Plutarch gives a graphic account of those dissensions between Theseus
and the Amazons, which terminated in the famous war here celebrated.
"Philochorus," he says, "and some others relate, that he (Theseus)
sailed in company with Hercules into the Euxine Sea, to wage war with
the Amazons, and that he received Antiope as the reward of his valour,
but the greater number, (among whom are Pherecydes, Hellanicus, and
Herodotus,) tell us, that Theseus made the voyage with his own fleet
alone, some time after Hercules, and took that Amazon captive, which
is indeed the more probable account; for we do not read that any other
of his fellow-warriors made any Amazon prisoner. But Bion says, he
took and carried her off by a stratagem. The Amazons (he informs us)
being naturally lovers of men, were so far from avoiding Theseus when
he touched upon their coasts, that they sent him presents. Theseus
invited Antiope, who brought them, into his ship, and, as soon as she
was aboard, set sail. But the account of one Menecrates, who published
a history of Nice in Bithynia, is that Theseus, having Antiope aboard
his vessel, remained in those parts some time; and that he was
attended in this expedition by three young men of Athens, who were
brothers, Enneos, Thoas, and Solon. The last of these, unknown to the
rest, fell in love with Antiope, and communicated his passion to one
of his companions, who applied to Antiope about the affair. She firmly
rejected his pretensions, but treated him with civility, and prudently
concealed the matter from Theseus. But Solon, in despair, having
leaped into a river and drowned himself, Theseus, then sensible of the
cause, and the young man's passion, lamented his fate, and in his
sorrow recollected an order of the priestess, which he had formerly
received at Delphi; that when, in some foreign country, he should
labour under the greatest affliction, he should build a city there,
and leave some of his followers to govern it. Hence, he called the
city which he built Pythopolis, after the Pythian god, and the
neighbouring river, in honour of the young man, Solon. He left the two
surviving brothers to govern it, and give it laws; and along with them
Hermus, who was of one of the best families in Athens. From him the
inhabitants of Pythopolis call a certain place in their city Hermus's
House, and, by exchanging an accent, transfer the honour from the hero
to the god (Mercury). Hence the war with the Amazons took its rise:
and it appears to have been no slight or womanish enterprise, for they
could not have encamped in the town, or joined battle on the ground
about the Pnyx and the Museum, or fallen in so intrepid a manner upon
the city of Athens, unless they had first reduced the country about
it. It is difficult, indeed, to believe (though the story is told by
Hellanicus) that they crossed the Cimmerian Bosphorus upon the ice,
but that they encamped almost in the heart of the city, is confirmed
by the names of places, and by the tombs of those that perished
there." The Amazons, according to fabulous history, were a warlike
race of women, who reared only their female children, and lived as a
nation apart from the male sex. They are said to have founded many
cities in Asia Minor, to have been expert horsewomen, and to have
amputated their left breast the more easily to use their bows. Greek
sculptors delighted to avail themselves of this mythic war between men
and women, in which the heroes do not appear to have used their
weapons lightly, in consideration of the sex of their opponents. The
splendid group by Kiss, casts of which are now in many English homes,
shows that the capacity to deal with the classic subject has not
altogether faded from the world. The Amazons themselves bid fair to
accomplish a resurrection across the Atlantic. Rumours reach us here
in England of female societies associated to make war upon the tyranny
of the opposite sex, and to adopt certain eccentricities of costume.
It is not improbable that these agitators will soon constitute
themselves into a distinct nation, and defy the valour of the
masculine Yankee.
The visitor, on turning, thus far informed, to the slabs upon which
the war with the Amazons is represented, will notice that these mythic
females present no appearance of the rumoured amputation. The weapons
that should be in the hands of most of the figures are lost, but it is
believed that they were of bronze, and the holes by which they were
fastened to the hands of the figures may yet be traced. On presenting
himself before the first slab (12), the visitor will see the figure of
an Athenian dragging an Amazon to the ground by her hair, while
another Amazon is protecting a fallen sister in the corner. This scene
will shock the gallantry of the unprepared visitor, who should,
nevertheless, compose himself to explain to his partner the kind of
women with whom the Athenians had to deal. The second slab (13),
represents a wounded Amazon sinking to the earth, and an Athenian and
an Amazon in full combat, but upon the third (14), the visitor will
remark the havoc which the Amazons could make. Here, on the right, an
Athenian protecting himself from attack with his shield, is leading a
wounded man from the field, and to the right a male figure is bearing
off a body, from which a central Amazon is snatching a shield. On the
next slab (15), two Amazons are engaged with two Athenians. To the
left, where the head of the vanquished Amazon remains, the slab is
much injured; but to the right the Athenian felled by the Amazon is
clearly distinguishable. A wounded Athenian lies in the left corner of
the next slab (16), supported by a companion; while another Athenian
is endeavouring to beat off a lusty Amazon, who appears determined to
fight for every inch of the ground. For the first time an Amazon
occurs on horseback on the next slab (17). Here a sturdy Athenian is
dragging her from her seat, while another Amazon is warding off a
blow, and preparing to strike one at the same time, in the right
corner. The central figure of the next slab (18), (the longest in the
collection,) is the hero Theseus, recognisable by the lion's skin
about him, the huge paw of which lies against his left leg. Theseus,
who is about to deal a deadly blow at a mounted Amazon (whose body is
effaced), is prevented by an interposing Amazon, while an Athenian,
who is trampled upon by the horse, is preparing to do severe work with
his sword. To the right, an Athenian is unceremoniously removing a
wounded Amazon from her fallen horse. The next group (19) represents
two couples fighting: an Athenian, protected by a helmet and cuirass,
has thrown an Amazon, and on the right of the slab an Amazon has
thrown an Athenian. The next slab (20) is severely mutilated; but an
Amazon attending to a wounded companion, and others fighting in the
left corner are distinguishable. The next tablet represents two
Athenians and two Amazons; the central figure (an Athenian) has his
foot upon the knee of a fallen Amazon, who appears to be asking mercy.
The last slab but one (22) represents an Athenian dragging an Amazon
from an altar, while to the right an Amazon is vigorously assailing
another Athenian. Upon the last slab (23) are four Amazons and one
wounded Athenian, who is endeavouring to ward off an impending blow
from the central figure. Having noticed these slabs, the wondrous
workmanship of which must surprise the most indifferent and
ill-informed observer, the visitor should at once turn to the other
fragments arranged and numbered in the saloon. The fragments marked
successively from 24 to 40, are parts of the temple to Apollo, from
which the Phigaleian slabs were taken. Having cursorily examined
these, the visitor should at once turn to the fragment of a
bas-relief, marked 41, which properly belongs to the Elgin collection.
Here Hercules is represented holding Diomed, King of Thrace, by the
head, and is about to strike him. Further on are some interesting
relics, collected by Colonel Leake. First, there is a headless female
statue, draped, from Sparta (43); then the torso of a naked Apollo
from the Peloponnese; then a small, shattered Hercules, without head,
arms, or feet, found on the coast of Laconia. Proceeding with his
examination of the miscellaneous objects in the saloon, he may notice
successively, the head of Jupiter, from Phrygia (47); a curious
sepulchral inscription from Halicarnassus (48), forbidding any one,
except relations, from occupying the tomb to which it belonged; a
bas-relief from Thessaly (51) representing a dedication of hair to
Poseidon: an alto-relievo torso of Triton (56); and the pedestal of
the statue of Jupiter Urius (55), which stood in the temple of that
god, at the mouth of the Euxine.
Directing his attention to the fragments which occupy the wall space
below the Phigaleian frieze, he will find eleven fine bas-reliefs from
the celebrated tomb erected at Halicarnassus, in the year 353 B.C., in
honour of Mausolus, King of Caria, by Artemisia, his wife. Here the
power of the later Greek sculptors is employed upon the battles of the
Athenians with the Amazons. Above the Phigaleian frieze, against the
walls are placed two pediments, copied from those which ornamented the
western and eastern ends of the temple of Jupiter Panhellenius, in
AEgina.
Among the miscellaneous fragments in the saloon, the visitor has yet
to notice a fine torso of a nude Venus; a statue of Discobolus, who is
throwing a quoit, found in Hadrian's Villa Tiburtina; part of a statue
of Hymen; and at the ends of the saloon the visitor should notice some
specimens from the old temple of Selinus, which are valued as probably
representing some of the earliest extant specimens of Greek art. Among
the subjects represented are Perseus killing the Gorgon Medusa, and
Hercules and the Cecrops. Having examined these objects, the visitor
has brought his examination of the Phigaleian Saloon to a close, and
he should forthwith enter upon the great labour of his fourth visit,
by proceeding to the west into the noble room devoted to the