Ancient Greek Bronze Fished From Sea Dazzes Italy

Yahoo News/Reuters ^ | 01-04-03 | Estell Shirbon

[u-89]

Ancient Greek Bronze Fished from Sea Dazzles Italy

By Estelle Shirbon

ROME (Reuters) - Italy unveiled an ancient Greek bronze statue of a dancing satyr on Tuesday, five years after Sicilian fishermen dragged it from the Mediterranean seabed in one of the most important marine archaeological finds ever.

The 2,500-year-old satyr went on public display inside Italy's parliament in Rome, where it will spend two months before being moved to a permanent home in Mazara del Vallo, the fishing village in western Sicily nearest to where it was found.

"The sea has given us back an extraordinary heirloom of our Mediterranean culture," said Pierferdinando Casini, speaker of the lower house of parliament, at the statue's formal inauguration on Monday night.

Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi and Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni hailed the find on the satyr's first public outing since it was brought into port.

"This is one of the most important archaeological finds we have seen in this country," said Veltroni.

The satyr is missing both arms and one leg, but the head and torso are remarkably well-preserved despite centuries spent at the bottom of the sea.

With its head tilted at a jaunty angle, curly hair flying and remaining leg suggesting it is in mid-leap, the two-meter tall satyr cuts a striking figure.

It is thought to have been part of a group of statues of Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and revelry, with dancing fauns, satyrs and other mythological creatures.

No one knows how the satyr ended up 1,600 feet under water off Sicily.

Experts from Italy's art restoration institute spent four painstaking years cleaning the sculpture and fitting it with a new internal steel structure to help it stand upright.

Some art historians have attributed the priceless bronze, dating from the fourth century BC, to the great sculptor Praxiteles, one of ancient Greece's most original artists.

"I am confident that this work is by Praxiteles. It has the artistry and technical excellence that were his trademark," said Paolo Moreno, a professor of ancient Greek art and history.

Shunning the formal, majestic style of earlier Greek sculptors, Praxiteles favored sensuous forms and graceful movements and left a profound mark on later classical art.

The last comparable archaeological find in Italy was a pair of astonishingly preserved fifth-century BC Greek sculptures of warriors, the Riace Bronzes, found in the sea in 1972 and now housed in a museum in the southern city of Reggio Calabria.

[BunnySlippers]

What a lovely post! Just a little L.A. background: When the villa was recreated in Malibu it was reviled by quite a few people. They were used to seeing antiquities as "old" and battered. But the Getty Villa was not old ... it was built to replicate a "new" villa, as it would have been when it was just built. The columns are new, not damaged; the gardens are green; the murals are fresh and vivid, not faded. It is a gem. I'm sorry that the Getty appears to be putting it out to pasture or, at the very least, restricting it to a favored few. If I was a visitor to L.A. and not a full time dweller, I would ask for a tour.

[ConservativeConvert]

I've never been but would love to go...

[u-89]

Judging by the clearly human foot, I don't see why the article persists in describing the figure as a satyr.

I am not knowledgeable enough to know all the subtle distinctions here but from the common understanding satyrs are as you describe however I see in some of my books on Roman art that the word is used to describe playful, dancing and lecherous figures with all human characteristics except for pointed ears. They also use the term Faun for the same creatures though again Fauns are commonly thought of as the Roman version of the Greek satyr, to the layman anyway. Fauns attended Faunus, the Roman god who was similar to the Greek Pan but was not usually depicted as half goat as was Pan. There seems to be a blur of Greek and Roman terminology with this stuff and multiple versions of the same creatures but I do not have an explaination for any of it.

[u-89]

I love that description of your Rome apartment. I wouldn't mind spending a few years there myself.

[Romulus]

My Oxford Classical Dictionary suggests that satyrs all have hooves, sometimes cloven, while this figure appears to be fully human (have I overlooked something?). Regardless, it's a lovely thing, and would make a spectacular addition to any MVSEVM's collection.

[u-89]

It's hard to see from the picture but it looks like the ears are pointed. Also the leaping type of dancing pose is typical of the subject. My dictionaries on Roman and Greek religion say as you suggest that satyrs are half goat while in my art books there are sculptures, wall paintings and mosaics that depict things like the above sculpture labeled as satyrs or fauns. Apparently the dictionaries do not account for every type of depiction. There appears to be variations. Somehow I will have to get to the bottom of this.

[ffusco]

"Your welcome. I lived in Rome for several years and had an apartment with two huge ancient Roman marble columns built into the living room walls! They were the remains of a pagan temple that had stood on the site 2000 years ago"

Incredible, the echos ......

[SunkenCiv]

an old topic, never pinged, from 2003:

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
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[Xenalyte]

Ancient Greek Bronze Fished From Sea Dazzes Italy

Oh, man, the Dazz Band was GREAT! Remember "Let It Whip"?

[t_skoz]

I was thinking more about Jeremy & The Satyrs

sorry, a little music nerd obscure humor...

[curmudgeonII]

I wonder why it took five years to exhibit it?

[Rebelbase]

When I click on the source link it takes me to Microsoft's website. What's up with that?

[eleni121]

I have a blank box with little red asterisk at the top corner.
Anyone know how to fix this problem?

[SunkenCiv]

Just updating the GGG information, not sending a general distribution.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
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-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

[SunkenCiv]

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[SunkenCiv]