the bust:

a sculpted or cast representation of the upper part of the human figure, depicting a person's head and neck & a variable portion of the chest and shoulders, normally supported by a plinth.  They may be of any medium, marble, bronze, terracotta, wax or wood. It usually records the appearance of an individual, but sometimes represents a type.  It was a Hellenistic invention, though very few original Greek examples survive, as opposed to many Roman copies of them. There are 4 Roman copies as busts of Pericles with the Corinthian helmet, but the Greek original was a full-length bronze statue. The bust was very popular in Roman portraiture.

 

visage:

the face, usually with reference to shape, features, expression; countenance; aspect; appearance.

 

Ka (Egyptain):

see Chapter I, page 12

 

contemporary comedy (Greek):

New Comedy arrived after the death of Alexander the Great (323 BC) and lasted throughout the reign of the Macedonian rulers, ending about 260 BC.  It is comparable to situation comedy and comedy of manners.  The most famous New Comedy playwright was Menander.  He built on the legacy from his predecessors while adapting it to the portrayal of everyday life, rather than of politics & public affairs.  Mythological themes, coincidences to miracles or metamorphoses drop out of the picture.  The satirical and farcical element of Aristophanes' comedies (the late Old Comedies) were abandoned.  The grotesque was de-emphasised- whether in the form of choruses, humour or spectacle - opening the way for greater representation of daily life and the foibles of recognisable character types.  The characters are semi-realistic, stereotypic figures, who would become the stock characters of Western comedy: braggarts, the permissive father figure and the stern father, young lovers, parasites, kind-hearted prostitutes, and cunning servants.  Their largely gentle comedy of manners drew on a vast array of dramatic devices, characters and situations developed from Old and Middle Comedy: prologues to shape the audience's understanding of events, messengers' speeches to announce offstage action, descriptions of feasts, the complications of love, sudden recognitions, ex machina endings were all established techniques which playwrights exploited.  This new comedy depicted Athenian society and the social morality of the period, presenting it in attractive colours but making no attempt to criticize or improve it.

 

name magic::

Spengler seems to suggest the idea of the true name; this is a name of a thing or being that is identical to its true nature.  The notion that language, or some specific sacred language, refers to things by their true names has been central to philosophy, magic, religious invocation & mysticism.  Socrates in Plato's Cratylus considers the possibility whether names are "conventional" or "natural" (true name), that is, whether language is a system of arbitrary signs or whether words have an intrinsic relation to the things they signify.

 

Tyrannicides (statues of Harmodius and Aristogiton): * see EndNote<A>

A sculptural pairing of the tyrannicides Harmodius and Aristogeiton was famous in the ancient world.  Two versions were made, but only 1 survived in Roman copies. The first version was commissioned from the sculptor Antenor after the establishment of Athenian democracy & erected in the Agora.  It was stolen in 480 by the Persians & removed to Susa.  Although it was eventually returned, to replace the stolen version, the Athenians commissioned Kritios and Nesiotes to produce a new statue, which was set up in 477 BC.  Both versions stood side-by-side in the Agora as late as the 2nd century AD when Pausanias saw them. This latter sculpture was also lost, but was extensively copied in Hellenistic & Roman times.  In the Neo-Attic style that revived the Severe style of the original bronzes, it shows idealized portraits of the 2 heroes: a clean-shaven Harmodius, thrusting a sword forward in his upraised right hand, another sword in his left hand; Aristogeiton, also brandishing a sword, with a chlamys draped over his left shoulder. Of the 4 swords only the hilts are left. The original head of Aristogeiton having been lost, another has been set in its place and is only a poor fit.

 

Etruscan statues of Kings in the Capitol: * see EndNote<B>

Spengler’s reference is based on literary evidence not artefacts.  Cassius Dio (155-235 AD) in his Roman History states: “there were eight such statues, — seven to the kings, and an eighth to the Brutus who overthrew the Tarquins”.  However we do have a possible link with the famous "Capitoline Brutus", a bronze head supposedly of Lucius Junius Brutus.

 

portraits of Olympic victors:

see above page 265

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genre:

any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time.  It began as an absolute classification system for ancient Greek literature.  Poetry (odes, epics), prose & performance each had a specific and calculated style that related to the theme of the story.  Speech patterns for comedy would not be appropriate for tragedy, and even actors were restricted to their genre under the assumption that a type of person could tell one type of story best.

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applied art:

the application of design and decoration to everyday objects to make them aesthetically pleasing. The term is applied in distinction to the fine arts which aims to produce objects which are beautiful and/or provide intellectual stimulation.

 

Corinthian column:

see Chapter VI  page 204

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Hellenistic portraiture:

the period is notable for its portraits; realistic portraits of men & women of all ages were produced, sculptors no longer bound to depict people as ideals of beauty or physical perfection.  For example The drunk woman (at Munich) portrays without reservation an old woman, thin, haggard, clutching against herself her jar of wine.  Along with anatomical realism, the artist represented the character of his subject, including themes such as suffering, sleep or old age.  Genre subjects of common people, women, children, animals & domestic scenes became acceptable subjects, which was commissioned by wealthy families for the adornment of their homes and gardens.

 

Sophocles (Lateran Museum): * see EndNote<C>

Roman marble statue from the time around 30 BC from Terracina, after Greek bronze statue from the years 340-330 BC

 

Pericles of Cresilas: * see EndNote<D>

aka Kresilas (480-410 BC) was Greek sculptor, from the city-state of Kydonia, on Crete.  He trained in Argos under Dorotheos with whom he worked at Delphi & Hermione.  Between 450 and 420 BC he worked mainly in Athens, as a follower of Myron's school and in the post-Phidias period he brought elements of compactness due to the Peloponnesian period.  He is best known for his statue Pericles with the Corinthian helmet.  Kresilas also created the wounded men and a dying Amazon for Ephesus, the model for many copies.  He is also the originator of the Velletri type of Athena statue (Athena of Velletri); he created a Diomedes statue according to Homer's description.

 

Demetrius of Alopeke:

Greek sculptor, critics claimed he was notable for the lifelike realism of his statues. His style was contrasted with that of Cresilas (an idealizing sculptor of the previous generation).  He mainly produced portrait statues.  His portrait of Pellichus, a Corinthian general, "with fat paunch and bald head, wearing a cloak which leaves him half exposed, with some of the hairs of his head flowing in the wind, and prominent veins", was admired by Lucian.  Few extant works have been attributed to Demetrios: the head of Lysimache (a priestess of Athena) although none authenticated.  A statue base, found at the Acropolis at Athens, however, bears the inscription that he was the sculptor of such a statue.

 

Lysistratus:

Greek sculptor, 4th century BC, brother of Lysippus of Sicyon.  He followed a strongly realistic line, being the first sculptor to take impressions of human faces in plaster.

 

Pliny:

aka Pliny the Elder, 23–79 AD, Roman author, a naturalist & natural philosopher, a naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, friend of emperor Vespasian.  He wrote the encyclopaedic Naturalis Historia (Natural History), which became an editorial model for encyclopaedias.  He spent most of his spare time studying, writing, and investigating natural and geographic phenomena in the field.

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Roman busts: * see EndNote<E>

aka Roman portraiture, a significant period in portrait art; originating from ancient Rome, it continued for almost five centuries; characterised by unusual realism & a desire to convey high quality natural images (some busts show clinical signs of disease). The origin of Roman portraits is rooted in wax death masks, taken directly from the deceased, giving an accurate representation of facial features.  Wax molds were used to fabricate a bronze, marble or terracotta death mask.  Development of the Roman portrait was associated with increased interest in the individual, with the reflection of an associated social circle or class.  We find an artistic style that employs a clear, rigorous transfer of unique features of the subject, while keeping the general style very similar.  In contrast to Greek portraits that strived for idealization (the Greeks believed that a good man must be beautiful), Roman portrait sculpture was far more natural & is considered one of the most realistic samples of the genre in the history of art

 

physiognomic depth:

Spengler uses the concept of physiognomy repeatedly in his philosophy, it is fundamental in almost of his judgements, his standard key for judgment; he uses it in place of a causal (cause/effect) approach in explanations, comparisons and analogy.

and see Chapter I, page 49, Chapter III pages 100, 112, 113, Chapter IV page 118, 130, 144, 145, 156, Chapter VI page 214 Chapter VII page 222, 233, 250

 

Marees:

see Chapter VII, page 244, 252

 

Leibl:

see Chapter VII, page 244, 252