A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

POLYGNOTUS. POLYIDUS. 467
Taking, then, these facts in connection with the xliv. pp. 97, f., old ed., vol. xxxi. p. 118, ed. 1840
absence of any mention of Polygnotus's having Bittiger, pp. 296, f.; Otto Jahn, Die Gemaihlde
been engaged on the great works of Pericles and des Polyynotos in der Lesche z Delphi, Kiel, 1841;
Pheidias (except the Propylaea, at a later period), and, concerning the general subject of the Greek
it may fairly be supposed that, after the death of representations of the lower world, on ancient vases,
his patron, Cimon, he was glad to accept the in- compared with the description of Polygnotus's
vitation, which the fame of his works at Athens second picture, see Gerhard's Archiioloqisc] e Zeicaused him to receive, to unite with other Athenian tung, 1843, 1844, Nos. xi. —xv. and Plates 11-15.
artists in the decoration of the temple at Delphi. 7. His paintings in the chamber adjoining to the
The people who gave him the commission were the Propylaea of the Acropolis were probably the latest
Cnidians. It was customary for the different Greek of his great works. The subjects were all from
cities to show their piety and patriotism, not only Homer and the epic cycle (Paus. i. 22; Bbttiger,
by enriching the temple at Delphi with valuable pp. 290, 291).
gifts, but by embellishing its precincts with edifices, 8. The panel-picture mentioned by Pliny as
chiefly treasuries to contain their gifts. Among being at Rome in his time, shows that Polygnotus
the rest, the Cnidians had built at Delphi both a sometimes painted single figures, but Pliny's detreasury, and one of those enclosed courts, or halls, scription of the work is perfectly unintelligible,
which were called Aeaoax (places for conversation), "in qua dubitatur ascendentem cuaz clypeo pinxwhich existed in considerable numbers in various erit, an descendentem." (Plin. H. N. xxxv. 9. s.
Greek cities, and which were especially attached to 35.) [P. S.]
the temples of Apollo. The most famous of all of POLY'GONUS (floXuPyovos), a son of Proteus,
them was this Lesche of the Cnidians at Delphi, a grandson of Poseidon and brother of Telegonus.
which seems to have been a quadrangular or oblong The two brothers were killed by Heracles at Tocourt or peristyle, surrounded by colonnades, very rone, when they challenged him to a contest in
much like our cloisters. It was the walls of the wrestling. (Apollod. ii. 5. ~ 9.) [L. S.]
two principal colonnades of this building (those on POLYHY'MNIA. [POLYMNIA.]
the right and left of a person entering) that Poly- POLYI'DUS (IoA&r6'os). 1. A son of Coeranus,
gnotus was employed by the Cnidians to paint: a grandson of Abas and a great-grandson of Meand it is very interesting to observe the parallel lampus. He was, like his ancestor, a celebrated
between the most renowned works of the early soothsayer at Corinth, and is described as the
stages of the art in ancient Greece and modern father of Euchenor, Astycrateia, and Manto. (Pind.
Italy,-the paintings of Polygnotus in the Lesche 01. xiii. 104; Hom. 11. xiii. 663, &c.; Paus. i. 43.
at Delphi, and those ascribed to Andrea Orcagna, ~ 5; Apollod. iii. 3. ~ i.) When Alcathous
in the Campo Santo at Pisa. had murdered his own son Callipolis at Megara,
Polygnotus took his subjects from the whole he was purified by Polyidus, who erected at Mecycle of the epic poetry which described the wars gara a sanctuary to Dionysus, and a statue of the
of Troy, and the return of the Greek chieftains. god, which was covered all over except the face.
There were two paintings, or rather series of paint- (Paus., Apollod. 11. cc.; Hygin. Fab. ] 36.)
ings; the one upon the wall on the right hand; 2. A son of the Trojan Eurydamas, and a brother
tlhe other opposite to this, upon the wall on the left of Abas, was slain by Diomedes. (Hom. 11. v.
hand. The former represented, according to Pau- 148.) [L. S.]
sanias (x. 25. ~ 2), the taking of Troy, and the POLYI'DUS (rloxv'et0os, rIoAv'hios, fIoAunias,
Grecian fleet loosing from the shores of Ilium to FIoAuveLsW, all these forms occur, but the most
return home; the latter, the descent of Ulysses usual is rIoAu'8os), a dithyrambic poet of the most
into the lower world, which subject seems to have flourishing period of the later Athenian dithyramb,
been treated with especial reference to the mys- and also skilful as a painter, was contemporary
teries. In both pictures the figures seem to have with Philoxenus, Tiniotheus, and Telestes, about
been arranged in successive groups, and the groups, O1. 95, B. c. 400. (Diod. xiv. 46.) The noagain, in two or more lines above each other, with- tices of him are very scanty; but he seems to
out any attempt at perspective, and with names have been esteemed almost as highly as Timoaffixed to the several figures. To the picture on theus, whom indeed one of his pupils, Philotas,
the right hand was affixed the following epigram, once conquered. It is related that, as Polyidus
which was ascribed to Simonides:- was boasting of this victory, Stratonicus, the musirpa'cE fIoAdYVcswos, ~dau1os'y4'os,'A-yXaopCv0ros cian, rebuked him by saying, " I wonder you do
This, repOojv vrn'IhAdeov acpdnohlv. /not understand that you make 4qioprlpoauaTa, but
Timotheus vo'eovs," an untranslateable witticism,
Pausanias devotes seven chapters to the description intimating that Timotheus had been conquered by
of these paintings (x. 25-31); from which, how- the voice of the people, and not by the merit of his
ever, we gain little more than a catalogue of names. opponent. (Ath. viii, p. 532, b.) It seems from
The numerous and difficult questions which arise, a passage of Plutarch (De Mus. 21, p. 1138, b.),
respecting the succession and grouping of the figures, that Polyidus went beyond Timotheus in those inthe manner in which each of them was represented, tricate variations, for the introduction of which the
the aesthetical and symbolical significations of the musicians of this period are so frequently attacked.
pictures, and so forth, have furnished a wide field A remarkable testimony to his popularity throughof discussion for artists and archaeologists. The out Greece is still extant in the form of a decree
most important works upon the subject are the fol- of the Cnossians, commending Menecles of Teos for
lowing:-Diderot, Correspond. vol. iii. pp. 270, f. having played on the harp at Cnossus " after the
ed. 1831; Riepenhausen, F. et J., Peintures de manner of Timotheus and Polyidus and the an-,Polygnote i Delphes, dessineies et gravees d'apres la cient Cretan poets, as becomes an accomplished
Descr. de Pausanias, 1826, 1829, comp. G'tting. man." (Bickh, Corp. Inscr. Graec. vol. ii. p. 641,
(Gl. Anzeig. 1827, p. 1309; Gothe, Werke, vol. No. 3053.)
aH n 2