

Our mirror case stands alone, not merely in the choice of its subject, worthier of an artist's hand, but also in its execution. So far as I can gather from the descriptions given in the Bulletin de Corr. Hell., and elsewhere, these other instances are usually described as cast, whereas our example, like the bronzes of Siris, is certainly repowssd.

In considering this question, it would be interesting to ascer- tain what proportion of these bronze reliefs were repoussd; it may be quite possible that many of the flatter reliefs, such as heads of Aphrodite, &c., which occur in this connection, are cast; and, indeed, many of these later examples are of such poor execution as to suggest their having been reproduced mechanically 'by the dozen.' At the same time, all those which I have been able to examine from the back seem to show traces of work behind as well as in front; the material is usually quite thin throughout, and the most delicate details of the outer surface

1 'EAALK iKa'ror'rpa, 1876.



278 NIK] SACRIFICING A BULL.

have their corresponding depression within. The usual method of attaching them to the flat disk of the mirror was by the medium of some metallic composition (solder ?) which solidified the relief at the same time, and so rendered it less fragile: otherwise, especially in later cases, the applique was fastened by rivets, and for this purpose a narrow flat edge was left outside the relief.

There is one point, however, which practically settles our mirror case as repoussd, and that is the employment of under-

cutting. In the Siris bronzes this process is of course very successfully employed, and in the present instance it also occurs, e.g. in the face of Nike, and the top of her pinion, though very slightly. The evident desire of the artist to gain this effect is further shown in the knife which Nike holds, and which is

separately modelled; passing through the hand, it is fastened by solder at the back. The plan of introducing separately- moulded weapons, horses' bits, &c., into marble reliefs, is quite in accordance with the best traditions of low relief, there being plenty of instances both on the Parthenon and Mausoleum friezes. And here, too, the artist, though not a Pheidias or Skopas, has used it with consummate skill; as without breaking the beautiful curved outline of Nike's wing, it relieves that portion of the design from flatness, forming a balance to the strong modelling of the bull's head, and adds at the same time a wonderful spirit and boldness to the treatment.

In work so delicate as this, the difficulty of obtaining a high relief is indeed a crucial point as testing the skill of the artist, and as a rule, the later the relief, the less relatively is the skill in this direction exhibited. In our mirror case, the artist has been hampered by the difficulty of obtaining sufficient relief in treating such thin material to excessive repoussd; and from this point of view it is interesting to compare with the Siris bronzes. In the latter, the thickness of the metal in the unbeaten portions is not greater than that of the Victory; but the delicate material is handled with such skill, and its malleability is so thoroughly understood, that the most salient portions, e.g. the helmet of the warrior, stand out almost in the round, and at this point the bronze is hammered to the thinness of paper.

In the Victory group, on the other hand, we can see how much the composition would have gained by a more salient



PL. E.

2

S3

88

6 7



NIKh SACRIFICING A BULL. 279

relief; from the necessity of keeping the relief down, the human figure scarcely stands out at all from the side of the bull, and the result is that she does not appear to have the firm purchase with her feet which is necessary to the exercise of strength brought to bear in keeping the bull in its position. She must, it seems, in another moment, either plunge the knife in the neck of the animal or lose her balance and slip down off its side. In the group on the Balustrade we may be sure no such difficulty occurs.

There, we may be sure from'the small fragment that remains, the action was certainly vigorous and decided. In all probability the figure of Nik. was nearly erect; and it is curious in this connection to note that whereas on the Balustrade, with all the subtle variations on the same theme of figures of Nik6, the whole of the figures are erect; in the later reproductions of similar motives, the figures of Victory are almost invariably in a crouching or kneeling attitude. Nothing illustrates this so well as the set of gems on Plate E, of which a brief description will suffice.

1. Green paste, set in ancient silver ring. Nik6 kneeling, with left knee on back of bull, whose nose she grasps with her right hand, cutting its throat with her left; drapery swings back from her waist, but the upper part of her body is nude. On right a small cippus, on which is statuette of a goddess holding the forelegs of two animals with either hand.

2. Yellow paste, similar, but turned to left. 4. Upper half of white paste; figures larger; Nik6 accroupie to

right beside bull, whose head is thrown back by her left hand; her right hangs at her side; drapery hanging from left arm; hair short like that of a male; body like that of effeminate youth.

5. Yellow paste; very slight relief; similar to preceding; hindquarters of bull not given.

6. White paste almost identical with preceding. 7. White paste with greenish tinge, similar to preceding, but

turned to left, and in place of the absent hindquarters of the bull, a curl of drapery. A background for the whole composition is provided by a large altar (?) with volutes, decorated with branches over the centre. The left side just comes outside the bull's neck.

I have collected here all the instances that we have in the




British Museum on gems of this motive; it will be noticed that

they are always pastes. What the intention of these pastes was we can hardly tell; in some cases, no doubt, they were intended as reproductions of subjects composed in fine stones, and were set in rings for people who could not afford the finer material; in other cases they may have been employed as moulds for the terra-cotta gilt jewellery, which seems to have been

greatly in use for the decoration of the dead. In any case, they are probably of a late period, and belong generally to the time when glass manufacture, originally a monopoly of the East, was

freely introduced into the Hellenic world. I have added to these a relief from the top of a terra-cotta lamp feeder or guttus of black glaze in the British Museum (Vase Cat. No. 1850), which gives very much the same type as the gems. The numerous instances that occur on vases of this form must all date from about the middle of the third century, and this would

give a very fair date for the pastes. Among the gems before us, Nos. 1 and 2 seem for various reasons to be the earliest, and in these it is noticeable that whilst the figures of Nik6 and the bull are relatively smaller, Nike is standing almost erect. In the other examples, Nike invariably kneels, and there is in

consequence room in the design for a larger figure. We have said that on the Balustrade the figure of Nike is

nearly erect. In the earlier representations of struggles of men and animals the attitude is almost invariably the same. Where Herakles is overcoming the Kretan bull or Theseus the Mara- thonian bull, the hero as a rule controls the animal by grasping its horns, pressing with his knee against the animal's shoulder. The attitude of kneeling on or beside the fallen animal is one which seems most appropriate to the contest with a smaller animal, such as a ram, and in fact, on several vase-paintings of the lower Italian style, Nik6 occurs in this attitude with a ram. It may be that this motive originated in some work of art, where Nike and the ram were represented in this combination. From a practical point of view, if we assume that the representations on the Balustrade give us scenes which the artist must have constantly witnessed iu sacrifices at the temples of his native town, he must have known it to be impossible to hold a bull down in this position unless it were first bound or stunned with a blow. When once the type becomes settled in




the kneeling position, we get a variety of slight variations in small details; occasionally the bull struggling, one foreleg free; and occasionally the hand of Nik' which holds the knife is raised to the animal's throat; but inasmuch as neither of these motives are consistent with the crystallised actionless type of later art, the bull has usually all four legs bent beneath him, and the hand of Nik6 falls aimlessly at her side. When we consider how frequently this subject of Nik povOv-rovo-a must have come into ancient art, it is not surprising to find variations in the Nachklange. For we know of its occurrence in the Balustrade; it may also have come in on the throne of Olympian Zeus. It is referred in a passage of Tatian to Myron,1 and Pliny describes a similar group of Menaechmus. For any votive dedication commemorating the successful issue of any crisis in the life of an individual, nothing could be more appropriate than this group of Nike and a bull. Among so much prepara- tion for sacrifice and the surroundings thereof, which we see on the Balustrade, it is natural to suppose that the central point of interest is that where the sacrifice itself is consummated.2 The Nike

.ov0v'roo-a is the mainspring of the story there depicted,

and would be the most natural group to select for isolation where the requisite was to find a single group which should tell a plain story and be complete in itself. And it is quite possible that even great artists may not have been above executing to order replicas of a well-known motive, into which their own individuality of style could be imparted. In this connection it is worthy of note that of the numerous variations of the type which occur on the Balustrade, this is the only one which sur- vives to any extent in late times.

On some of the gems in our list, and also on some of the

1 Or, according to another interpre- tation, to Mikon. Knapp argues (Niik in der Vasenmalerei, Tiibiugen, 1876, p. 77), that the passage of Tatian, CdooXos, 'rl E ai,'ro NIKt1, is not ap- plicable here, because of what follows,

OT- T-v 'A-yIvopos aprrdcias 6v~ya'ripa

oAwXEtas Kal &Kparlas SpaBSEov &r•r)v'y- KaTo. I cannot see that a group of Nik6 Sovev'roiGa need be considered so

inappropriate an allusion to the Europa legend. The use of girl would suggest

an attitude astride of the victim, as on a leaden tessera (Bulletin de Corr. Hell. viii. Pl. vi. No. 223) Nik6 bestrides a ram, and on electrum coins of Kyzi- kos a tunny-fish.

2 See Friederichs-Wolters, Gipsab- giisse, p. 286, No. 773. The position of this group on the Balustrade was next to Athene in the centre of the west side, and specially marked by the attitude of Athend, who turned round towards it.




terra-cotta reliefs (see post), our Nike group is accompanied by an additional motive; in gems Nos. I and 2 this takes the form of a small cippus surmounted by an apparently archaic statuette of a goddess holding in either hand an animal by the forelegs. I do not think we need necessarily attach much importance to the introduction of this statuette in the design; it may be that the two pastes are both copied from some original group where this combination was well known; but on the other hand, as we see in the case of the terra-cottas, little archaistic xoana of this kind are frequently inserted where they can only have been introduced to serve a decorative purpose. And I should be inclined to think that in the pastes they are employed merely as a Raumausfi)llung, such as the shape of the field in these special instances requires.' No. 7 is a specimen of the liberty which the artist allowed himself in a purely decorative direction. Here the altar or column is placed behind Nike, and is sufficiently exaggerated in size to form a background for the entire group. On the mirror case, as I pointed out, we have some indication of a similar motive, but there the loutron is merely suggested, and may possibly have been borrowed from some similar idea in the Balustrade sculptures.

Without wishing to engage in the vexed question of the probable date of the Balustrade reliefs,2 we may at any rate accept it as proven that this cannot be later than the end of the Peloponnesian War, B.c. 404. While in all probability they are much earlier, this date at any rate places the Balustrade

/ovvrToi3o-a group before any other known instance of the type. Perhaps the nearest approximation to the marble, in point of date, is the motive which occurs on the gold coin of Abydos (see British Museum Guide to Coins, P1. 18, 14). Here Nike is sacrificing a ram, upon which she kneels, her figure is fully draped, and the right leg of the ram is free. This design is impressed in an incuse square, and can therefore hardly be later than about B.C. 400.

Again, on the gold stater of Lampsakos,3 which must go back to a period before B.c. 359, when the gold coinage was superseded

I On a Berlin gem, Miiller, Denkm. ii. 209, a statuette of Athene occurs in a similar relation to this group.

2 For a general statement of the case,

see Murray, History of Sculpture, ii. pp. 179-180.

3 Numismatic Chronicle, 1885, P1. 1, 9.




by Philip, a similar type, with the ram, occurs. It is certainly significant that the only two coin types of the fourth century which employ this motive should introduce the ram instead of the bull; and I think that here again we have a suggestion that though the Balustrade gives us the earliest type of Nike with a bull, the attitude itself and the idea may have been borrowed from an earlier existing type of Nike, or some other

figure, sacrificing a ram. On the coins of Roman times, as of course in every other

branch of Roman art, the group is of frequent occurrence. On the two Roman marble groups in the British Museum (Mus. Marbles, x. 25, 26), which are a good deal restored, a certain amount of vigour is imparted to the formulated type by varia- tion in slight details and the fancy of the restorer, but the formula is nevertheless unmistakable.

There is another point in the comparison between the earlier and later types of this group which is at once obvious, and

belongs to the general history of Greek sculpture; whereas in earlier Greek ait representations of the female figure are almost

universally draped, from the Praxitelian period downwards there is a decided preference for nude forms; or if drapery is employed at all it is only partially introduced, and serves, as in the so- called Venus of Milo, as a foil to throw up the rounded softness of the portion left nude. We see the influence this sentiment has on the type of Nik6 in the well-known Brescia figure,' where the same arrangement of drapery is used as in the Venus of Milo and the Aphrodite of Capua. On P1. E, fig. 8, I have

placed, to illustrate this point, a paste in the British Museum; it is of a beautiful deep-blue colour, and though of rough execution is obviously a reproduction of the same type as the Brescia statue. Nike stands with her left foot resting on a helmet, and writes upon a shield which is supported by her left hand and knee: her body is nude to the waist, and her hair is tied in a knot behind.

On the Balustrade the entire series of figures are completely, nay, voluminously, draped. On the Parthenon pediment, and on the Paionios figure this is equally the case, but in both

1 Though of course the Brescia Nike is probably of the first century A.D., it is I believe generally agreed

that as a type it must be an imitation of an earlier period ; see Friederichs- Wolters, op. cit. p. 565.



284 NIKt SACRIFICING A BULL.

these instances the drapery is such as admits of the free and unimpeded action necessary to the messenger of the gods; and so on our bronze, though the figure is undoubtedly feminine, the close-girt light drapery does not impede the free action of the limbs, and the well-fitting shoes bespeak a character widely different from the stay-at-home type of the ordinary Athenian maiden. On the other hand, there is already a trace in this group of the sentiment which is creeping in; Nik6 is holding the bull in a position which sufficiently indicates her purpose, but instead of directing her attention to the work in hand, she looks away to the right, and by this small detail alone the action seems indefinitely postponed. Still, in point of exquisite finish of detail, even down to the stippled surface of the bull's hide, there is a large gap between the bronze group and the pastes and terra-cottas of later times: as a further example of this difference, and as showing how much the type became conventionalised, we may remark the working out on the bronze of the hindquarters of the bull ; on the later pastes and terra-cottas this portion of the design is either left out entirely, or its place is supplied by a sweep of the otherwise useless drapery. These minor lapses are what one might overlook in works of art so small as the pastes, were it not that on the terra-cotta reliefs, which are usually about 2 ft. by 1 ft., the same remarks equally apply, and there the increased size renders them consequently the more apparent. Of these terra-cotta reliefs we have in the British Museum no less than ten examples, five complete and five fragmentary, of which a brief description is given below.'

The whole subject of Roman terra-cotta mural reliefs is one that needs working out: meantime I think there can be no question that the form in which they come to us was derived as a direct tradition from Greek work of a similar kind of about the third century or earlier. The series of Tarentine. terra- cottas which late years have brought us, give us a fairly

1 They divide into four types, as follows: A type.-1. Group to right, one foot of bull free, knife at side; on right elaborate altar. 2. Similar, with blazing thymiaterion in place of altar, supported by female statuette. B.--1. Similar, without altar. 2, 3. Fragmitents

of ditto. C.--1. Group to left, one foot of bull free; Nike stabs the bull downwards in throat; on left, tripod with basket (?) on it. D.-1. Similar, without tripod. 2-4. Fragments of ditto.




complete connection, and take us back at least so far. To this period I think, then, we must attribute the formation of the

stereotyped group so favourite in Roman times. It was an age when the type of Nike was undergoing a process of complete transformation. This is specially apparent on the vase-pictures of the period.

With the growing fashion in favour of the polychrome method and the use of perspective in the later vases, comes in a

tendency towards the selection of groups which should afford scope for the employment of white colour, and for the artist's skill in representing soft, rounded forms. The first effect is shown in the alteration of the type of Eros; he is no longer the strong youthful figure of the Parthenon, but becomes a sort of hybrid creation who is neither male nor female, a

personification of the attendant genius of love: and into this

type it is that NikM, stripped of her clothes, becomes merged.1 A small fragment of drapery is left to her, but it is a mere useless rag which only emphasises the nudity of the form which it is not intended to conceal. Similarly, as we see on the pastes and terra-cottas, Nike is no longer an essentially feminine type; the form is soft and rounded, qualities which are well brought out in the crouching attitude suggestive of the Aphrodite accroupie; but the chest is as much masculine as feminine, and the features and head-dress are decidedly those of a male

figure. To sum up, then; in tracing the development of this motive

of Nike /3ovOvroi3oa, I would suggest that the earliest type is that where Nik6 is erect with one knee on the bull which she stabs, is fully draped, and is of a decidedly feminine character; the latest, where she kneels beside the bull, the knife hanging purposeless in her hand, where her body is undraped and her form androgynous in type. And between these two extremes we may range all the variations which occur according to their tendencies to one or the other.

CECIL SMITH.

1 See Knapp, A'ikd in der Vasenmalerei, chap. 4.

H.S.-VOL. VII. X



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Nikè Sacrificing a Bull