Echoes from Bassae

Abstract

A marble slab, built into a private chapel in a cemetery in Catania, has on it a centauromachy, carved in relief. In a recent publication the author observes that at the start of the century the chapel belonged to a Catanian antiquary, who decorated it with sculpture from various places and periods; apart from this, nothing is known about the provenience of the slab. He also comments that the whole face has been re-cut at an unknown date, but certainly in modern times, so that an exact judgement of the style is impossible, and adds that the theme was a common one in ancient art, citing in particular the metopes from the south side of the Parthenon and the frieze from the temple of Apollo at Bassae. It is possible to go somewhat further; the nine figures on the relief are all copied from the frieze from Bassae; reading from left to right, the first four figures correspond to Slab 526; the fifth one to the left-hand centaur on Slab 521; the next two to the left-hand pair on Slab 525, and the last couple to the group of a Greek and a centaur on Slab 521. It might seem impossible to decide beyond all doubt if the Catania relief is an ancient copy of the frieze, re-cut in modern times, or if it is entirely modern; the copyist has indeed taken certain liberties with his original, varying some of the details—for instance, the position of the right forearm of the right-hand centaur—and replacing the woman on Slab 521 by two figures from another slab, but these changes are perhaps not inconceivable in an ancient copy. Two other details, however, are decisive.