BABesch 79 (2004) The Goddess at the Handle A Survey of Laconian Bronze Hydriae* Conrad M. Stibbe Abstract More than sixty - complete or fragmentary - Laconian bronze hydriae are preserved and catalogued. The article aims at showing the stilistic and chronological coherence of this rather exceptional output of the Laconian bronze industry between ca. 650 and 550 BC. It should contribute, moreover, to end a rather long standing controverse about the dating of a well-preserved group of bronze hydriae which came to light at Paestum and Sala Consilina (here incorporated in the ‘Gitiadas Group’). In fact the history of the whole bronze industry of Sparta, Corinth and other centres of the Archaic Period is at stake. INTRODUCTION II Hydriae with other decorations The material is rich; the opinions of modern spe- 5 Hydriae with show handles cialists differ markedly. Such was the situation 6 Ducks’ head hydriae when I published my first article on ‘Archaic 7 Hydriae decorated with palmettes Bronze Hydriae’ in BABesch 67, 1992, 1-62, and such the situation remains today. The only differ- 1 TELESTAS HYDRIAE ence may be seen in the fact that new studies and new material since then have opened up new per- Introduction spectives.1 With the help of this new material, and the encouragement of new understanding, I hope The starting point of this inquiry, the Telestas to resolve some of the remaining problems in the hydria, was first published in 1938 by K.A. Neu- field. This paper, therefore, is not an extended gebauer in a short but fundamental study which replay of my 1992 survey, but rather an attempt established the outline of all relevant aspects to clarify the Spartan or Laconian contribution (here cat. no. 3).2 Neugebauer did not comment to the development of those ‘Archaic Bronze on the interesting issue of the alleged find place, Hydriae’ in general. In 1992 my main aim was to Lebadeia in Boeotia, but his statement that ‘Herr bring some order to the whole confusing mass, Kapitän zur See a.D. Freiherr von Senarclens- without concerning myself too much with mat- Grancy zu Darmstadt’ had bought the hydria in ters of attribution to particular cities or geo- Athens and given it on loan to the ‘Staatliche graphical areas. On this occasion I shall concen- Museen’ in Berlin made it plain that this infor- trate all my effort on precisely this latter aspect. mation originated from an art dealer in Athens.3 As a result more than 60 bronze hydriae - com- In fact the hydria was not complete: only the rim plete or fragmentary - are presented here as prod- with an inscription and the three handles were ucts of different Laconian bronze workers and preserved. The inscribed name of Telesstas (sic) workshops. The material, which of course includes made the piece extremely interesting. After a many pieces which have been known for a long study by E. Kunze, who published a comparable time, but also some newcomers, is organized into handle from Olympia in 1938,4 it was G. Hafner two main and seven subchapters, set out as fol- who introduced the workshop of the Telestas lows: master in 1957.5 I Hydriae decorated with female protomes 1 The Telestas Group 1 Telestas hydriae The series of bronze hydriae called the Telestas 2 Hydriae before Telestas Group has since become well-known, and is 3 Gitiadas hydriae unanimously considered to be of Laconian ori- 4 Hydriae before Gitiadas gin.6 Telestas is the name of a Laconian bronze 1 worker, who, according to Pausanias V, 23, 7, together with his brother Ariston, ‘made a pedestal of bronze with a Zeus upon it, which I conjecture to be about eighteen feet (about 5.40 m) high’. Pausanias saw this statue in Olympia, and continues: ‘The donors and sculptors are set forth in elegiac verse: The Cleitorians dedicated this image to the god, a tithe From many cities that they had reduced by force. The sculptors were Ariston and Telestas Own brothers and Laconians.’7 The last two verses are corrupt, but their meaning is clear.8 Pausanias adds a significant afterthought: ‘I do not think that these Laconians were famous all over Greece, for had they been so the Eleans would have had something to say about them, and the Lacedaemonians more still, seeing that they were their fellow-citizens.’9 Apparently Pausanias took the trouble to ask, unsuccessfully, for more information about the two Laconian bronze workers. The reason why these artists were no longer known in Pausanias’ time could be that they lived long before his time, and also that they were members of that anonymous class of bronze workers who, at an early date, were the initiators of a successful bronze industry in Sparta and/or Laconia. This industry came into being in the last quarter of the 7th century BC. There is yet another argument in favour of the supposition that Ariston and Telestas were involved not only in the production of (more than) life-size bronze statuary, but also in the more humble production of bronze vessels: the name of Telestas (spelled Telesstas) is found on the upper face of the rim of a bronze hydria (here no. 1, fig. 3) allegedly discovered at Lebadeia Fig. 1. Detail of vertical hydria handle. Cat. no. 1. Fig. 2. The same, with different lightings. Mainz, Archäologische Sammlung der Universität 201. 2 Fig. 3. The same, inscription on top of rim. Fig. 4. The same, drawing of inscription. (Boeotia) and now in Mainz.10 The name is not heavy a mass; all are of a refined finish. Only the just scratched in: each letter has been carefully ears have retained the primitive plain shaping of and distinctly incised along the rim (fig. 4). Only earlier times. A Laconian feature can be recog- this rim together with the handles has been pre- nized in the axis of the eyes, which are not set at served. It cannot be proved, of course, that the the same level (the right eye is placed lower on Telestas of Pausanias and the Telestas of the the face than the left).12 Otherwise even the pro- hydria are one and the same man, but the degree portions of the head relative to the other parts of of probability is high.11 the handle (the half-reels and the grip) are well- As an additional argument in favour of this balanced. identification, the exceptionally high quality of the For the handle as a whole, the simplicity of its female protome at the lower attachment of the ver- decorations may be called characteristic, espe- tical handle should be mentioned. If the name of cially if compared with the exact opposite: the Telestas, together with that of his brother Ariston, show-handle, as found with a whole group of stands for the masters and proprietors of a bronze Laconian bronze hydriae of the same period (see workshop, this may very well be a piece by the below). So there is reason enough to suppose that hand of Telestas himself, whereas similar handles, it was a master bronze-worker who designed, as of lesser quality but showing the same iconogra- a new concept, that most simple handle-decora- phy, would be the products of his assistants or tion shown by the hydria in Mainz. associates. The hand of the master also becomes apparent This exceptional quality lies in the liveliness when we compare the Telestas female protome and variety of the aspects of the face, and becomes with the other protomes of the same group. One apparent when viewed from different angles and of the closest parallels is found in the handle from under different lighting (figs. 1-2). There is a bal- Atena Lucana (ancient Atina), belonging to a ance of all the details: the eyes neither too small hydria of which the rim, part of the neck, the nor too big, the eyelids and eyebrows finely side-handles and the foot are also preserved: cat. worked out without the overemphasis often no. 2.13 In particular the shaping of the eyes on found in Laconian faces, the mouth with well- the protome, which are not very big and framed shaped lips (not too thick, as often happens) and by heavy, angular eyelids14 placed at different lev- showing a subtle smiling; the hair above the fore- els, a smiling mouth and four obliquely hatched head, the polos and its band, the four braids on braids on each side of the face are very similar. each side of the face falling down in not too The contour of the face, however, which makes a 3 Fig. 5. Hydria from Capua, Fig. 6. The same, side handle. Santa Maria Capua Vetere. Cat. no. 3. Detail. lengthy oval (instead of the broader shape of the Telestas hydria face), constitutes a link to the other parallels (see below). Remarkable features also include the secondary ornaments on the rim (metopes at the outer face, just as with the Telestas hydria) and on the foot (a tongue pattern, omit- ted on the Telestas hydria). The find place is also significant, as it lies on the overland trade-route which connects Sybaris with Poseidonia (Paestum) and then with Campania (Capua). This route was still in use for bronze vessels of later groups (see below). Fig. 7. The same, drawing of profile. The hydria from Atena Lucana has been dated ca. 600 BC by its publisher, W. Johannowsky.15 He photographs, a profile drawing and a short arrives at this rather precise date by comparison description of the context.18 As a result, we can with another hydria of the same type, here no.