JOVE’S HEAD

Evening Star, Issue 19351, 10 September 1926, Page 9

JOVE’S HEAD

IS IT BY PHIDIAS? The earth gives up its buried art at an astomaning rate. It is not enough that no longer ago than April, Pompeii should yield a statue of a youth attributed to Phidias, but now in Gyrene, on the shores of Africa about opposite Crete, there comes to light fragments of a colossal head which is believed to be no less than that of the Olympian Zeus, and also by the great Phkhas. If this Iks so, the world possesses at hist a replica of the lost masterpiece of Phidias in the temple of Zeus at Olympia. Described by the ‘ Illustrated London News,’ the find came about in this way ‘ ‘ The great excavations carried on by the Italian Department for Colonial Affairs at Oyrene have lately brought to light a wonderful GrcecoIteman reproduction of the head or the celebrated statue of the Olympian Zeus of Phidias. Of this miracle of ancient sculpture—the grandest production of the grandest Greek artist; —nothing had been handed down to us but the descriptions of Pausanias and others, the unanimous admiration of the ancient world, and a representation on some Elean coins, chiefly on a silver one now in the British Museum. Th« Olympian statue was of colossal size, over 40ft high, although seated, and was wrought entirely in gold and ivory on a throne of ebony enriched with . enamelled colors. The head was singularly powerful, and the face majestic, but calm and serene. These characteirstics are to be seen almost identically in the Cyrcnean copy. This epoch-making discovery is due to the distinguished Roman archaeologist, Dr Giacomo Guidi, the new Inspector of Antiquities in Cyrenaica, who, excavating the courtyard of tho so-called Great Temple, facing the Acropolis, collected hundreds of small fragments, which might easily have escaped the attention of a common explorer. Piecing them together with marvellous patience, he produced an almost entire reconstruction of tho magnificent head. Further excavations may bring to light not only the minute pieces still wanting, but also the remains of the, body._ An inscription unearthed by Dr Guidi among the remains of the hitherto nameless temple confirms the attribution of the statue, stating that this was the great temple erected by the city to the Olympian Zens.”