urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-100229177 The Bassae-Frieze. 200 Years of Guesswork

Since the discovery of the great Greek temples and their architectural sculptureat the beginning of the 19th century, scholars and visitors of the museums inwhich they are displayed developed a special interest in this kind of sculpture. Scholars have dealt with the sculptures ’ original arrangement in the temples and the interpretation of the scenes that they seem to represent. These discussions continue to the present day. One of the problematic examples of architectural sculpture is the Bassae-Frieze. The temple of Bassae was rediscovered in quite a remote and hilly region on the Pelo-ponnese in 1765 and was immediately recognized as one of the best preserved ancient Greek temples (fig. 1).1 According to Pausanias it was dedicated to Apollo Epicurius for having saved the population from a plague during the PeloponnesianWar.2 Its frieze was found in 1812, and has now been on display in the British Museum in London for almost 200 years. The ionic frieze was fixed in the inside of the cella, on top of the cella wall (fig. 2). It is 31m long and 0.63m high. Twelve of the 23 slabs show an Amazonomachy, the others a Centauromachy. Both themes are quite common examples of mythological battle scenes depicted not only on temples but also on grave monuments, sarcophagi or public buildings. Since there is not any overlap between the slabs, their original arrange-ment is heavily disputed. Most figures referred to in the text are available via the links provided in the footnotes