Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece - Chapter 1060

[Chapter 9 Kingdom 2 Princess]

The sculptured idol is the most important part of building the temple, and the design of its image is the most important, but because the two Hades statues in the original temple have already satisfied the believers, so this time in the image design No modification has been made on the above, but since the new temple will inevitably be taller and more empty than the original, the original statue will appear too short when placed in the new temple, so a new statue must be carved.

Since the new temple is being rebuilt on the old site, the craftsmen temporarily built a warehouse not far away to store the statues and other objects in the original temple. The preliminary carvings of the new statues are also in this warehouse. .

Miliktos is the main person in charge of carving idols, and he is also a famous sculptor in the kingdom. The bronze statue of Hades holding a football outside the main arena in the inner city of Turien comes from his hands.

Even though the statue is tall and heavy, in fact, its core material is wood. Of course, the wood used for the statue requires hard texture and tight texture, so it is generally marine wood, preferably a hundred-year-old cedar.

With the original idols as a model, Meliktos only spent two months carving three wooden idols (two Hades and one Persephone), which are larger than the original ones. The statue is more delicate and vivid.

And then he handed over the work to the assistants, that is – to put the skin on the idol.

Due to the whiteness and rarity of ivory, it has become the first choice for the skin of statues for nearly a hundred years. Carvers tore the whole ivory into thin slices, and then stick them on the surface of the statues little by little. Patience is required.

Each statue is extremely huge, and a person can stick at most one finger a day, but there are hundreds of sculptors doing this work at the same time, so the progress is still quite fast.

While skinning the idols, carvers and artisans were working on two other tasks: one was firing the sand into stained glass, which was then made into star-shaped ornaments, each piece like a little shimmering gem , they will be inlaid on the wall behind the statue, as the background of the starry sky; the other is to make gold foil, goldsmiths will forge the gold into thin sheets, and then stick it on the ivory skin of the statue, as the gold worn by the statue Clothes and crowns add to the grace of Hades.

As for the statue in the Hell Hall, it was covered with silver foil and painted with dull blue lacquer to match the atmosphere of the entire temple.

In addition, they also have to make gold and silver seats for the statue. Although not all of them are made of gold and silver, the core of which is bronze, but the gold and silver consumed after the statue is completed is by no means a small amount. .

When the Dionysian Alliance was first built, it never dared to make such extravagant statues, and now the consumption of these precious metals is only a few days’ output from the mines of Iberia and Sardinia.

Meliktos was not involved in the rest of the process of making the statue, he was focusing on a more important work – making the pediment for the temple.

There is a triangular area under the eaves of the entrance to the two gates of the temple, called the pediment. The pediment is inlaid with slate and decorated with relief patterns. Usually its content comes from the stories of Greek mythology, but in this The results of the Senate discussions in the design of the temple were that one pediment would engrave a relief of a mass procession at the celebration of Hades, while the other would engrave the Dionysian royal family – the king and the two queens And five children (Davs originally proposed to include Adoris and Cynthia, because they are also his own family, but the Senate expressed strong opposition, they believed that the temple was built, and it was for future generations to worship for thousands of years. Bye, when the people of the kingdom and future generations see the relief, they will understand that the Dionysian royal family is the descendant of the god Hades, but the adopted son and daughter are not

.

With the great prestige of King Davos and his royal family now, if the relief carving is not good, even if the benevolent king does not say anything, the spittle of the people will drown him. King Firth took his precious time and took his family as his models to pose according to his requirements. He spent several days sketching out the sketches on the wooden boards and handing them over to Davos for review. Firth was satisfied, and he took the drawing to the construction site and sculpted it against it.

The pattern of the triangular frieze of the Dionian royal family is: Davos wears a crown, smiling, sitting on the throne, in the center; the two princesses wear gorgeous robes and put their hands on Davos intimately On his shoulders, he stood pretty on both sides; the five children surrounded them with expressions of joy, and Crotokatax happened to be in the middle of the five children.

If there is a careful audience to taste this pattern carefully, he will find that the composition of the king and the princess is almost exactly the same as the composition of Hades and Hades in the Hall of Light in the main temple of Hades (just one more princess) , which is a hint from the Priest of Wands, Plesinas, to make it contain a deeper meaning.

Miliktos held an iron chisel in one hand and a small hammer in the other, and concentrated on carving. This is already the third relief. He was not satisfied with the first two and destroyed it, but it was also because of With the experience of the first two paintings, he does not need to compare the original drawings at all. The whole pattern is already well-known in his chest, so he does not hesitate to strike every time, and the force is just right.

Just when he was indulging in his own creation, a clear female voice came from behind him: “No! No! Carved me too… Well, my eyebrows are not so thin, and the bridge of my nose should be higher… ”

Meliktos was pulled out of his immersed world by this voice, and was really annoyed. He turned around abruptly, wanting to yell at the intruder who disturbed his work, when he saw the man standing behind him. The anger of the two beautiful young girls subsided immediately, and immediately stood up, and said in a tone that was as kind as possible: “His Royal Highness Princess Eunice! Her Royal Highness Princess Aviya! Welcome!”

“We are here to worship the god Hades, stop by to see how the relief carvings in our house are doing.” Eunice stepped forward, pointed at the reliefs, and said unceremoniously, “But after looking at the reliefs. , I feel a little disappointed, this should be me, but I don’t feel like me, you carved it too softly.”

“Your Highness, although the carving comes from reality, it is usually a beautification of reality. What’s more This relief is to be seen by the people of the kingdom in the future, and I believe that they all want to see a beautiful and virtuous princess…” Miliktos wanted to convince Eunice that the reason why he was so patient was because He didn’t just meet the princess in the drawing room before. This princess who looks like a boy is very famous in Turui. In order to make her accept her temper, Princess Cristoia simply started to let her go when she was 16 years old. She was involved in some business affairs, and as a result, this decisive and fiery girl had become her mother’s right-hand man before she was 18 years old. In order to expand his carving workshop in other towns of the kingdom, Meliktos had once Loaned to Cristoia Bank, had dealt with Eunice a few times in person, and knew her well.

Eunice raised her eyebrows: “You mean I’m not beautiful and virtuous?!”

Miliktos felt tight, knowing that he had said something wrong, and hurriedly wanted to explain.

Eunice turned her face straight again, and said sternly: “You are right, I am indeed not as delicate and virtuous as other girls, but I don’t need to change, because that’s not me! Just like in your relief sculpture She is not like me at all, since you are carving our family, I hope you can really carve my appearance, I don’t want any beautification!”

“…Sister.” Ivia felt The atmosphere was a little tense, and Eunice was gently pulled.

“Don’t make trouble!” Eunice pushed her sister’s hand away, looked directly at Miliktos, and asked, “Do you think I’m right?”

“…Your Highness the Princess, you’re right…I will try again. Modification…” Miliktos actually gave in, which made the assistants who were hiding aside and didn’t dare to make a sound opened their mouths in surprise.

At this time, Miliktos suddenly looked behind Eunice and shouted, “Master Priest of Wands!”

“Oh, Miliktos.” Plessinas, who was wearing a white robe, saw the cry for help in the sculptor’s eyes, waved his hand lightly, and walked to Eunice: “Your Royal Highnesses, the two princesses, Let you wait for a long time, the temporary temple has been cleaned, the brazier, lamps and other things used for worship are ready, and you can start.”

Eunice looked at Miliktos, rolled her eyes, and said softly: ” My sister and I came to appreciate this sculpture just now. Master Miliktos carved it very well. I also communicated with him, and he promised me that I would like to see this sculpture next time. It would be better, isn’t it? Master Meliktos.”

“Yes, Your Royal Highness.” Meliktos responded helplessly.

Plessinas looked at the engraving, and then at Miliktos. Of course, he felt that there must be something tricky about it, but he didn’t explore it because he was interested, and immediately led the two princesses. and the palace guards who protected them to the temporary temple.

It wasn’t until they left completely that the assistants stood up and complained: “Even if she is a princess, she can’t interfere with your creation, teacher!”

“It turns out that she is the famous naughty princess of Turiyi! If she is so rude, how can she marry in the future? Go out!”

…

“Shut up for me, don’t want to live anymore! Work hard for me!” Miliktos roared, and suddenly became quiet.