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Bassae Frieze

The Bassae Frieze is a high relief marble sculpture made of 23 panels, measuring 31 m long and 0.63 m high. It was created to decorate the interior of the cella of the Temple of Apollo Epikourios at Bassae and depicts scenes of Greeks fighting centaurs and Amazons. Likely carved around 400 BC, it belongs to the High Classical period. The frieze was discovered in 1811 and excavated the following year, though the original sequence of its blocks remains controversial. Most of the sculpture is now in the British Museum, where it is displayed in Gallery 16, with eight fragments in the National Museum, Athens.

Bassae Frieze marble relief panels showing draped figures, a deer-like animal, and a centaur in a battle scene.
A corner display of Bassae Frieze marble relief panels at the British Museum.
June 2010 © · CC BY-SA 4.0
Damaged marble relief from the Bassae Frieze showing the upper body of a draped figure and a carved hand on the right.
A damaged marble relief from the Bassae Frieze, with the upper body of a draped figure and a carved hand visible on the right.
© Unknown artistUnknown artist · Public domain
Fragmented marble sculpture from the Bassae frieze, showing a worn reassembled limb against a plain background.
A worn marble fragment from the Bassae frieze, photographed against a plain background.
May 2014 © · CC BY-SA 2.0
Black and white drawing of the Bassae Frieze in a long colonnaded temple interior.
A black and white architectural drawing showing the Bassae Frieze running above the columns of a temple interior.
© C. Cockerell · Public domain
Bassae Frieze shown as a reddish-brown carved band in a temple interior diagram of the Temple of Apollo Epikourios at Bassae.
A diagram of the Temple of Apollo Epikourios at Bassae highlighting the Bassae Frieze along the upper interior walls.
May 2014 © · CC BY-SA 2.0

Identification

TitleBassae Frieze
Original titleFrise du temple de Bassæ
Related artist and recreationJohn Henning created a one-twentieth-scale model of the Bassae Frieze over twelve years and used it, with his son, to install recreations of the Bassae Frieze and Parthenon Frieze on other buildings
TypeIonic frieze

Physical characteristics

FormHigh-relief marble frieze
MaterialMarble
Number of slabs23
TechniqueCarved slabs with surviving sections of relief and some attached bronze elements such as weapons and a club
Original placementInside the cella of the Temple of Apollo at Bassae, about seven metres above the floor near the ceiling
Length31 m
Height0.63 m

Historical context

Temple dedicationDedicated by the Phigalians to Apollo Epikourios (Apollo Epicurius), according to Pausanias, in thanks for deliverance from the plague of 429 BC
Temple site historyThe site had been in continuous use since the Archaic period; the surviving temple is the last of four on the site, designated Apollo IV
DateAround 400 BC
PeriodHigh Classical period

Creator

AuthorshipUnknown; attribution to Paionios has been rejected
Proposed attributionCooper identifies the artists as a group of three anonymous masters

Discovery and provenance

PublicationFormally published in 1892 in Arthur Smith's catalogue of the British Museum's holdings
Auction purchasersJames Linkh, Thomas Legh, Karl Haller von Hallerstein, George Christian Gropius, John Foster, and Charles Robert Cockerell
RemovalThe 23 slabs were removed in 1812 and transported to Zante
Acquisition by British MuseumPurchased at auction in 1815
Findspot documentationEarly archaeologists did not record the block findspots
FindspotThe paved floor of the cella, buried under collapsed temple debris; exact findspots were not recorded
Excavated byAn expedition of the Society of Travellers led by Karl Haller von Hallerstein and Otto von Stackelberg
Excavation date1812
Discovered byKarl Haller von Hallerstein and Charles Cockerell
Discovery date1811

Appearance

Composition by sideThe Centauromachy occupies seven slabs on the east side and four on the north side; the Amazonomachy episodes run from the northwest corner around the west and south sides to the east side
Stylistic featuresContinuous narrative across all sides rather than separate scenes by side; the north and south sides are compositionally adapted to the architecture, with centrifugal movement on the north side and axial symmetry on the south side
Related sculptural programmePart of the temple's larger sculptural programme, including the metopes of an external Doric frieze and an over-life-size statue
ReconstructionThe sequence is based on internal evidence from the surviving slabs, but the ordering remains controversial
Reconstruction basisCooper and Madigan's reconstruction
Episode distribution11 slabs show Greeks fighting centaurs and 12 slabs show Greeks fighting Amazons
Subjects depictedGreeks fighting centaurs and Amazons
Frieze arrangementA continuous narrative frieze around the interior of the cella/naos, with a single clear break at the northwest corner
Narrative episodesAmazonomachy of Penthesilea, Amazonomachy of Heracles, and Centauromachy

Iconography and meaning

Trojan AmazonomachyAmazons under Penthesilea attack Troy; Achilles kills Penthesilea on BM 537, and BM 539 shows a truce and the clearing of the battlefield
Heraklean AmazonomachyHeracles and the Greeks fight the Amazons in his attempt to seize Hippolyte's belt; BM 535 shows the final capture of the last Amazon
CentauromachyA battle between Lapiths and Centaurs
Centauromachy interpretationThe imagery includes elements more typical of the wedding-feast brawl of Peirithoos, possibly to unify the subject with the other frieze scenes and adapt it to the sanctuary's deities
Apollo and ArtemisApollo and Artemis intervene directly in BM 523

Location and ownership

CopiesCopies decorate the walls of the Ashmolean Museum and London's Travellers Club
Other fragmentsEight fragments believed to belong to the frieze are in the National Museum, Athens
Current locationBritish Museum
Current displayOn permanent display in a specially constructed room in Gallery 16

History and restoration

Early site workThe excavation team cleaned the site to uncover the sculptures
DocumentationHaller recorded the 1812 dig in his field notebook; two copies survive and preserve the only surviving details of the intact site and finds
Lost documentationDrawings made in 1811 were lost at sea
Display reconstructionThe British Museum arrangement follows Peter Corbett's proposal and is shown at an easily viewable height in a room built to the same size as the temple's main chamber
Arrangement disputesThe sequence and even the wall placement of some blocks remain disputed; proposals by W.B. Dinsmoor and Haller are among the alternatives

Significance

Architectural significanceA strikingly unusual example of its period, departing from Doric and Ionic norms; possibly one of the earliest uses of the Corinthian order and the first temple to have a continuous interior frieze around the naos