A tomb, called that of alexander, though there can be no doubt that, although it commemorates the victories and exploits of alexander, it was made not to hold his remains, but those of some ruler of sidon who was high in his favour. Among all the monuments of antiquity which have come down to us, none is more admirable than this, and none more characteristic of the greek genius. We give, in two lines, the composition which adorned one of the sides of this sarcophagus. It represents a victory of alexander, probably that of the granicus. On the left we see the macedonian king charging the persian horse, on the right his general parmenio, and in the midst a younger officer, perhaps cleitus. Mingled with the chiefs are foot-soldiers, greek and macedonian, with whom the persians are mingled in unequal fray. What most strikes the modern eye is the remarkable freshness and force of the action and the attitudes. Those, however, who have seen the originals have been specially impressed with the colouring, whereof, of course, our engraving gives no hint, but which is applied to the whole surface of the relief with equal skill and delicacy. There are other features in the relief on which a greek eye would have dwelt with special pleasure—the exceedingly careful symmetry of the whole, the balancing of figure against figure, the skill with which the result of the battle is hinted rather than depicted. The composition is one in which the most careful planning and the most precise calculation are mingled with freedom of hand and expressiveness in detail. The faces in particular show more expression than would be tolerated in art of the previous century. We are unable as yet to assign an author or even a school to the sculptor of this sarcophagus; he comes to us as a new and striking phenomenon in the history of ancient art. Date: circa 300-50 B.C..
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