Archela'us
a SCULPTOR of Priene, the son of Apollonius, made the marble bas-relief representing the Apotheosis of Homer, which formerly belonged to the Colonna family at Rome, and is now in the Townley Gallery of the British Museum (Inscription on the work).
The style of the basrclief, which is little, if at all, inferior to the best remains of Grecian art, confirms the supposition that Archelaus was the son of Apollonius of Rhodes [APOLLONIUS], and that he flourished in the first century of the Christian aera. From the circumstance of the "Apotheosis" having been found in the palace of Claudius at Bovillae (now Frattocchi), coupled with the known admiration of that emperor for Homer (
Suet. Cl. 42), it is generally supposed that the work was executed in his reign.
A description of the bas-relief, and a list of the works in which it is referred to, is given in
The Townley Gallery, in the
Library of Entertaining Knowledge, ii. p1. 10.
[
P.S]
