Exhortation to the Greeks 4.47
Summary: The most famous statues of the gods have known makers and materials; even the “heaven-fallen” Palladium was made from bones.
Greek text · Stählin 1:35–37
ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἤνθησεν ἡ τέχνη, ηὔξησεν ἡ πλάνη. ὡς μὲν οὖν τοὺς λίθους καὶ τὰ ξύλα καὶ συνελόντι φάναι τὴν ὕλην ἀγάλματα ἀνδρείκελα ἐποιήσαντο, οἷς ἐπιμορφάζετε εὐσέβειαν συκοφαντοῦντες τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ἤδη μὲν αὐτόθεν δῆλον· οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀποδείξεως ποσῆς ἐπιδεομένου τοῦ τόπου οὐ παραιτητέον. τὸν μὲν οὖν Ὀλυμπίασι Δία καὶ τὴν Ἀθήνησι Πολιάδα ἐκ χρυσοῦ καὶ ἐλέφαντος κατασκευάσαι Φειδίαν παντί που σαφές· τὸ δὲ ἐν Σάμῳ τῆς Ἥρας ξόανον Σμίλιδι τῷ Εὐκλείδου πεποιῆσθαι Ὀλύμπιχος ἐν Σαμιακοῖς ἱστορεῖ. μὴ οὖν ἀμφιβάλλετε, εἰ τῶν Σεμνῶν Ἀθήνησι καλουμένων θεῶν τὰς μὲν δύο Σκόπας ἐποίησεν ἐκ τοῦ καλουμένου λυχνέως λίθου, Κάλως δὲ τὴν μέσην αὐταῖν· ἱστοροῦντα ἔχω σοι Πολέμωνα δεικνύναι ἐν τῇ τετάρτῃ τῶν πρὸς Τίμαιον· μηδʼ εἰ τὰ ἐν Πατάροις τῆς Λυκίας ἀγάλματα Διὸς καὶ Ἀπόλλωνος Φειδίας πάλιν ἐκεῖνος [τὰ ἀγάλματα] καθάπερ τοὺς λέοντας τοὺς σὺν αὐτοῖς ἀνακειμένους εἴργασται· εἰ δέ, ὥς φασί τινες, Βρυάξιος ἡ τέχνη, οὐ διαφέρομαι· ἔχεις καὶ τοῦτον ἀγαλματουργόν· ὁπότερον αὐτοῖν βούλει ἐπίγραφε. καὶ μὴν Τελεσίου τοῦ Ἀθηναίου, ὥς φησι Φιλόχορος, ἔργον εἰσὶν ἀγάλματα ἐννεαπήχη Ποσειδῶνος καὶ Ἀμφιτρίτης ἐν Τήνῳ προσκυνούμενα. Δημήτριος γὰρ ἐν δευτέρῳ τῶν Ἀργολικῶν τοῦ ἐν Τίρυνθι τῆς Ἥρας ξοάνου καὶ τὴν ὕλην ὄγχνην καὶ τὸν ποιητὴν Ἄργον ἀναγράφει. πολλοὶ δʼ ἂν τάχα που θαυμάσειαν, εἰ μάθοιεν τὸ Παλλάδιον τὸ διοπετὲς καλούμενον, ὃ Διομήδης καὶ Ὀδυσσεὺς ἱστοροῦνται μὲν ὑφελέσθαι ἀπὸ Ἰλίου, παρακαταθέσθαι δὲ Δημοφῶντι, ἐκ τῶν Πέλοπος ὀστῶν κατεσκευάσθαι, καθάπερ τὸν Ὀλύμπιον ἐξ ἄλλων ὀστῶν Ἰνδικοῦ θηρίου. καὶ δὴ τὸν ἱστοροῦντα Διονύσιον ἐν τῷ πέμπτῳ μέρει τοῦ Κύκλου παρίστημι. Ἀπελλᾶς δὲ ἐν τοῖς Δελφικοῖς δύο φησὶ γεγονέναι τὰ Παλλάδια, ἄμφω δʼ ὑπʼ ἀνθρώπων δεδημιουργῆσθαι. ἀλλʼ ὅπως μηδεὶς ὑπολάβῃ καὶ ταῦτά με ἀγνοίᾳ παρεικέναι, παραθήσομαι τοῦ Μορύχου Διονύσου τὸ ἄγαλμα Ἀθήνησι γεγονέναι μὲν ἐκ τοῦ φελλάτα καλουμένου λίθου, ἔργον δὲ εἶναι Σίκωνος τοῦ Εὐπαλάμου, ὥς φησι Πολέμων ἔν τινι ἐπιστολῇ. ἐγενέσθην δὲ καὶ ἄλλω τινὲ δύω Κρητικὼ οἶμαι ἀνδριαντοποιὼ (Σκύλλις καὶ Δίποινος ὠνομαζέσθην)· τούτων δὲ τὰ ἐν Ἄργει τοῖς Διοσκούροιν ἀγάλματα κατεσκευασάτην καὶ τὸν ἐν Τίρυνθι Ἡρακλέους ἀνδριάντα καὶ τὸ τῆς Μουνυχίας Ἀρτέμιδος ξόανον ἐν Σικυῶνι.
English · Claude translation
But when art flourished, error grew. That they made statues in human form out of stones and wood and, in a word, out of matter, statues on which you put a show of piety while slandering the truth, is already clear in itself; but since the subject needs some proof, I must not decline to give it. That Phidias made the Zeus at Olympia and the Athena Polias at Athens of gold and ivory is surely plain to everyone; and Olympichus records in his Samian History that the xoanon of Hera in Samos was made by Smilis the son of Eucleides. So do not doubt that of the goddesses at Athens called the Venerable Ones, Scopas made two of the so-called lychnite stone, and Calos the one between them; I can show you Polemon recording it in the fourth book of his Reply to Timaeus. Nor doubt that the statues of Zeus and Apollo at Patara in Lycia were again the work of that same Phidias, like the lions set up with them; but if, as some say, they are the work of Bryaxis, I do not dispute it: you have him too as a statue-maker; ascribe them to whichever of the two you like. Further, the nine-cubit statues of Poseidon and Amphitrite worshiped on Tenos are the work of Telesius of Athens, as Philochorus says. Demetrius, in the second book of his Argolica, records both the material of the xoanon of Hera at Tiryns, pear wood, and its maker, Argus. Many would perhaps be amazed to learn that the Palladium, the one called “fallen from heaven,” which Diomedes and Odysseus are said to have stolen from Troy and entrusted to Demophon, was made from the bones of Pelops, just as the Olympian Zeus was made from the bones of another animal, an Indian one. I bring forward Dionysius as my authority, in the fifth part of his Cycle. Apellas, in his Delphica, says that there were two Palladia, and that both were made by human beings. And so that no one may suppose that I have passed over these things out of ignorance, I will add that the statue of Dionysus Morychus at Athens was made of the stone called phellatas and is the work of Sicon the son of Eupalamus, as Polemon says in one of his letters. There were also two other sculptors, Cretans, I think (Scyllis and Dipoenus were their names); they made the statues of the Dioscuri at Argos, the statue of Heracles at Tiryns, and the xoanon of Artemis Munychia at Sicyon.
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Notes
Translation notes
- The “bones of an Indian animal” are ivory.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray period in the digital text, which splits the sentence): τοῦ Μορύχου Διονύσου. τὸ ἄγαλμα → τοῦ Μορύχου Διονύσου τὸ ἄγαλμα.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Protr. 4.47 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-protrepticus/4/47/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Protr. 4.47 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-protrepticus/4/47/).
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