Unchanged by any teller — how the centuries since have seen Philotes.
The gallery
Philotes Sacrificing on the Altar of Friendship
Franz Anton von Zauner, early 19th century
A Neoclassical marble by the Austrian sculptor Franz Anton von Zauner (1746-1822) personifying Philotes, the Hesiodic spirit of affection, friendship and loving union born of Night. Draped in the antique manner, the young woman lays a crown of flowers upon an altar-column on which a heart burns, performing a tender sacrifice on the 'altar of friendship' that gives the work its title (Philotes sacrifiant sur l'autel de l'amitie). Since the ancients personified Philotes almost wholly in verse and left no individuated cult image, Zauner's allegory is among the rare attempts to give this abstraction a face, translating the Greek daimon of intimacy into the cool emblematic idiom of around 1800. The statuette measures roughly 83 x 31 x 20 cm.