The statue of Pericles with the Corinthian Helmet is a lost, life-sized statue of the Athenian statesman and general Pericles. Today, only some of the base survives. Four Roman Imperial-era marble busts modelled after the head of the statue are known.
The Roman copies of the bust of Pericles derive from a bronze statue made by the sculptor Kresilas. This life-size statue was probably installed on the Athenian Acropolis at or shortly after the death of the politician. [1] Pausanias says that the statue was directly beyond the Propylaea, the gate to the Acropolis. Since this statue is not preserved and only limited information is known about it, its arrangement is unclear and its details can only be guessed at by analogies and assumptions. Pericles was not shown in a realistic fashion, but as an idealised image of the long-serving strategos . Whether he was depicted naked, clothed or in full armour is disputed. [2] Remains of the statue's base were preserved with a dedicatory inscription. A slot in the base indicates that the statue held a spear in its left hand. The slight turning of the head indicates that the statue employed classical Contrapposto.
Pericles is depicted as an adult man with a Corinthian helmet. The helmet symbolised his military role as strategos. The Berlin copy is especially carefully executed. The helmet is cocked back, with short curly hair bursting out at the temples. The beard is tightly cropped with many small, well-ordered curls. Broad, even eyelids ring the eyes and eyebrows are carved above. His full lips are slightly open. Behind the eyeholes of his helmet, further hair can be seen (as in two of the three other copies). This hair, far above where his head would be expected to end, might hint at Pericles' unusually shaped head, which is occasionally referenced in Attic Comedy by the abusive nickname "Leek-head." (Also see Plutarch's 'Life of Perikles') This deformity was said to be the reason why Pericles was always depicted in a Corinthian helmet, since this would conceal the height of his head. The presence of the hair in the eyeholes should probably therefore be seen as the addition of a learned sculptor.
Kresilas created a kind of symbol of the Athenian democracy with this image of Pericles. However the sculpture also conformed to the broadly accepted citizen ideal of the times and employed the calm and collected facial expression which was the contemporary ideal. As a result, the realistic tendencies of Athenian art, which are found to some extent in the bust of Themistocles were abandoned. The expression is serious, showing no emotion. In this the depiction squares with self-controlled personality attributed to Pericles in the historical tradition. The identification of this idealised figure with Pericles is made because two of the copies are inscribed: one in the Vatican Museum, the other in the British Museum.
Pericles was a Greek politician and general during the Golden Age of Athens. He was prominent and influential in Ancient Athenian politics, particularly between the Greco-Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War, and was acclaimed by Thucydides, a contemporary historian, as "the first citizen of Athens". Pericles turned the Delian League into an Athenian empire and led his countrymen during the first two years of the Peloponnesian War. The period during which he led Athens, roughly from 461 to 429 BC, is sometimes known as the "Age of Pericles", but the period thus denoted can include times as early as the Persian Wars or as late as the following century.
The statue of Athena Parthenos was a monumental chryselephantine sculpture of the goddess Athena. Attributed to Phidias and dated to the mid-fifth century BCE, it was an offering from the city of Athens to Athena, its tutelary deity. The naos of the Parthenon on the acropolis of Athens was designed exclusively to accommodate it.
Cleon was an Athenian general during the Peloponnesian War. He was an early representative of the commercial class in Athenian politics; which during the early Peloponnesian war was coming into prominence - although he was an aristocrat himself. He strongly advocated for an offensive war strategy and is remembered for being ruthless in carrying out his policies. He was often depicted in a negative way, predominantly by Thucydides and the comedic playwright Aristophanes, who both represent him as an unscrupulous, warmongering demagogue. Cleon was the son of Cleaenetus.
The Temple of Athena Nike is a temple on the Acropolis of Athens, dedicated to the goddesses Athena and Nike. Built around 420 BC, the temple is the earliest fully Ionic temple on the Acropolis. It has a prominent position on a steep bastion at the south west corner of the Acropolis to the right of the entrance, the Propylaea. In contrast to the Acropolis proper, a walled sanctuary entered through the Propylaea, the Victory Sanctuary was open, entered from the Propylaea's southwest wing and from a narrow stair on the north. The sheer walls of its bastion were protected on the north, west, and south by the Nike Parapet, named for its frieze of Nikai celebrating victory and sacrificing to their patroness, Athena and Nike.
Black-figure pottery painting, also known as the black-figure style or black-figure ceramic, is one of the styles of painting on antique Greek vases. It was especially common between the 7th and 5th centuries BCE, although there are specimens dating as late as the 2nd century BCE. Stylistically it can be distinguished from the preceding orientalizing period and the subsequent red-figure pottery style.
The Pergamon Altar was a monumental construction built during the reign of the Ancient Greek King Eumenes II in the first half of the 2nd century BC on one of the terraces of the acropolis of Pergamon in Asia Minor.
A bust is a sculpted or cast representation of the upper part of the human body, depicting a person's head and neck, and a variable portion of the chest and shoulders. The piece is normally supported by a plinth. The bust is generally a portrait intended to record the appearance of an individual, but may sometimes represent a type. They may be of any medium used for sculpture, such as marble, bronze, terracotta, plaster, wax or wood.
Kresilas was a Greek sculptor in the Classical period, from Kydonia. He was trained in Argos and then worked in Athens at the time of the Peloponnesian War, as a follower of the idealistic portraiture of Myron. He is best known for his statue Pericles with the Corinthian helmet.
The Athena Promachos was a colossal bronze statue of Athena sculpted by Pheidias, which stood between the Propylaea and the Parthenon on the Acropolis of Athens. Athena was the tutelary deity of Athens and the goddess of wisdom and warriors. Pheidias also sculpted two other figures of Athena on the Acropolis, the huge gold and ivory ("chryselephantine") cult image of Athena Parthenos in the Parthenon and the Lemnian Athena.
The Athena of Velletri or Velletri Pallas is a type of classical marble statue of Athena, wearing a helmet.
The oinochoe by the Shuvalov Painter in the collection of Antikensammlung Berlin is an erotic depiction from ancient Greek vase painting.
The Berlin Foundry Cup is a red-figure kylix from the early 5th century BC. It is the name vase of the Attic vase painter known conventionally as the Foundry Painter. Its most striking feature is the exterior depiction of activities in an Athenian bronze workshop or foundry. It is an important source on ancient Greek metal-working technology.
The statuette of Aphrodite known as Aphrodite Heyl in the Antikensammlung Berlin is an especially finely worked terracotta statue from the second century BC.
The Double Herm of Socrates and Seneca is an ancient Roman statue from the first half of the third century AD. The herm depicts the Greek philosopher Socrates on one side, and the Roman Stoic Seneca the Younger on the other. It currently belongs to the Antikensammlung Berlin, found in the Altes Museum.
The Fragment from the tomb of Nikarete from the third quarter of the fourth century BC, found near Athens is displayed today in the Antikensammlung of the Altes Museum in Berlin.
The Attic Grave relief of Thraseas and Euandria from the middle of the fourth century BC is kept in the Pergamonmuseum and belongs to the Antikensammlung Berlin.
The Neck Amphora by Exekias is a neck amphora in the black figure style by the Attic vase painter and potter Exekias. It is found in the possession of the Antikensammlung Berlin under the inventory number F 1720 and is on display in the Altes Museum. It depicts Herakles' battle with the Nemean lion on one side and the sons of Theseus on the other. The amphora could only be restored for the first time almost a hundred and fifty years after its original discovery due to negligence and political difficulties.
A Relief depicting a Roman legionary is located in the Pergamonmuseum and belongs to the Antikensammlung Berlin. The relief was created at the end of the first century AD and was discovered in 1800 at Pozzuoli.
The Green Caesar is a portrait of Gaius Julius Caesar made of green slate kept in the Antikensammlung Berlin, which was probably made in the first century AD.
The Athena with cross-strapped aegis is an ancient statue of the Greek goddess Athena, which was made around AD 150 and is now displayed in the Antikensammlung Berlin.
