SCULPTURE. 41 
the left arm was thrown over his head; and a happy feeling of comfort is 
diffused over all the muscles of the hero’s body, without lessening the 
impression of immense power. 
b. The other groups of Heroes. The hero-figure of Theseus, even before 
the time of Phidias, was fashioned after that of Hercules; he received 
however a conformation of body less compact and especially indicative of 
activity and skill in wrestling, a more open and graceful cast of counte- 
nance, and short, curly, but less crisped hair. His costume is the lion’s hide 
and club, sometimes also the chlamys and petasus (hat). Ata much later 
period, Hippolytus, allied to Artemis, had given to him by artists the form 
of a slender and noble youth. The Bceotian heroes are designated by the 
covering for the head worn in their country. Winckelmann thought that he 
recognised Jason’s graceful and lofty hero-form in the statue of the sandal-tyer. 
in the Louvre known by the name of Cincinnatus (pl. 5, fig. 12), but there 
is so little of the hero in this admirable statue, that the contented husband- 
man is rather to be sought in it than the bold leader of the Argonauts. 
Moreover, according to ancient descriptions, a leopard’s skin seems to have 
pertained to his costume. Medea appears sometimes in a simple Grecian 
garb, and sometimes in oriental drapery, in a sleeved coat (kandys) hanging 
over the under dress, with the strife of passions expressed in her countenance. 
Among the Thessalian heroes Peleus alone is deserving of notice in art, 
in consequence of his relation to the Nereid Thetis, who is usually striving 
to defend herself against her ravisher. Achilleus was represented by the 
ancient artists with hair reared up like a mane, nostrils expanded with 
courage and pride, and a slender but thoroughly noble and powerful form 
of body. His attitude is heroic, with one leg somewhat advanced and the 
himation lightly falling over its thigh; when seated, as in some gems and 
reliefs, the himation falls in the same manner as with Zeus. Meleager, 
the hero of the Calydonian hunt, is represented in a famous statue in the 
Museo Pio Clementino (pl. 6, jig. 8) as a slender, powerful youth, with a 
broad chest, stout limbs, curly hair, and a chlamys thrown back and 
wrapped about the left arm. He is unmistakably designated by the boar’s 
head on which he leans. A very fine, perhaps the finest statue of Meleager, 
was found at Marinella in 1838, and is now in Berlin. With Meleager 
appears Atalanta, in a shape resembling Artemis. The Thracian Orpheus 
appears as an inspired lyre-player, at first in Hellenic costume, and after- 
wards in a Phrygian garb. 
Of the heroes of the Peloponnesus, Bellerophon is celebrated through his 
connexion with Pegasus and the Chimera. He appears as a slender, 
heroically bold youth, usually naked, either riding Pegasus or vanquishing 
the Chimeera, though sometimes thrown off, on reliefs and gems. Perseus 
is usually figured like Hermes, and in later times is splendidly armed. 
The Dioscuri, who always retained very much of their divine nature, exhibit 
a perfectly unblemished youthful beauty, a slender and powerful shape, 
and, as an almost never failing attribute, the semi-oval hat, or the hair lying 
close to the back of the head and projecting in thick curls about the fore- 
head and temples, as in the colossal group on Monte Cavallo. 
425 
