IΔΡΥΜA ΜΕΙΖΟΝΟΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ Συγγραφή : Λέκα Ευρυδίκη Μετάφραση : Νάκας Ιωάννης Για παραπομπή : Λέκα Ευρυδίκη , "Doidalsas or Daedalus", Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Κωνσταντινούπολη URL:

Περίληψη : A sculptor of the mid-3rd century BC from Bithynia. His only creation known to us is the celebrated statue of Bathing , which survives in many copies. Τόπος και Χρόνος Γέννησης First half of the 3rd century BC-Bithynia Τόπος και Χρόνος Θανάτου 3rd century BC Κύρια Ιδιότητα Sculptor

1. Introduction-attribution of works

Doidalsas or Doidalses was a sculptor from Bithynia who worked around the mid-3rd century BC and possibly created the cult statue of Zeus Stratios in Nikomedeia of Bithynia. His only certain work is a statue of Bathing Aphrodite, which made him famous. It is believed that he was a member of the school of Lyssipus and the official sculptor of the court of the king of Bithynia Nicomedes I (279-255 BC).

His existence is however seriously questioned by modern research. “Doidalsas”or “Doidalses”was apparently a Bithynian name.1 Pliny the Elder2 mentions a statue of Bathing Aphrodite in the Octavian Portico in Rome, work of an artist whose name could have been “Doidalsas”, although the reading of Pliny’s text in this point is problematic.3 It has also been suggested that one should read as “Doidalsas”the name “Daedalus”, given by Byzantine sources4 to the sculptor who created for the king of Bithynia Nicomedes I a bronze statue of Zeus Stratios under the occasion of the establishment of the cult of the god in the newly-founded city of Nicomedeia around 264 BC.

2. Statue of Zeus Stratios

This sculpture is not preserved today and its statue type has not yet been safely identified. Its general lines are, however, recognized on coins of Bithynia from the time of Prousias I (228-285 BC)5 until the time of Nicomedes III (189-94 BC), as well as on a marble statuette from Kameiros of Rhodes.6 The god is portrayed standing, wearing an himation and holding a sceptre, whereas his right hand is stretched and holds a wreath of olive leaves.

3. The statue of Bathing Aphrodite

On the contrary, the statue of Bathing Aphrodite of Doidalsas is recognized in the type of the nude “crouching Aphrodite”, which was very popular in Roman times and survives in many Roman copies and variations. The marble statue of the goddess Pliny saw in Rome, is believed to have been a copy of the original bronze statue of the mid-3rd century BC, which Nicomedes I ordered from Doidalsas, because he could not acquire , which he wanted very much.7

Nevertheless, this is not a cult statue but an important votive sculpture. It is believed that this statue was still standing in Nicomedeia during the Late Imperial period, when it appears on coins. However, the connection of the statue with the king of Bithynia Nicomedes I and its dating to the mid-3rd century BC (264-247 BC) have been questioned. The statue type of “crouching Aphrodite”is reported in almost 15 marble copies and variations, in many more bronze and clay statuettes, as well as on Roman coins of Bithynia, Paphlagonia and Pontus. Amongst them the headless marble torso from Vienne of France at the , the head of Aphrodite from

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Cumae in Italy in the Glyptothek of Munich, as well as the marble statue from the Villa Hadriana in the Museo Nazionale Romano. The goddess is portrayed sometimes by herself and sometimes in a complex with Eros, in a position which would allow the goddess to pour water on her back during her bath.

4. Evaluation

This is one of the most impressive statues of nude Aphrodite in Hellenistic times, which repeats the theme of bathing Aphrodite of Knidos by Praxiteles. However, the particularly soft and sensual rendering of the flesh and generally the earthly character of the figure by Doidalsas serves a womanly ideal much different than the one of Praxiteles and his age. It has rightly been paralleled with works of the European baroque and especially with the nude female figures of Rubens. This ideal is given with a great realism, which is only to be found again in works of the First School of Pergamon, relative in time and space, whereas the torsion and and three-dimensional effect of the figure as well as the naturalistic rendering of the abdominal area owe much to the tradition of Lyssipus.

1. Strabo 12.4.2.

2. Pliny, HN 36.35.

3. Only one manuscript, the code of Bamberg, gives the name “Daedalsas” and many editors of Pliny’s text doubt whether the name of a sculptor can indeed be identified in the text. Andre, J. ‑ Bloch, R. ‑ Rouveret, A., Pline l’Ancien. Histoire Naturelle, Livre XXXVI (Paris 1981), p. 162, n. 4.

4. Eustathios, Σχόλια στο Διονύσιο Περιηγητή, p. 793 ; Αρρ., FGrHist 3, 594, F 41 ; Overbeck, J., Die antiken Schriftquellen zur Geschichte der bildenden Künste bei den Griechen (Leipzig 1868), no. 2045.

5. Catalogue of Greek coins in the , “Pontus”, tab. 37‑39; Newell, E.T., Royal Greek Portrait Coins (New York 1937), p. 37, tab. 3, fig. 1.

6. Laurenzi, L., “La personalità di Doidalses di Bitinia”, ASAtene 8‑9 (1946‑1948), p. 169, fig. 2.

7. Pliny, HN 36.21.

Βιβλιογραφία : Smith R.R.R., Hellenistic sculpture, Thames and Hudson, New York 1991

Ridgway B.S., Hellenistic sculpture I: The styles of ca. 331-200 B.C., Bristol 1990

Stewart A., Greek Sculpture. An Exploration, Yale University Press, New Haven – London 1990

Κοκκορού-Αλευρά Γ., Η Τέχνη της Αρχαίας Ελλάδας. Σύντομη Ιστορία (1050-50 π.Χ.), Αθήνα 1994

Bieber Μ., The Sculpture of the Hellenistic Age, 2, New York 1961

Moreno P., Scultura ellenistica, II, Roma 1994

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Politt J.J., The art of ancient Greece: sources and documents, Cambridge 1990

Lullies R., Die kauernde Aphrodite, München 1954

Amelung W., "Doidalses", Allgemeines Lexicon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, 9, Leipzig 1913, 380-381

Brinkerhoff D.M.A., "Hypotheses on the History of the Crouching Aphrodite Type in Antiquity", GmusJ, 6-7, 1978-1979, 83-96

Laurenzi L., "La personalita di Doidalses di Bitinia", ASAtene, 8-9, 1946-1948, 167-179

Laurenzi L., "Doidalsas", EAA 3, 1960, 155-157

Linfert A., "Der Meister der 'Kauernden Aphrodite'", MDAI(A), 84, 1969, 158-164

Marini Calvani M., "Una replica dell’Afrodite di Doidalsas a Fornovo", Caesarodunum, 28, 1994, 129-137

Neudecker R., "Doidalses", NPauly 3, 1997, 729

Robert C., "Doidalses", RE 5, 1903, 1266-1267

Overbeck J.A., Die antiken Schriftquellen zur Geschichte der bildenden Künste bei den Griechen, Leipzig 1868

Newell E.T., Royal Greek Portrait Coins, New York 1937

Δικτυογραφία : Crouching Aphrodite http://www.usask.ca/antiquities/Collection/Crouching_Aphrodite.html Crouching - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crouching_Venus

Γλωσσάριo : himation, the Rectangular woolen (mainly) cloth that was worn over the chiton (cloak). It could be wrapped around the shoulders and the body in different ways and was fastened with a belt or with brooches.

Πηγές Strabo, Geography, 12.4.2

Pliny the Elder, Historia Naturalis, 36.21‑35

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