ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 1059 The Two Princesses of the Kingdom

Carving idols is the most important part of building a temple, and the image design is even more important. However, since the two Hades statues in the original temple have already satisfied the believers, this time in the image design No modifications were made, but since the new temple will inevitably be taller and more spacious than the original one, the original statues will appear too small if placed in the new temple, so new statues must be carved.

Since the new temple was being rebuilt on the old site, craftsmen built a temporary warehouse not far away to store the statues and other objects in the original temple. The preliminary carving of the new statue was also done in this warehouse. .

Miliktus is the main person in charge of carving statues of gods. He is also a famous sculptor in the kingdom. The bronze statue of Hades holding a rugby ball outside the main arena in Turiine was made by him.

Although the statue is tall and heavy, its core material is actually wood. Of course, the wood used for the statue needs to be hard and tightly textured, so it is usually ship wood, preferably cedar that is hundreds of years old.With the original statues of gods as models, Miliktus spent only two months carving three wooden statues of gods (two statues of Hades and one statue of Persephone), which were much better than the original ones. The statue of the god is more exquisite and vivid.

Then he handed over the work to his assistants, which was to put the skin on the statue.Due to its whiteness and rarity, ivory has become the first choice for the skin of statues in the past hundred years. The carvers tear the complete ivory into thin slices and stick them on the surface of the statue bit by bit. They must be absolutely perfect. This is a very difficult task. It requires patient work.

Each statue of the god is extremely huge, and one person can only glue one finger on it in one day. However, there are hundreds of carvers working on it at the same time, so the progress is still quite fast.

While skinning the deity, the carvers and artisans were working on two other tasks: one was firing the sand into stained glass, which was then fashioned into star-shaped ornaments, each shimmering like a tiny gemstone , they will be inlaid on the wall behind the statue as the background of the starry sky; the other is to make gold foil, the goldsmiths will forge the gold into thin slices, and then paste it on the ivory skin of the statue as the gold worn by the statue. The clothes and the crown he wears add to the grace and splendor of God Hades.As for the statue in the Hades Palace, it was covered with silver foil and painted with dark green paint to match the atmosphere of the entire temple.

In addition, they also need to make gold and silver seats for the statues. Although not all are made of gold and silver, and the core inside is bronze, the gold and silver consumed after the statue is completed is by no means a small amount. .When the Dionia Alliance was first established, they would never dare to make such extravagant statues of gods, and now the consumption of these precious metals is only a few days' output of the Iberian and Sardinian mines.

Miliktus did not participate in the remaining processes of making the statue. He was concentrating on a more important work-making pediments for the temple.

There is a triangular area under the eaves of the two entrances of the temple, called a pediment. The pediment is embedded with stone slabs and decorated with relief patterns. Usually the content comes from stories from Greek mythology, but in this case The result of the Senate discussion in the design of the temple was that one pediment would be engraved with a relief of the mass procession at the Hades celebration, while the other would be engraved with the Dionian royal family-the king and two queens. and five children (Davos originally proposed to include Adoris and Cynthia, because they are also his family members, but the Senate expressed strong opposition. They believed that the temple was built for thousands of years to be worshiped by future generations. Bye, when the people of the kingdom and their descendants see the reliefs, they will understand that the Dionian royal family is the descendant of the god Hades, but the adopted son and daughter are not. If they are rashly engraved, I am afraid it will attract the anger of Hades.)
With the huge reputation of King Davos and his royal family now, if this relief is not well carved, even if the kind king doesn't say anything, the people's spit will drown him. Therefore, Miliktus is extremely cautious and specially implores Davos to King Voss spared precious time and took his family as his models to pose according to his requirements. He spent several days sketching a sketch on the wooden board and giving it to Davos for review. When Firth was satisfied, he took the drawing to the construction site and engraved it according to the drawing.

The pattern of the pediment of the Dionia royal family is: Davos wearing a crown, smiling, sitting on the throne, located in the center; the two princesses wearing gorgeous robes, holding hands on Davos intimately On their shoulders, they stood prettyly on both sides; five children surrounded them with joyful expressions, and Crotoka Tax happened to be located in the center of the five children.

If a careful viewer savors this pattern carefully, he will find that the composition of the king and 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) , this is a tip from the scepter priest Plesinas, which contains a deeper meaning.

Miliktus held an iron chisel in one hand and a small hammer in the other, concentrating on carving. This was already the third relief. He was not satisfied with the first two and destroyed them, but because of this With the experience of the first two pictures, he doesn't need to compare the original drawing now, the whole pattern has already been familiarized by heart, so he doesn't have any hesitation every time he strikes, and the strength is just right.

Just when he was immersed in his creation, a clear female voice came from behind: "No! No! They carved me too...well, my eyebrows are not so thin, and the bridge of my nose should be higher... "

Miliktos was pulled out of the immersed world by this voice, and he was really annoyed. He turned around suddenly, wanting to yell at the intruder who disturbed his work, when he saw two people standing behind him. A beautiful girl, her anger disappeared immediately, and she stood up immediately, and said in as kind a tone as possible: "Her Royal Highness Princess Eunice! Your Royal Highness Princess Avia! Welcome!"

"We are here to worship the God Hades, and we stopped by to see how the relief carvings at our house are doing." Eunice took a few steps forward, pointed at the reliefs, and said unceremoniously: "But after looking at it, , I feel a little disappointed, this should be me, but it doesn’t feel like me, you carved it too delicately.”

"Your Highness, although the sculpture comes from reality, it is usually a beautification of reality. What's more, this relief sculpture will be admired by the people of the kingdom in the future. I believe that they all want to see a beautiful and virtuous princess..." Mi Liktos wanted to convince Eunice that the reason why he was so patient was that he had not only seen this princess in the painting room before, this princess with a rather boyish personality was very famous in Turui, Kerry In order to make her calm down, Princess Stoya simply let her get in touch with some business affairs when she was 16 years old. As a result, this decisive and pungent girl became her mother's right-hand man before she turned 18. The assistant, Miliktos, had borrowed money from Christoa Bank in order to expand his carving workshops in other towns in the Kingdom, and had personally dealt with Eunice a few times, so he knew her quite well.

Eunice raised her eyebrows: "You mean I'm not beautiful and virtuous?!"

Miliktos's heart tightened, knowing that he had said something wrong, and hurriedly wanted to explain.

Eunice straightened her face again and said seriously: "You are right, I am indeed not as delicate and virtuous as other girls, but I don't need to change, because that is not me! Just like in your relief Just like her, she is completely unlike me. Since you are carving our family, I hope you can carve my appearance realistically, I don’t want any beautification!"

"...Sister." Aviya felt the atmosphere was a little tense and pulled Eunice gently.

"Don't make trouble!" Eunice pushed away her sister's hand, looked directly at Miliktus, and asked, "Do you think I am right?"

"...Your Highness Princess, you are right...I will revise it again..." Miliktus actually gave in, which made the assistants who were hiding aside and dared not speak open their mouths in surprise.

At this time, Miliktus suddenly looked behind Eunice and shouted loudly: "Priest of the Wand!"

"Oh, Miliktus." Plessinas, who was wearing a white robe, saw the cry for help in the sculptor's eyes, waved slightly, and then walked to Eunice: "Your Royal Highnesses, the two princesses, I kept you waiting for a long time, the temporary temple has been cleaned, the brazier, lamps and other things used for worship are ready, and we can start."

Eunice looked at Miliktus, rolled her eyes, and said softly: "I just came here with my sister to appreciate this carving. Master Miliktus carved it very well. I also had a discussion with him. After some exchanges, he also promised me that the carving will be better when I come to admire it next time, is that right? Master Miliktus."

"Yes, Your Highness Princess." Miliktus responded helplessly.

Plessinas looked at the carvings, and then at Miliktus. Of course he felt that there must be something fishy in it, but he knew enough not to explore it, but 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 cannot interfere with your creation, teacher!"

"So she is the famous naughty princess of Thurii! How can she be married in the future if she is so unruly?"

……

"Shut up, you don't want to live anymore, right? Work hard!" Miliktus roared angrily, and suddenly became quiet.

(End of this chapter)