New-York tribune., 1878-11-22

FrOm elecrotype plates from Cesnoas Cyprus" by per-
mission OF Harper BrOthers)
-NothDg could he ruder than some of the figures OF
hOrsemen OF which | discovered great numbers III Cy
prus at various times and places but II these objects
are believe Of very remote antiquity they are Of
considerable interest not only as showing the very
habit the anOionts had OF rding It, You will perhaps
remember that Mr. Gladstone and others have pointed
out that though horses constantly In the Had
for charots there IL scarcely evidence OF riding
them. II is not at all likely that riding on horses
uncommon In the days OF Homer, though he may make
little or no mention OF ~, aud perhaps shall bs Jus
ed in regarding such primitive works OF art these
cottas better proof Of the existence Of riding
than HOmer's silence Is proof 10 the contrary.
In another figure you have the representation OF
chariot. II Is drawn by two horses attached by yoke
their shoulders. and pole. 1t carries two per
sons the owner and the driver both OF whom stand
ing There no seat and for this reason we NAV take
Tor granted that represented chariot in war
seat would be In the way Ot the warriors, whose habit
OF fighting was TO Jump down from the back OF their
chariOts strike the enemy and then leap in again
For this purpose the chariot was left open at back
The ordinary chariot used for common occa.
slons usually closed vt the back ana open at the
front. The wheels were sometimes solid but perhaps
more frequently made into spokes.
From the want OF better material than the calcareous
stone, artists may have been fond Of terracotta
than they IN Greece. where marble was 80 abun-
dant. But while speaking OF material cannot avoid
wondering that an island 80 rich in copper should not
have eXcsed In the production OF bronze sculptures
Yet the fact remains that little nothing OF bronze
sculpture has yet been discovered IN Cyprus what
certainly very remarkable that Cyprus. celebrated as ID
IN ancient history for The extent OF It's copper mines
nd II would appear, also for It's production Uf the alloy
known as brOnzol should not have eXceed at least
obtained respectable position, In sculpture
material IN ancient literature hear OF only one or
two sculptures from Cyprus, and We do not know
whether CYprlOte artists WorRed IN metal at all nor
have excavations hitherto yielded anything except very
scanty remains OF bronze work.
or the tue Greek style Of sculpture there Ia bronze
figure from the Temple OF Apollo H. ates representng
tnink an athlete As to the date OF this bronze We
have "a guide that II was not made before the time
OF Poly cetus 460 b. c. since II was he who first intro
Guced figures standing and resting on one legeeneray
the left leg with the right foot thrown back How much
later the time OF POyeetus this bronze statue NAV
be cannot positively say, for the that this att-
tude was adopted for athletes and continued down To
the Imperial Age OF Rome. There Is ground for sup
posing that this bronze is late. On the contrary
would rather fall ia the period between POycetus aud
Alexander Great, speaking in round numbers de-
tween 500 and 800 II. &. in my work Cyprus, was
led to call bronze "A statuete OF Apollo, chiefly ON
account OF having found IL III the ruins OF a temple
dedicated to this god, aud In the inscription to
Apollo | am now convinced that this bronze
cannot be for Apollo even granting that the in
scrbcd base belongs 10 It, The bronze has none Of
ApOllOs Attributes nor the hands in position to
hold rightly his characteristic attributes whereas there
Is everything that is consistent with the figure o nn
athlete.
One OF the chambers at Curium contained
clusively objects in brODze consisting OF esndeabra
vases and u variety Of SIhsr s-1e!es. Among them ]