4.C} ACCOUNTS, ESTIMATES, &C. OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



(4.) I'art of a group of Hercules subduing the horses of Diomedes; 4j inches long. One 

 of the two horses is wanting. 



(5.) A Hydria, 16to inches high, and some smaller jugs, in fine condition. 



(6.) Six helmets, tlie back plate of a cuirass finely modelled, two breast plates, a zoster 

 or girdle, a pair of greaves, and some spear heads, in fine condilion. 



Roman Bronzes. — (1.) A bust of Lucius Verus, 10 inches higii ; an admirable likeness 

 of this Emperor, in fine condilion. 



(2.) Poseidon Hippios, 6| inches high ; in his right hand he holds a horse's head. This 

 bronze is a fine specmien of Roman work, in excellent condition. The type is exceedingly 

 rare. 



(3.) Vase in the form of a head of Antinous, 1^ inches high. There are also a number of 

 smaller figures of the Roman period, of which the following .ire the most remarkable : — 



A comic actor; a Victory carrying a trophy; a Cupid weaiing the lion's skin of Hercules ; 

 a Gaulish woman wearing a lore (found in France) ; Icarus living. Among the miscellaneous 

 bronzes ari- a candelabrum uith three branches, and a fine oinochoe with a Medusa's head, 

 in relief under the handle ; both these last are from Pomjieii. 



X. — Sculpture. 



A colossal head of Yl^^sculapius, found in the island of Melos in the year 1828. In the 

 Annali of the Roman Institute of Archaeological Correspondence for the year 1829, p. 341, 

 Charles Lenorniant states that at the time of his vi-it to Melos, this head was in the pos- 

 session of M. Brest, the French Vice-Consu! in that island, and that it had been lound in 

 a kind of grotto, with a votive marble tablet, on which is sculptuied a leg in relief, with 

 an inscription dedicatinj.; it as a thank-offering from Tyche to Asklepios and Hygieia. 

 Another marble, with a dedication to Asklepios and Hygieia by the priest Claudius Gal- 

 linas, and some fragments of statuettes of Hyoieia and of votive tablets were found on the 

 same site. This head is engraved in Blouet, Expedition Scientifique de la Moree, iii. pi. 29, 

 also in Wieseler, Denkmaler d. alten Kunst. ii. pi. Ix. 763. The votive inscriptions 

 already leferred to are published in the Expedition Scientifique, pi. 29; and in Boeckh, 

 Corpus Inscript. Nos. 2428-9. 



This head, which has evidenily been broken off from a statue, is a very noble specimen 

 of Greek sculpture. The countenance is majestic, as befits a god, but with this majesty 

 the sculptor has blended a human tenderness of expression which affects our sympathies 

 more nearly than the ordinary types of divinities in Greek art, and which seems singularly 

 appropriate to ihe conception of ^Esculapiiis as the friend of man, whose special attribute 

 it was to mitigate human suffering by the exercise of the healing art. This head has 

 been made up of three pieces of marble, which have been fitted together by a joint concealed 

 by the hair and beard. 



The portion which formed the back of the head is wanting. The head has been encircled 

 by a bronze wreath, which was probably gilt, and the stumps of which still remain in the 

 marble. The sculpture has been painted. In the left eye traces of dark colour, maiking the 

 iris and pupil, are still visible. 



The statue from which this head was broken off was probably about nine feet high. No 

 trace of the body seems to have been found on the site. The two votive inscriptions 

 already described are certainly of the Roman period, but the head itself may be attributed 

 with probability to some artist of the Macedonian period, perhaps about B.C. 300. 



The execution is distinguished for freedom and breadth, and belongs to a period when 

 the Greek sculptor had attained perfect mastery over marble, and knew how to produce 

 striking effects, by combining refined elaboration of the more important features with a 

 bold and sketchy treatment of subordinate details. 



XI. — Latin, Oscan, and Greek Inscriptions. 



The Latin inscriptions in the Blacas Museum., twenty-six in number, are mostly sepulchral. 

 Many of them were obtained from excavations made at Civita Castellana in 1822. 



(l.) A fragment relating to the Emperor Trajanus Decius, published, Orell. Inscript. 

 Latin. Selected. Henzen, lii., No. 5,538; Mommsen, in BuUetino of Roman Institute, 1865, 

 p. 27. 



(2.) A sepulchral Rehef representing two figures, a man and his wife, with their names in- 

 scribed, and two epigrams in elegiac verse. This monument is assigned by Mommsen to the 

 7th century after the foundation of Rome, and is therefore interesting as presenting certain 

 archaicisms of language and palaeography. Pubhshed, Annali of the Roman Institute, 1865, 

 p. 308, and Tav. d'Aggiunta, R. 



Osean Inscription. — This inscription, which was found at Pompeii in 1813, and which 

 formed part of the pediment over a doorway, is published by Lepsius, " Inscriptiones 

 Umbricae et Oscse." Lips. 1841, PI. XX., and by Th. Mommsen, " Oskische Studien," 

 Berlin, 1845, p. 114. It is thought to record the building of some edifice. 



Oscan 



