著者

中村 友代

出版者

日本西洋古典学会

雑誌

西洋古典学研究 (ISSN:04479114)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.61, pp.60-72, 2013

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The "Alexander Sarcophagus" is one of the most celebrated works in the Hellenistic period. One of the six reliefs that decorated the sarcophagus shows a battle scene with Alexander the Great even though most scholars believe that the sarcophagus was not made for him but for Abdalonymos, the last king of Sidon in the 4^<th> century BCE. This paper aims at an iconographic interpretation of the battle scene featuring Alexander the Great through comparison with battle scenes made in the same period. What was the most important agenda for Abdalonymos, and what message did he intend to convey with the battle scene? Hence I would like to suggest a different point of views from previous studies. Most scholars identify the figure on the far left as Alexander wearing a lion-skin headgear. Based on his depiction, many scholars suggested that the relief shows a historical battle scene and tried to establish a connection between the relief and literature sources. Nowadays, the scene is often identified as the battle of Issus(333 BCE). There are, however, scholars who suggest a different interpretation, namely that the relief shows a symbolic or unidentifiable generic battle scene. It should be worthwhile to compare this battle scene with other contemporary battle scenes - for example, on the "Amazon Sarcophagus" in Vienna - in order to throw some light on the theme. As far as we know, similar works represented generic figures with idealized features. There are many similar motifs between these works and the Alexander sarcophagus that could be categorized as conventional topoi. A noteworthy difference between the battle scene on the Alexander sarcophagus and comparable reliefs' lies in the rendering of Alexander. Comparing the sarcophagus with the "Alexander Mosaic", which also depicted battle scene with Alexander, we find many similar motifs. Both works are considered to be influenced by the same original, a painting made in the 4^<th> century BCE. But it should be noted that there are distinguished differences between both works. Firstly, the expression on the sarcophagus is far less triumphant than on the mosaic. Secondly, Alexander is portrayed on the sarcophagus wearing lion-skin headgear, it's clearly an expression of his divinity. We know that Alexander wore lion-skin headgear which is an attribute of Hercules' because he saw himself as a descendant and rival of Hercules. Besides, there is no reference proving that Alexander fought with the lion-skin headgear on battlefields. According to ancient literature sources, Abdalonymos was appointed king of Sidon by Alexander. For Abdalonymos, it was most important to commemorate both the authority and the divinity of Alexander, the origin of his own royal authority. Very probably, the rendering of the victory over Persia was to him a matter of secondary concern.