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Review of La Scultura in Pietra Di Selinunte, by Vincenzo Tusa, with Contributions by G

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Review of La Scultura in Pietra Di Selinunte, by Vincenzo Tusa, with Contributions by G Bryn Mawr College Scholarship, Research, and Creative Work at Bryn Mawr College Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology Faculty Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology Research and Scholarship 1985 Review of La scultura in pietra di Selinunte, by Vincenzo Tusa, with contributions by G. Pugliese Carratelli, E. Paribeni, M. Carapezza et al. Brunilde S. Ridgway Bryn Mawr College, [email protected] Let us know how access to this document benefits ouy . Follow this and additional works at: http://repository.brynmawr.edu/arch_pubs Part of the Classical Archaeology and Art History Commons, and the History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons Custom Citation Ridgway, Brunilde S. 1985. Review of La scultura in pietra di Selinunte, by Vincenzo Tusa, with contributions by G. Pugliese Carratelli, E. Paribeni, M. Carapezza et al. American Journal of Archaeology 89:704-705. This paper is posted at Scholarship, Research, and Creative Work at Bryn Mawr College. http://repository.brynmawr.edu/arch_pubs/78 For more information, please contact [email protected]. 704 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY [AJA 89 without counting group K, which is not a stylistic subdi- and this result is all the more regrettable in that so much vision proper. effort and connoisseurshiphave clearly been expendedon it. Yet even this meticulous apportioningof protomes could But in its present form I can only concurwith Croissantthat be acceptable,were the total picture of help in clarifyingour "loin de fournir des indications sur la chronologie, le style understandingof regional styles and centers;but such is cer- apparait done comme un facteur qui par definition en oc- tainly not the case. Croissant is scrupulous in reiterating culte les effets" (375) and that "la conclusiond'une telle en- that his distributions are subject to revision according to quite ne saurait StreEvidemment que provisoire"(373). new finds or evidence, that information on regional centers BRUNILDE SISMONDO RIDGWAY is scant or uncertain, that differencesbetween types may be DEPARTMENT OF CLASSICAL AND minimal and stylistic assessments subjective.I must admit I NEAR EASTERN ARCHAEOLOGY cannot always tell one group from another-let alone the BRYN MAWR COLLEGE various types within the group or the variations within the BRYN MAWR, PENNSYLVANIA 19OIO types-nor am I helped by the well laid-out plates with meaningful juxtapositions of comparable items. Perhaps someone with Croissant's based on only long familiarity LA SCULTURA IN PIETRA DI SELINUNTE, by Vincenzo constant of the can them handling protomes distinguish with contributions G. readily. The comparandain monumentalsculpture or other Tusa, by Pugliese Carratelli, forms of art seem often equally elusive: either I cannot see E. Paribeni, M. Carapezza et al. Pp. 200, color pls. the resemblancesor I cannot subscribeto the regional attri- 16, black-and-whitepls. 46, text figs. 16 + 303. Sel- butions. To give but one example, the so-called Sleeping lerio Ed., Palermo, 1983-1984. Head in the British Museum usually thought to belong to one of the Ephesian columnae caelatae is by Croissant la- Vincenzo Tusa, ArchaeologicalSuperintendent of west- belled Milesian and used as a cog within his regional con- ern Sicily, has fulfilled one of the strongestdesiderata in the struction (p. 62); yet the recent study of all Ephesian mate- field of Magna Graecian art history by providingthis com- rial by C.A. Pic6n has convincinglyshown that the London prehensive, well illustrated and thoroughly documented head belongs to the Artemision and is stylistically related to publication of 301 items of stone sculpture from Selinous. the other temple sculptures. These include all the well known metopal series and re- To be sure, Croissant describesvividly and at length, try- liefs, but also as many as 242 unpublished pieces, some of ing to make the reader see what he perceives as regional them architectural,some freestandingand some of undefin- traits and distinctive features, but his very fluid language able nature, both in marble and in local stone. Even items may hamper rather than increase comprehension.It is not of presumed Selinuntine origin not in the Palermo Muse- that one does not understand,even share, Croissant's intui- um receive passing mention. The import of such extensive tive reading of facial expressions; it is just that it is hard to collectionand publicationis bound to be felt for many years accept as objective comparisons based on, e.g., "la mime to come. franchise attentive, la mime gaieti dynamique" (p. 146). In his prefatorycomments Tusa stresses Selinous' origi- The task is not made easier by the endless paragraphs,one of nality in being "the only Greek city in Sicily to decorateits which can fill an entire page, and by the free associating of temples with stone sculptures" (15). The statement may the thought-process, so wide ranging that virtually every seem rather sweeping in light of the pedimental remains major monumentof the archaic and severe period is brought once again recently attributedto Akragan and Himeran re- into the discussion-repeatedly, in differentcontexts and for ligious buildings (see, e.g., Aparchai [Festschrift P. Arias, different purposes, as the index and table of contents show. 1982] passim), but it holds true for the archaic period, and Even the origin of Attic Red Figure is investigatedin this especially for metopal decoration. (Note, however, that scholarly cavalcadethat is too rich in original thoughts and Tusa [125, no. 18 n. 6] would disclaim for Selinous the so- suggestions to assimilate at a single reading. I have only re- called Harpy metope in Copenhagen, which is generally tained a few points, perhaps because closest to my concerns: consideredto be from Sicily and would thereforeimply me- that the Siphnian Karyatid and the so-called ex-Knidian topal stone-carving elsewhere on the island.) Selinuntine head may, after all, belong to the same Treasury (p. 72 n. 1); workmanship is advocated for all pieces, including the that the Knidian Treasury may have had no karyatidsat all marble parts from Temple E, although the analysis is sensi- (78 n. 4); that the heads from the Aigina temple are so varied tive to outside influences-from the mainland Greeks, the as to represent deliberate eclecticism (369); and that the peoples of Asia Minor, the Phoenicians and local popula- Piombino Apollo, although probably archaizing (216), can tions, as one would expect from a Phoenician expert of nonetheless be used to date comparable protomes around Tusa's caliber. 480 (111). Croissant is so open to the variouspossibilities for G. Pugliese Carratelli sketches the historical and reli- interpretationand so consciousof the variablesin each prob- gious backgroundof Selinous, without howeverentering the lem that the reader eventually cannot even find firm points thorny groundsof colonizationdates. Helpful commentson for debate, whether in agreementor disagreement. Megara, both Hyblaia and Nysaia, underline the impor- If the proof of the pudding is in the eating, the proof of a tance of a Malophoros cult in the Greek metropoleis,thus book should be in the reading. On such criteria, I can only challenging the assumption that Selinous simply adopted state that this book has not passed the test: I have emerged Sicilian religious beliefs. Mycenaean and Cretan contacts from it with much vaguer notions than when I started it, are mentioned, as well as the difficult interrelationshipsof 1985] BOOK REVIEWS 705 the Greek cities in Sicily down to approximately 409 B.C., the clothclinging to the trailingleg and suggestingtransparency, the date of the Carthaginian destruction from which Seli- but the long folds following the curve of the knee belong to the gath- nous never quite recovered. ering of the skirt between the legs. No. so-called E. Paribeni contributes a "historico-criticalprofile" of 18, Hades abducting Persephone:Tusa prefers Peiri- thoos attemptingto kidnap Persephone.Note that the woman wears Selinuntine sculptures which takes into account also terra- the diagonal mantle from left shoulder to right armpit, an unusual cottas and the bronze Ephebe, whose disharmonious ap- form in isolation (i.e., not dictatedby mirror reversal),but attested pearance has now been clarified by the discoveryof ancient in South Italy and Asia Minor. If the draped figure in no. 21 is repairs and alterations. Even some forgeries are mentioned indeed female, it would provideanother example of this fashion. at the end of this brief but informativeessay in which opin- Nos. 31-38, an interesting group of small-scale peplophoroi (also ions disagreeing with those of the primary author are occa- discussed in Appendix), most in limestone, two in marble:they are sionally expressed. Paribeni, in fact, does not believe that probablythe most convincingevidence for a local school, because of the folds on the Perseus of the Temple C metope were recut the peculiar folds engraved on the upper torso and the distinctive and modernized (p. 28), whereas Tusa (116) finds the crinkling of the chiton sleeves under the peplos. R. Tolle-Kasten- bein cited no. 34 in a footnote theory convincing. only (FriihklassischePeplosfiguren. Originale [Mainz 1980] 193 n. 361), because she consideredit "Se- M. and collaborators a Carapezza provide geological verizing"rather than truly Severe (although she acceptedthe mar- on the and commentary sculptures the geographical area. ble statuettes nos. 31-32, her nos. 35a-35b). But seeing these pe- They have identified three ancient quarries and plot a pat- plophoroi as a group highlights their similaritiesand connectsthem tern of ever-extending radius away from the city as each with the Artemis of the Aktaion metope from Temple E, so that a source is exploited (cf. map fig. 5, p. 33). The farthest, the true Severe dating seems inevitable. so-called Menfi quarries, providedthe stone for carved me- Among the unpublished pieces the most interestingare: no. 29, the topes and sculptures, the better vein being tapped for the cornerof a metope preservingan elaboratelycoiffured female head, metopes in preferenceto the freestandingpieces.
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