Although this sketch is devoted principally to bronze and marble sculpture, I cannot resist the temptation to illustrate by a few examples the charming little terra-cotta figurines which have been found in such great numbers in graves at Tanagra and elsewhere in Boeotia (Figs. 169, 170).  It is a question whether the best of them were not produced before the end of the period covered by the last chapter.  At all events, they are post-Praxitelean.  The commonest subjects are standing or seated women; young men, lads, and children are also often met with.  Fig. 170 shows another favorite figure, the winged Eros, represented as a chubby boy of four or five—­a conception of the god of Love which makes its first appearance in the Hellenistic period.  The men who modeled these statuettes were doubtless regarded in their own day as very humble craftsmen, but the best of them had caught the secret of graceful poses and draperies, and the execution of their work is as delicate as its conception is refined.

Returning now to our proper subject, we may begin with the latest and most magnificent of the sarcophagi found at Sidon (Fig. 171; cf. page 234).  This belongs somewhere near the end of the fourth century.  It is decorated with relief-sculpture on all four sides and in the gables of the cover.  On the long side shown in our illustration the subject is a battle between Greeks and Persians, perhaps the battle of Issus, fought in 333.  Alexander the Great, recognizable by the skin of a lion’s head which he wears like Heracles, instead of a helmet, is to be seen at the extreme left.  The design, which looks crowded and confused when reduced to a small scale, is in reality well arranged and extremely spirited, besides being exquisitely wrought.  But the crowning interest of the work lies in the unparalleled freshness with which it has kept its color.  Garments, saddle-cloths, pieces of armor, and so on, are tinted in delicate colors, and the finest details, such as bow-strings, are perfectly distinct.  The nude flesh, though not covered with opaque paint, has received some application which differentiates it from the glittering white background, and gives it a sort of ivory hue.  The effect of all this color is thoroughly refined, and the work is a revelation of the beauty of polychromatic sculpture.

The Victory of Samothrace (Fig. 172) can also be dated at about the end of the fourth century.  The figure is considerably above life-size.  It was found in 1863, broken into a multitude of fragments, which have been carefully united.  There are no modern pieces, except in the wings.  The statue stood on a pedestal having the form of a ship’s prow, the principal parts of which were found by an Austrian expedition to Samothrace in 1875.  These fragments were subsequently conveyed to the Louvre, and the Victory now stands on her original pedestal.  For determining the date and the proper restoration of this work we have the fortunate help of numismatics.