Borgia Stele
The original Borgia Stele is located in the Archaeological Museum of Naples (Naples National Archaeological Museum 98). It was donated to the Archaeological Museum of Naples by Camillo Borgia (Giacobello 2013b, 60). The original location and context of the stele is unknown. A stele served as a funerary marker to commemorate the grave of a deceased (Campbell 2007). The original stele is cracked in half. A plaster cast of the original was created in the late 19th or early 20th century and was bequeathed to Bryn Mawr Special Collections from M. Carey Thomas. The plaster cast (2016.1.1) was used as a teaching aide in classes on Greek art and sculpture at Bryn Mawr College for many years. This plaster cast is partially preserved from the man’s chest down and only the lower half is displayed in the Digital Media and Collaboration Lab in Rhys Carpenter Library at Bryn Mawr College. It measures 63 x 26 in. (160.02 x 66.04 cm).
The Borgia Stele depicts a young man with a beard, carrying a staff or spear, and an object that may be a pomegranate or more likely an aryballos (an oil flask used by athletes) (Giacobello 2013b, 60). He wears a chlamys and sandals, and a greyhound sits by his feet.
It is dated to the late 6th century or early 5th century BCE, the transition between the Archaic and the Classical styles of sculpture. The owner of the stele is depicted here with a hunting dog, suggesting he was elite or wanted to be associated with elite leisure activities (Giacobello 2013b, 60).
An 1886 illustration in Ludvig Fenger’s Dorische Polychromie depicts the stele in color, but the veracity of this reconstruction is hard to verify (Brøns 2019, 313). Documentation of a 2013 restoration references a red line (“linea di colore rosso, a tratti discontinua”) on the stele’s profile without elaborating (Giacobello 2013a). Its reconstruction is based on comparable stelai with documented evidence of paint.
Go to the reconstruction of the Borgia Stele.
Nike adjusting her sandal, Temple of Athena Nike
The relief of Nike adjusting her sandal (known as the “Sandalbinder”) was originally part of the parapet wall surrounding the Temple of Athena Nike on the Athenian Acropolis. The parapet wall was ca. 1m high wall decorated in sculpted relief surrounding bastion on which the temple stood. The Sandalbinder relief was located on the south side of the parapet wall. Construction of the small Ionic temple by Kallikrates began in the 430s but was interrupted by the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War, and so was only completed in the 420s. Its location on top of the newly dressed Mycenaean bastion to the right of the Propylaia made the Temple of Athena Nike prominent and conspicuous to those ascending the Acropolis. Added in the 410s, a marble parapet 1 m high and fitted with a metal grille above surrounded the outer north, west, and south sides of the sanctuary of Athena Nike, and served as a safety feature from the steep drop of the bastion. In addition, the parapet was an integral component of the sanctuary’s sculptural program as it was the first visual representation visible on the ascent. The exterior face of the parapet blocks was sculpted in low relief with a variety of 50 independent scenes personifying Nike (Victory) that included Nike leading animals to sacrifice, erecting trophies, and holding a helmet. This stele, the Sandalbinder, is one of the most complete and famous depictions of Nike and was likely located on the southern parapet.
This plaster cast of Nike adjusting her sandal (2016.1.2), located in Rhys Carpenter Library, is a copy of an original 5th century BCE marble relief sculpture. It depicts the Nike (Victory) in a three-quarters view bent over slightly with her left leg raised as she loosens her sandal in order to step barefoot onto the altar. It is unclear as to whether Nike was taking off the sandal in order to enter the religious precinct or if Nike was merely just loosening her sandal after the war (Yael 2015). The sculptor has masterfully rendered her translucent drapery clinging to reveal her body, an example of the ‘wet drapery’ technique.
The parapet remained intact and visible until the Ottoman period (17th century) when the sanctuary was dismantled and its materials were integrated into the Turkish fortifications. In 1835, after Greek Independence, as the Greeks cleared away the Turkish fortifications, they discovered the remains of the Sanctuary of Athena Nike, including this well-preserved relief of Nike adjusting her sandal (head missing). The Temple of Athena Nike was reconstructed in 1834 after the Greek war of Independence.
While the Temple of Athena Nike was immediately restored, the parapet was not due to its fragmentary state. In the early 20th century, further conservation work on the temple was carried out by Nikolaos Balanos and completed by Anastasios Orlandos. Most recently, the entire temple was restored and reconstructed in 1999-2002. The parapet reliefs, including the original Sandalbinder, are on display in the Acropolis Museum in Athens.
Bryn Mawr Special Collections was gifted the plaster cast of the Sandalbinder by Mary Elizabeth Garrett. The cast was produced in the late 19th or early 20th century and used for years as a teaching aid for faculty and students in the Departments of Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology and Greek, Latin and Classical Studies at Bryn Mawr College. The plaster cast is 37.5 in. x 21.5 in. (95.25 cm. x 51.6 cm.).