Bassae Frieze - Reconstruction in The British Museum

Reconstruction in The British Museum

The Frieze was constructed between 420 and 400 BC. Unlike the rest of the temple, the blocks were carved from marble. Each of the 23 stones shows sections of the frieze but it is rare to find any continuation of the design from one stone to the next. It has also been proposed that the stones were not eventually installed as they had originally been proposed in the Temple of Apollo. These two complications are important as when the stones were found they had already fallen to the ground and they were already mixed in with other building rubble. So the stones are arranged in one logical way, but it is not clear if the frieze was actually either intended or designed to be as it now appears.

The room where the frieze is displayed was specially constructed to be the same size as the main room in the Temple of Apollo. However in the original placing they would have been seven metres in the air and close to the ceiling. The reconstruction puts the frieze at an easily viewable height.

The table below shows the various proposals for how the frieze may have been originally designed to be displayed. There have been a number of ideas as to how the frieze should be arranged. The arrangement made by the British Museum follows that proposed by Peter Corbett, but others by the American scholar W.B.Dinsmoor and that proposed by Haller are amongst the conflicting theories shown below. In some cases the authors disagree not only about the order but also about which pictures were displayed on which wall. In this case the block positions are labelled E, W, S, and N to indicate the wall.

Image Description Smith Ashmolean Foster Hahland Dinsmoor Hofkes-Brukker Felton Harrison Cooper BM/Corbett
520 Centauromachy BM520 21 05 09 01N 17W ( ) 05E 01N 01N
521 Centauromachy BM521 18 09 04 22W 15W 16E 03N 02N 19W
522 Centauromachy BM522 16 06 04 19W 09E 17E 06E 04N 18W
523 Centauromachy BM523 13 01 03 04N 15W 12S 04E 03N 04N
524 Centauromachy BM524 19 02 11 05E 11E 14S 07E 10W 21W
525 Centauromachy BM525 17 04 10 21W 10E 20E 01N 09W 23W
526 Centauromachy BM526 23 07 02 20W 14S 18E 23W 11W 17W
527 Centauromachy BM527 14 10 08 02N 08E 15E 21W 06W 02N
528 Centauromachy BM528 15 11 06 03N 18W 21E 22W 07W 03N
529 Centauromachy BM529 20 03 07 18W 12S 19E 20W 05W 20W
530 Centauromachy BM530 22 08 01 23W 13S 13S 02N 08W 22W
531 part of the Heraklean Amazonomachy BM531 03 20 16 16W 21W 11W 15W 16E 13S
532 The attack on the Greeks at Troy by Amazons under Penthesilea BM532 01 12 15 06E 04E 05W 09E 22E 08E
533 The first casualty of the Heraklean Amazonomachy. note - incomplete BM533 02 13 20 11E 06E 08W 10E 18E 11E
534 part of the Heraklean Amazonomachy BM534 08 17 19 07E 22W 07W 16W 17E 10E
535 part of the Heraklean Amazonomachy BM535 11 22 18 07E 23W 09W 18W 12W 16W
536 one Amazon and one Greek. First part of the Heraklean Amazonomachy (see other picture too) BM536 06 15 17 10E 20W 06W 11E 19E 07E
537 The death of Penthesilea at the hands of Achilles after the attack on the Greeks by Amazons. (incomplete picture) BM537 04 21 22 12E 19W 03N 08E 21E 09E
538 The attack on the Greeks at Troy by Amazons under Penthesilea BM538 12 19 21 08E 05E 10W 17W 23E 12E
539 The attack on the Greeks at Troy by Amazons under Penthesilea BM539 07 14 23 17W 07E 02N 19W 20E 06E
540 part of the Heraklean Amazonomachy BM540 05 16 12 13S 01N 01N 12S 13S 05E
541 part of the Heraklean Amazonomachy. note - see this picture too BM541 09 18 13 14S 02N ( ) 13S 14S 14S
542 Heraklean Amazonomachy BM542 10 23 14 15S 03N 04W 14S 15S 15S

Read more about this topic:  Bassae Frieze

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