Robert SturmAmazonenskulpturen auf antiken Bauwerken

About this book deutschenglish

Tectonic sculpture retrospects on a millennia-long tradition, which starts out from the ancient Near East and climaxes in antique Greek architecture. The Hellenic periods of art are characterized by the development of numerous elements of architectural sculpture, among which the frieze adorning a temple and the pediment decorated with figural components surely occupy a special position. The amazon topic found entrance into both the tectonic relief sculpture and the artistic design of the gables, with the battle between Greeks and female warriors becoming the leading motive. Whilst in the ancestral homeland a certain diversity with regard to the amazon topos and its integration into the architecture emerged, in Asia Minor presentation of the female warriors was mainly restricted to long friezes of the Ionian order. In Lower Italy and on Sicily the topic was occasionally realized on metopes. In the Roman era the amazon was only rarely portrayed on buildings, and respective figures serving for architectural adornment were almost entirely imported from the Greek region. The current monograph gives an overview of the tectonic amazon sculpture from the Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic era. In doing so, the most essential buildings with respective sculptural depiction of the female tribe are described in detail. With the help of targeted statistical investigations potential temporal and regional lines of development of the amazon topos in architectural sculpture should be worked out. In addition, the important question is addressed, if the female warriors could advance to a leading theme of ancient Greek architectural sculpture through the centuries.