第6章 古希腊最伟大的雕塑家
普通的人一般被称为“先生”,比如史密斯先生呀,琼斯先生呀。而我们在称呼伟大人物的时候,通常却不加“先生”一词,而是用伟人的全称,比如乔治·华盛顿。可对于全世界最伟大的人物呢,我们通常又只称呼他们的姓。虽说人们早已列出了世界历史上最伟大的一百位人物的名录,比如最伟大的君主、最伟大的作家、最伟大的画家等,但你们很可能从来都没有听说过世界历史上最伟大的雕塑家的情况呢。他是一位古希腊人,叫作菲狄亚斯;这可不是他的名字,而是他的姓,就是菲狄亚斯。
波利克里托斯和米隆制作的,都是凡人的雕像。而菲狄亚斯雕刻的,却是神灵以及圣人的雕像。雅典有一座巨大的山丘,叫作“阿克罗波利斯”,就是“高地城邦”的意思。古希腊人在这个山丘上修建了一座非常漂亮的神庙,叫作“巴台农神庙”。之所以修建这座神庙,只是为了在这里供奉一尊宏伟辉煌的雅典娜神像。古希腊人认为,雅典娜女神赐予了他们很多的有用之物,并且像一位母亲守护着儿女那样,守护着古希腊人和他们的城邦。
菲狄亚斯被推选来制作这尊女神雕像。由于冰冷的大理石并不是十分理想的雕塑材料,因此菲狄亚斯是用黄金和象牙制作出这尊雕像的,并且雕像的高度达到了真人的八倍。他雕刻出来的雅典娜笔直地站立着,身披一件垂到了地上的无袖长袍。
雕像的胸前,有一块边沿雕有毒蛇的胸甲。因为当时的人认为,毒蛇是世界上最聪明的生物。而胸甲的中心,则是美杜莎的头像。你们可能都还记得,前面我跟你们说
supposed to be the wisest of creatures.In the center of the breastplate was the head of Medusa.You may remember I told you that Athena helped Perseus to cut Medusa’s head off.Well, around the head of Medusa, between the serpents and the head, a battle between the Amazons and the Greeks was shown.Athena wore a helmet.On top of this helmet was a sphinx and on each side of the sphinx were winged horses.
Athena's left arm rested on a shield and carried a lance, around which coiled another serpent. In her right hand Athena held a statue of Victory, who faced her and offered her a wreath of gold.The statue of Victory was about six feet tall, so you can see how big the statue of Athena herself must have been.
This statue of Athena has entirely disappeared, probably stolen piece by piece for its gold and ivory. We know what it looked like only by a small, probably very poor copy that was made of it.And judging by the copy we have, we cannot quite agree that the statue was as beautiful as the ancient Greeks thought it.A full-size statue was made from that copy.Today it stands in a full-size copy of the Parthenon in Tennessee, not Greece.
Phidias's statue of Athena, as I told you, was inside the Parthenon. All around the four outside walls of the temple, high up near the roof, was a band or strip of sculptured figures in low relief called a frieze.This frieze was almost a tenth of a mile long and showed in marble a parade of grand procession that took place in Athens once every four years.
The object of the procession was to bear a gift of a golden dress made by the girls of
过,雅典娜曾经帮助珀耳修斯砍掉了美杜莎的脑袋。而在美杜莎的头像周围,即毒蛇边饰和头像之间,则刻画了阿玛宗人与古希腊人之间的一场战斗。雅典娜戴着一顶头盔。头盔顶上,雕有一尊斯芬克斯。而斯芬克斯的两侧,则各有一匹长有翅膀的飞马。
雅典娜的左臂搁在一面盾牌之上,并且手持一支长矛。长矛之上,缠绕着另一条毒蛇。雅典娜的右手握着一尊胜利女神维克托里亚的雕像。维克托里亚面对着雅典娜,正将一个黄金花环献给她。光是维克托里亚的雕像,就有约六英尺高,由此你们就可以看出,这尊雅典娜雕像本身有多巨大了。
这尊雅典娜雕像已经完全不复存在,很可能是被人一点一点地偷走了,因为这座雕像是用黄金和象牙制作的。我们如今之所以知道它的样子,只是由于我们有一座小型的,很可能做工也非常粗劣的复制品。而从如今拥有的这尊复制品来看,我们可没法完全像古希腊人那样,认为它有多么多么的美丽呢。人们根据这座复制品,制作出了一尊与原件大小一样的雕像。如今,这尊雕像也坐落在按照一比一复制出来的巴台农神庙里;可这座巴台农神庙,并不在希腊,而是在美国的田纳西州。
前面我跟你们说过,菲狄亚斯雕刻的这座雅典娜雕像,被供奉在巴台农神庙里。神庙四面外墙上靠近屋顶的地方,雕有一圈浅浮雕图案,称为“横饰”。这圈横饰,差不多有十分之一英里长,用大理石描绘了雅典每四年举行一次的盛大游行。
举行这种游行的目的,是为了将雅典的姑娘们为雅典娜女神制作的一件黄金礼服,当作礼物献祭给雅典娜;因此,人们会盛况空前地把这件黄金礼服送到神庙里
Athens for their goddess, and it was carried with great pomp and ceremony to the temple.All Athenians-men, women, and children-took their part in the procession.There were horsemen with their horses.There were animals to be sacrificed.There were girls and boys bearing gifts.There were musicians and singers.
The frieze of the procession starts at one end of the Parthenon and proceeds along both sides of the temple to the other end where the entrance is. It is the most perfect relief work that we know anything about.And although there are hundreds of figures of men, women, and animals, Phidias planned it all and, with his students, made it all.There is a tenth of a mile of it and yet, at the time it was completed, there was not one rough or unfinished part in the entire frieze-even the parts that could not be seen were finished.Nothing except perfection was good enough for the temple of this goddess of the Athenians.
When the relief was in place on the Parthenon wall, it could just barely be seen because it was so high up and closed in by the portico of columns that surrounded it. The background and the figures were painted in bright colors so they could be seen better.
Above and between the columns in the Parthenon are spaces or panels called metopes. These metopes contain high reliefs illustrating battles, most of which are between gods and animals called centaurs.A centaur is a mythological monster that has the body of a horse and the head and trunk of a man.
There are ninety-two groups of these metopes, and all are now broken!In many cases, an arm or a leg is gone, a nose is broken, or an ear or an eye is missing. So you have to use your imagination to understand what the figure looked like when it was perfect.If you
去。所有的雅典人,不论男女老少,都会参加此次游行。有骑着高头大马的骑士,有准备献祭的牲畜,有捧着礼物的童男童女,还有许多乐师和歌手。
这圈描绘游行盛况的横饰,从巴台农神庙的一端开始,沿着神庙外墙的两侧,直达神庙大门所在的另一端。这是我们知道的,所有作品中最完美的一件浮雕。并且,尽管其中雕有数百个人物和动物的图案,菲狄亚斯却通盘设计,然后带领自己的学生,完美地将它们呈现了出来。虽说整圈横饰长达十分之一英里,可到完工的时候,整圈横饰中却没有一处粗制滥造或者未完成的部分,连那些看不到的地方,也都非常完美。只有完美,才配得上雅典人供奉雅典娜女神的这座神庙呢。
这圈浮雕在巴台农神庙里雕刻到位之后,人们却很难看得到,因为它的位置太高,还被四周的柱廊围挡起来了。因此,浮雕的背景和图案都被涂上了亮丽的颜色,以便让人们看得更清楚一点儿。
巴台农神庙里那些柱子上方和柱子之间的空隙或者嵌板,称为“柱间壁”。这些柱间壁上,都雕有描绘战斗场景的高浮雕,其中绝大部分是众神与一种叫作“半人马”的野兽之间的搏斗。“半人马”是神话故事中的一种怪物,身子是马,但头和上身却是人。
神庙里有九十二组这样的柱间壁饰,可如今它们都已经破损不堪了!在许多情况下,其中的人物要么是一只胳膊、一条腿掉了,或是一只鼻子破了,要么就是少了一只耳朵或一只眼睛。因此,你们得运用自己的想象力,去想象图案完整无缺时是个什么样子才行。假如没有什么想象力,那你们很可能就会惊呼道:“什么!您
have no imagination, you probably will exclaim,“What!You call that beautiful?”
At each end of the Parthenon there is a large triangular space made by the sloping roof called a pediment. In these two triangular spaces were groups of superb, heroic-size figures of gods and goddesses.The word heroic-size means bigger than real life.The figures are fully in-the-round-that is, they stand free from the background.Unfortunately, little is left of these sculptures.
The group in one triangular end represented the birth of Athena. Athena was not born as a tiny baby but full-grown and fully armed.And she came from the brain of the king of the gods-that is why she was so wise.Zeus, the chief of the gods, was in the center of this group.Hephaestus, the blacksmith god, had just struck Zeus on the head with his hammer and, according to the story, Athena sprang out of Zeus's head in full armor.
On each side of this central group, the other gods and goddesses are looking on. Some are standing, some are sitting, and some are lying down.The groups were planned to fit the triangular spaces.Dionysus Reclining is one of the remaining statues.
Lord Elgin, an English nobleman, saw these sculptures many years ago and thought them so beautiful that he wanted his country
柱间壁饰,源自巴台农神庙细部,现存于伦敦的大英博物馆(摄影:加里·威肯)
说那也叫美丽?”
巴台农神庙的两端,各有一个由倾斜屋顶所构成的三角墙,称为“人字墙”。这两座三角墙上,雕有数组宏伟的、尺寸大过真人的众神雕像。所谓的“尺寸大过真人”,就是指尺寸比现实当中的人更大。这些雕像全都是彻彻底底的圆雕;也就是说,它们全都是脱离了背景的雕像。可惜的是,如今这些雕像也几乎所剩无几了。
其中一面人字墙一端的一组雕像,描绘了雅典娜女神降生时的情形。雅典娜出生时,可不是一个小宝宝,而是长大成人了,并且全副武装呢。她是从众神之王的脑袋里生出来的,所以她才这么聪明。众神之首宙斯位于这组雕像的中心。身为铁匠的火神赫菲斯托斯,刚刚用自己的铁锤击打了宙斯的脑袋;而根据神话的说法,此时,全副武装的雅典娜一下子便从宙斯的脑袋里跳了出来。
这组处于中心地带的雕像,周围都是旁观的其他众神。有些神灵站着,有些神灵坐着,还有些神灵则是躺着。这些众神的雕像,都被设计得与整面三角形的人字墙丝丝入扣。下面这尊《斜倚着的狄俄尼索斯》,便是其中保存下来的一座雕像。
英国的一位贵族埃尔金勋爵,在很多年前看到了这些雕塑,觉得它们非常漂亮,因而希望自己的祖国也有这样的雕塑作品。这些雕塑作品在正常的情况下是看
to have them.The sculptures could not be seen properly and they were gradually being destroyed, for there seemed to be no one interested enough to take care of them.So Lord Elgin bought most of them for about two hundred and fifty thousand dollars and took them to England, where they were put in the British Museum.They are now known as the Elgin Marbles.
But the greatest of all the sculpture that Phidias made was not in Athens. It was in a temple at Olympia.For this temple he made a statue of Zeus.It, too, was made of gold and ivory, and it, too, has disappeared.This statue of Zeus was so famous that it was called one of the Seven Wonders of the World and every Greek hoped to see it before he died.When Phidias had completed it, he prayed to Zeus and asked him to show in some way if he liked the statue of himself-whereupon a thunderbolt shot down from the blue sky overhead and struck near the sculptor's feet!
But after all he had done, the great Phidias was put in prison. You'd never guess why!It was because he had carved a picture of himself on the shield of Athena in the Parthenon.To the Athenians, it was a terrible crime for a mortal to put a picture of himself on the shield of their goddess!And so Phidias died in prison.What an end for such a great sculptor.
斜倚着的狄俄尼索斯,源自巴台农神庙细部,现存于伦敦的大英博物馆(摄影:加里·威肯)
不到的,它们逐渐被损毁了,因为当时似乎没人对保护这些雕塑感兴趣。于是,埃尔金勋爵便花了大约二十五万美元,将其中的大部分都购买下来,并带回了英国,存放到了大英博物馆里。如今,这些雕塑便都被称为“埃尔金大理石雕”了。
不过,菲狄亚斯制作的最伟大的一件作品,却并不在雅典。它位于奥林匹亚的一座神庙里。他曾经为这座神庙制作了一尊宙斯雕像。这尊雕像也是用黄金和象牙雕刻而成的,并且如今也已不复存在了。由于这尊宙斯雕像极其有名,因此它还号称“世界七大奇迹”之一;每个希腊人都希望,自己能够在有生之年去看上一眼呢。菲狄亚斯完工之后,曾经向宙斯祈祷,要求宙斯用某种方式显一显灵,看他是不是喜欢自己的这尊雕像。就在此时,晴天里竟然出现了一道霹雳,从菲狄亚斯的头顶直劈下来,击在这位雕塑家的脚边!
不过,在做完这一切之后,伟大的菲狄亚斯却被关进了监狱。你们可能永远都猜不到原因!这是因为,他竟然把自己的形象,刻在巴台农神庙里雅典娜雕像的盾牌之上了。在雅典人看来,一名凡夫俗子竟然将自己的样子刻在雅典娜女神的盾牌之上,这可是一种严重的罪行!于是,菲狄亚斯后来便死在了监狱里。对于这样伟大的一位雕塑家来说,最终竟是这样一种下场,真是令人惋惜啊。