A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

Smith, William

A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. William Smith, LLD, ed. 1890

(δαμοφῶν), a sculptor of Messene, was the only Messenian artist of any note. (Paus. 4.31.8.) His time is doubtful. Heyne and Winckelmann place him a little later than Phidias; Quatremère de Quincy from B. C. 340 to B. C. 300. Sillig (Catal. Art. s. v. Demophon) argues, from the fact that he adorned Messene and Megalopolis with his chief works, that he lived about the time when Messene was restored and Megalopolis was built. (B. C. 372-370.) Pausanias mentions the following works of Damophon: At Aegius in Achaia, a statue of Lucina, of wood, except the face, hands, and toes, which were of Pentelic marble, and were, no doubt, the only parts uncovered: also, statues of Hygeia and Asclepius in the shrine of Eileithyia and Asclepius, bearing the artist's name in an iambic line on the base: at Messene, a statue of the Mother of the Gods, in Parian marble, one of Artemis Laphria, and several marble statues in the temple of Asclepius: at Megalopolis, wooden statues of Hermes and Aphrodite, with faces, hands, and toes of marbie, and a great monolith group of Despoena (i. e. Cora) and Demeter, seated on a throne, which is fully described by Pausanias. He also repaired Phidias's colossal statue of Zeus at Olympia, the ivory plates of which had become loose. (Paus. 4.31. §§ 5, 6, 8, 8.31. §§ 3, 5, 37.2.)

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