Deep in the Peloponnesian wilderness, high on a mountainous crag at Bassai, is a wild and wonky temple. Iktinos, who had played a major role in the design of the Parthenon some decades before, gave himself free reign here, combining Doric and Ionic architectural traditions and introducing (perhaps) the first Corinthian capital.
The construction took place over turbulent decades during which Athens was wracked with plague and the whole region suffered during the interminable Peloponnesian wars. Both aspects might have played a part in the temple: it was dedicated to a relatively new cult (Apollo Epikouros…the god in his healing mode) and the interior frieze (another innovation) had an unsettling sort of aspect, subject- and style-wise.
Here are three slabs showing the battles between Greeks versus Amazons. Compared to the more mannered carving of the Parthenon, something rather different is happening here. Rather than elegant compositions, the figures are all in contorted positions and violent movement. Jutting elbows, somewhat ungainly squats, rippling muscles, unfurling and (weirdly) stretched drapery. Although their faces are generally impassive, the gestures are somehow violent and desperate.
Both sides are suffering heavy casualties, and Greeks and Amazons alike are shown supplicating piteously to their opponents, and dragging off their battle-dead. It might be an over-romantic notion on my part (usually guilty!), but is tempting to see the strong emotional component as not just a stylistic precursor to Hellenistic ‘pathos’, but also a reflection of a dominant mood after Greek versus Greek had been pitted against each other during devastating decades of war.
(The majority of the frieze is now in the British Museum)
