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Greek Lion MonumentsAuthor(s): W. R. LethabyReviewed work(s):Source: The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 38 (1918), pp. 37-44

Published by: The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/625674 .

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GREEK LION MONUMENTS.THERE is in the British Museum a colossal marble lion which was foundnear Cnidos by Sir Charles Newton (Cat. of Sculpt. ii. p. 214, No. 1350). Itis recumbent and sculptured out of one block, the underside being hollowedout to diminish the weight. Its length is 9 feet 7 inches. (Fig. 1.) In theGuide to Greek and Roman Ant iquities (1908) the sculpture is thusdescribed and discussed:'A colossal lion which was found lying overturned on a lofty promontoryabout three miles to the east of Cnidos. On the site where it was lyingwere the remains of a great tomb, which consisted of a square basementsurrounded by engaged columns of the Doric order and surmounted by a

FIG. 1.-LION OF CNIDOS.

pyramid. It was evident from the position in which the lion was foundthat it had once surmounted the pyramid, whence it had been thrown down,probably by an earthquake. The position of the monument on a promontorywas thought by Sir C. Newton to indicate that it was connected with anaval victory, and he suggested a victory gained off Cnidos by the Athenianadmiral Conon over the Lacedaemonians in 394 B.c. as that commemorated.It is evident, however, that both suggestions are very conjectural. The styleof sculpture in this lion is large and simple and well suited for its originalposition on a monument forty feet high overlooking a headland with a sheer

37

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38 W. R. LETHABYdepth of 200 feet and with a wild rocky landscape round it. The eyes,now wanting, were probably of glass or perhaps of precious stones; Pliny(N.H. xxx. 6) tells of a marble lion on the tomb of a prince of Cyprus, withemerald eyes so bright that the fish were terrified until the stones werechanged.'

Notwithstanding the scepticism expressed here as to the origin of themonument, the theory is widely accepted. Although there is always a stepfrom the best hypothesis to a proof, it is a pity, especially in popular hand-books, to give doubt too great prominence. Collignon in his accountof the monument writes thus. 'Already in the archaic epoch the typeof the lion was adopted for the decoration of tombs. That of Menekratesat Corfu is an instance (Fig. 104, vol. i.). They were also frequent onAttic steles. It is most natural that the type should be selected inpreference to any other for those polyan(dria where the State gave commonsepulchre to the.soldiers who had died before the enemy. Without doubt wepossess, thanks to Newton's discovery at Cnidos, the crowning sculpturefrom such a public tomb. According to a likely hypothesis it had restedon a polyandrion raised in honour of the Athenians killed in 394. Perhapsthe lion taken from the Piraeus by the Venetians and placed at theirArsenal had been erected in Attica as a memorial of the same action. TheLion of Cnidos is the most beautiful of such lions, but that of Chaeroneamust also be mentioned. No inscription was engraved on the former, saysPausanias, but all would comprehend the eloquence of such a symbol.'Sir C. Newton was not so sure that eyeballs had been inserted inthe lion's head. 'I should mention (he says) that he has no eyeballs,only deeply cut sockets, of which the solemn chiar-oscuro,contrasting withthe broad sunlight around, produces the effect of real eyes so completelyas to suggest the notion that the artist, here as in so many instances inancient sculpture, preferred representation by equivalents to the moredirect imitation of nature. But on the other hand we have abundantevidence to show that coloured eyes composed of vitreous pastes weresometimes combined with marble in ancient statuary. There is a curiousanecdote in Pliny of a lion with emerald eyes which surmounted the tombof a certain petty prince in Cyprus.... The contemplation of the Cnidianlion in the bright and delicate atmosphere for which he was originallydesigned, taught me much as to the causes why modern artists fail sogenerally when they attempt public monuments on a colossal scale....When I stood very near the lion many things in the treatment seemed harshand singular; but on retiring to the distance of about thirty yards, all thatseemed exaggerated blended into one harmonious whole, which, lit up by anAsiatic sun, exhibited a breadth of light and shade such as I have never seenin sculpture; nor was the effect of this colossal production of human geniusat all impaired by the bold forms and desolate grandeur of the surroundinglandscape. The lion seemed made for the scenery and the scenery forthe lion. The genial climate in which the Greek artists lived must have

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GREEK LION MONUMENTS 39enabled them to finish their colossal sculptures in the open air, and on thevery site for which they were designed: hence the perfect harmony betweenman's work and nature which is so characteristic of Greek art in itsbest time.'This seems excessive praise of a work which is not seen to advantage inthe Museum: it might be worth while some day to repeat the lion out ofdoors and lifted high above the ground. The cost would not be great instone and it might be contracted for by ordinary monumental masons whocan do pointed work with fair accuracy.This lion seems much larger than the dimension given above suggests,and its size may serve as a standard for imagining the scale of the other lionsto be described further on. I doubt if the eye sockets were ever filled; thedeep sharp darks are wonderfully effective in a photograph and the forms donot look as if eyeballs had been fitted in.

The architect G. L. Taylor, travelling in 1818 with Edward Cresy (withwhom he afterwards produced a well known book on Rome), John Sanders(once a pupil of Soane), and William Purser (a painter), made an excursionto Chaeronea and discovered some fragments which they 'suspected to beparts of the famous Theban lion mentioned by Pausanias to have beenplaced over the tomb of those heroes who fell here opposing Philip,' (B.c.338).'My horse (says Taylor) made a stumble over a stone and on lookingback I was struck with the appearance of sculpture. .... We engaged somepeasants and did not leave the spot until we had dug up the colossal head ofthe lion and some of his limbs. . . . From the nose to the top of the headit measured four feet six inches . . . A part of one of the hind [front] legstwo feet two inches. Arranging these masses we decided that the attitudehad resembled the one on Northumberland House . . We carefully buriedthe masses and left them." Taylor illustrates his account with a copy ofthe restoration made by Siegel in 1856,2 which shows the lion crouchingon its hind quarters on a tall pedestal.In the Spiers collection recently given to the Victoria and AlbertMuseum is Taylor's note book, used on this tour, containing his sketchof the head and fragment of the leg. With these is a note copied out ofsome other book, possibly the diary of one of his companions: 'Wednesday,3rd June, 1818. Made an excursion to Chaeronea, distant two hours fromLebadia. Our first discovery was the fragment of the famed Theban lionabout a quarter of a mile before we entered the town; it had lain closeby the side of the road and exhibited only a part of the right cheek and alittle of the mane; we dug round and found the head complete and a leg ofenormous dimensions (see sketches, etc.). The execution is bold, the marblevery white and remarkable for its fine grain (see Pausanias).' Fig. 2 is takenfrom one of these sketches.

1 Autobiography of an Architect, 1870. Theattitude suggested was standing.2 For this and other references see B. M.

Catalogue of Sculpture iii. No. 2698, p. 443.

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40 W. R. LETHABYThe fragments thus reburied by Taylor must soon have been exposedagain, and Wolfe, another English architect, who was travelling in Greecein 1820, examined them carefully so that he was able to make a correctrestoration of the pose in a little sketch now in the Library of the Royal

??46

I

FIG. 2.-HEAD OF LIOPNOF CHAERONEA FROMTAYLOR'S SKETCH-BOOK.

Institute of Architects. A second sketch shows thehead with the teeth perfect but only cavities forthe eyes. Others show mouldings from the pedestalagreeing with Siegel's restoration.In the accompanying notes Wolfe says:'Left Athens 9th April, 1820, sailed for Piraeusabout midnight, arrived next morning on the coastof IEgina. . . 12, set off for Epidaurus but drivenby contrary winds to a rocky part of the shore wherewe anchored for the night. Picturesque scenery,crocus and pink drop-flowers, juniper, etc., onthe rocks [page missing]. Kaprena 3, Daulis 31.Fragments of lion at Kaprena. The expression of the face of the lionby no means noble, the mouth too wide: not so good a face as thatof the Parthenon. Nothing mannered about the head except the eyes, whichdo not appear at all natural-the eyeballs are sunk out. The musclesand bones like that of the Parthenon except that on the latter thereis a greater sinking at the temples. The mane easy and flowing; earscarcely visible. The attitude was evidently that of sitting or squattingon the haunches. The head was in a single piece dished out in the inside to

lighten the weight as are the other pieces forming the body.' The mould-ings of the pedestal do not appear in Fig. 3. The eyes are eighteen inchesfrom centre to centre, and from the sketch it appears that a large circle issunk in each eyeball almost filling its surface. A description of Chaeroneawith its towered walls and small theatre follows. /Egina, Epidaurus, Argos,Tiryns, Mycenae, Nemea, and Cleonae are also described.Wolfe must thus be credited with the correct restoration of the mionu-ment. This lion is of special importance to us in comparison with the greatlion of Cnidos, the head of which is superior and the style of the hair lessflowing and advanced. The Cnidian lion might well be fifty years earlierthan the other, and like it, it was doubtless a war monument.I take from Baedeker's Greece the following details of the more recenthistory of the lion of Chaeronea. Excavations carried on since 1879 revealedthat the lion stood on the edge of a quadrangular enclosure within which thebones of the slain Thebans were deposited. In the course of centuries themonument sank almost into the earth, but it was broken to pieces only inthe last War of Independence. In 1902 the ground was properly excavatedwith the result that traces were found of a vast pyre mingled with bones.The fragments of the lion, nearly all of which existed, were also piecedtogether and the whole was re-erected on a pedestal about 10 feet high, thelion itself being 12- feet high. The lion as re-erected is shown in Fig. 3,

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GREEK LION MONUMENTS 41from a print lent to me by Mr. Arthur Smith. The pedestal seems to berestored without authority.

FIG. 3.-LION OF CHAERONEA.

In an excellent book on Persia, published in 1906 by Prof. A. V.Williams Jackson of Columbia University, a description of a colossal lionis given with two photographic illustrations. This lion, which lies outsidethe city of Hamadan, is so strikingly like the lion of Chaeronea that it

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42 W. R. LETHABYis very probable that they were executed for similar purposes at about thesame date. There cannot be a doubt that this great fragment is a fineHellenistic sculpture of much the same class as the two lions alreadydescribed. The front legs are broken away and it rests now in a lyingattitude partly buried in the ground. However, the attachments Qf thefront legs show that it sat up. Prof. Williams Jackson describes itthus: 'The famous but battered stone lion, the only monument that haslasted through the long ages of Hamadan, now lies near the foot of theMasallah, not far from the road leading to Isfahan. It is one of the land-marks of Hamadan, and is regarded as a guardian genius of the town. Evena thousand years ago it was spoken of by Masudi 3 as very ancient, and hedescribes it as standing by the Lion Gate on a low hill overlooking the roadto Rei and Khorasan. He speaks of its lifelike appearance and compares itto some great bull or crouching camel, adding that it was carved afterAlexander's return from Khorasan (as native tradition ascribes the foundingof Hamadan to Alexander) and set up as a talisman to protect the wallsof the city .... The overthrow of the lion was accomplished, he tells us, abouthis own time.... A legend almost as old, recorded by Yakut (about 1220),says the image was set up by Belinas as a talisman (Belinas is commonlyexplained as a corrupt Oriental form for Plinius, Pliny). Popular belief'hascertainly surrounded the sculptured stone with a deep veneration . . . Thelion is rather effective in the distance, as the mutilation of the stonedoes not then show, and I was impressed by the life-like appearance ofthe image as I first rode towards it, an effect which is enhanced by theyellowish sandstone out of which the figure is carved. The head is massive,and the heavy waves of the mane are realistic in appearance, but it isdifficult to catch the exact expression of the face in its present proneposition, although the chin is well marked and the jaws are partly open..Although the legs of the creature are broken off at the shoulders and thighsthe body is entire. A careful examination of the sculpture shows that thelion originally sat in an upright posture with the forelegs straight andwithout any curve from the shoulders except the natural rounding ofthe haunches. In other words it was a lion sejant not couchtant. The righthip is lower than the left, and the tail, though missing, curved round the leftflank, as is shown by a perceptible groove in the stone at that point. Fromhead to tail the image measures between eleven and twelve feet (3-40 m.),the head itself being nearly forty inches in diameter (1 m.). The presentposition of the lion, about an eighth of a mile from the foot of the Masallah,and facing south, is probably due to chance. Both Masudi and Yakut speakof the sculpture as being near a gate of the city, and judging from a modernmud tower which guards the road at this point, it is possible that there oncewas a gate near by, or that the lion possibly guarded an entrance to thecitadel at this spot. Concerning the age of the statue, we can only make

a Died 951.

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GREEK LION MONUMENTS 43guesses, reckoning back from the time when Masudi spoke of it a thousandyears ago. On the whole I agree with those who attribute a great antiquityto the sculpture, assigning it-even to the times of -the ancient MedianKingdom, when it may have anticipated the lion of the royal Persianemblem.'The whole type of the beast is not Median but Alexandrine, andthis lion may very well be an important memorial of Alexander himself.Prof. Jackson has no doubt that Hamadan is the ancient Ecbatana-' I havespoken of Alexander the Great in connection with Hamadan, and we knowfrom history that he twice visited this ancient capital of Media, once whenpursuing the vanquished Darius Codomannus, and afterwards when return-ing from Bactria and India. His name is still well known among the peopleas Iskandar, and various legends about him are preserved to the present

FiG.4.-LIoN oF HAMADAN.(The line A B is that of the present ground level.)time.' The identification of Ecbatana is generally accepted, and I see inthe Lion of Hamadan a memorial to be associated with Alexander himself.Fig. 4 gives a rough restoration.There is a grace in the setting on of the head, and the curve of theback, as shown in the photograph, which mark out the sculpture as a fineHellenistic work. The head closely resembles the heads of the lions of theMausoleum,who are clearly related beasts. Apparently the eye sockets areempty. Prof. Jackson's description of 'the heavy waves of the mane,realistic in appearance,'agrees closely with Wolfe's phrase about the lion ofChaeronea-' the mane easy and flowing.' The pose must have been verylike that of the Lion of Chaeronea, the 'life-like appearance, well markedchin and jaws partly open, the tail curving round the left flank,' and the

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44 GREEK LION MONUMENTSscale, are closely alike in both cases, and it may hardly be doubted that bothwere monuments of the same type and age. The pose is repeated in manyother works.4 Later the lions of Donatello and Alfred Stevens descendedfrom the same stock (probably through the Greek lion at Venice) and thelatter would make a noble monument twenty or thirty feet high.

W. R. LETHABY.

4 Cf. the lion-statuette in the British Mu-seum (Cat. of Sculpt. No- 2127). On a latecoin of Corinth a lion in a similar attitude ap-pears which is supposed to represent a foun-tain, and it has been thought that the Venicelion may have been a fountain as the mouthis pierced. The monument of Lais, which is

also represented on a coin of Corinth, may alsobe mentioned (Imhoof-Blumer, XNumis.Comm.P1. E lxxiv). Mr. Arthur Smith informs methat there are remains of a lion monument atAmphipolis, which tradition associates withthe monument of Brasidas.