A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities Part 26

Iris (?).--This figure is moving rapidly to our left, the right knee bent. The left arm was probably extended; the right was bent nearly at a right angle. Both hands probably held parts of the mantle, of which a remnant floats behind, bellied out by the resistance of the air to the rapid movement of the figure. The feet are wanting from the instep. The figure was let into a socket about two inches deep, on the floor of the pediment. It seems to be exactly in the same condition as when Carrey saw it, except that in his drawing rather more of the neck appears than now remains. The dress is a Doric chiton, _schistos_, open down the left side, except for the girdle. Over this falls a diplodion. The arms of this figure are small in proportion to the strength of the lower limbs, and the b.r.e.a.s.t.s undeveloped like those of a young girl. This would be consistent with the type of Iris as the messenger of Zeus and Hera, trained to swift movement. The head may have been half turned back towards the central group, but too little remains of the neck to make this certain. From the rapid movement of the figure in a direction turned away from the centre of the composition, archaeologists have been nearly unanimous in thinking that the figure is Iris on her way to announce the event of the birth to the world outside Olympos. But the action is not that of a steady flight through the air, for which the Nike of Paionios (No. 192) should be compared. It is rather that of a person starting aside in alarm. Moreover, the figure has not the wings of Iris, and on these grounds she has been called Eileithyia (Murray, ii., p. 71), Hebe (Brunn, _Ber. d. k. bayer. Akad. Phil. hist. Cl._, 1874, ii., p. 19), or simply a terrified maiden (Wolters, p. 254).

_Mus. Marbles_, VI., pls. 6, 7; Baumeister, _Denkmaeler_, p. 1183, fig. 1373; _Stereoscopic_, No. 106; Michaelis, pl. 6, figs. 12, 12_a_; Murray, II., pl. 4; Mitch.e.l.l, _Selections_, pl. 6.

[Sidenote: =303 H.=]

Cast of a torso of Hephaestos or Prometheus. Powerful male torso, from the neck to the groin. The action of the shoulders, and of the muscles of the ribs and back shows that the arms were raised. Perhaps both hands held an axe above the head, as if about to strike. This is the only fragment besides No. 303 J. which has any claim to be a.s.signed to the central group of the eastern pediment. Though we have little knowledge of how the central group of this pediment was composed, we may suppose that the personage would not have been omitted through whose act of cleaving the head of Zeus with an axe the birth of Athene was accomplished. In the most generally diffused version of the myth this was done by Hephaestos, but Attic tradition preferred to attribute the deed to Prometheus. The original, which was discovered on the east side of the Parthenon in 1836, is at _Athens_.

Michaelis, pl. 6, figs. 13, 13_a_.

[Sidenote: =303 J.=]

Nike, or Victory. Torso of a female figure, moving rapidly to the front, and to our left, with the right arm extended in the same direction. The figure wears a short sleeveless chiton with a diplodion which is confined under the girdle, to facilitate rapid motion. A piece of bronze, which is fixed in the marble about the middle of the left thigh, may have served for the attachment of a metallic object, perhaps a taenia held in the left hand. At the back the drapery is tied together, so as to leave the shoulder-blades bare.

On each shoulder-blade is a deep oblong sinking, which can only have served for the insertion of the wings, which must have been attached by dowels in the holes pierced round the sinkings. It may be inferred from the size of these sinkings that the wings were of marble, not metal.

It has generally been taken for granted, that this figure belongs to the eastern pediment, and it has been inferred from its height that it was not placed much nearer the centre than its present position.

This depends, however, on the original position of the wings. If they were raised above the head, the figure must have occupied a place nearer to the centre than it does at present. But it should be observed, that in Carrey's drawing of the eastern pediment this figure is not given, and, though Visconti states that it was found lying on the ground below the front of the temple, it has been contended that he may have been misinformed on this point, and that the figure so closely resembles one in the western pediment as drawn by Carrey and Dalton that it is probably the same. (See plate v., fig. 2, N, Michaelis, p. 175, pl. 7, fig. N, and _Hilfstafel_, fig. N.) This resemblance may be admitted; but if, on this ground, we identify the torso of Nike with the figure in the western pediment (N), which stands by the car of Amphitrite, we have a Victory a.s.sociated with the side of Poseidon, which seems inconsistent with the entire conception of the western pediment. Moreover, the figure in Carrey's drawing has a scarf hanging from the left arm, which seems not in character with the type of Victory; and, further, Carrey gives no indication of wings. On the other hand, the composition in the eastern pediment would be incomplete if Nike were not present to welcome the new-born Athene. On the whole, therefore, there is strong reason for leaving this torso in the pediment to which it was originally a.s.signed by Visconti. In recent years two valuable additions have been made to this figure. The right thigh was identified and added in 1860, and the left knee in 1875. The figure is placed by Sauer in profile to the left.

_Mus. Marbles_, VI., pl. 9; Michaelis, pl. 6, figs. 14, 14_a_; Baumeister, _Denkmaeler_, p. 1182, fig. 1372.

[Sidenote: =303 K, L, M.=]

Group of three female figures (or, perhaps, a group of two, with a third figure less closely a.s.sociated, the figure K being made of a different block from L and M). The figures are seated on rocks, levelled on the top, and in the case of L, M, cut in step form to suit the composition. The rocks are covered with draperies. These three figures are considerably more complete in Carrey's drawings than now, and the motives can best be understood with the aid of the drawings.

The figure K half turned her head towards the central scene. The right arm was bent at the elbow towards the front of the body. The figure L was headless in Carrey's time. The right arm, according to Carrey's drawing, was bent towards the right shoulder, as if the action had been that of drawing up the edge of the mantle with the right hand.

The body of this figure is bent forward and the feet drawn far back, as would be the case with a person wis.h.i.+ng to spring up. This motive forms a contrast to that of the reclining figure (M), whose right arm rests in her companion's lap, and whose tranquil att.i.tude and averted gaze, shown by Carrey's drawing to have been directed towards the angle of the pediment, seem to indicate that the news of the birth has not yet reached her. K wears sandals, a chiton with diplodion, and a mantle of thick substance which pa.s.ses across the knees, and over the left shoulder, above which it may have been held with the left hand.

L wears a fine chiton, confined with a cord beneath the arms, and a mantle covering the back and pa.s.sing across the knees. M wears a fine chiton, confined at the waist by a girdle, and has a mantle wrapped about her legs. She appears to have worn a bracelet on the right arm.

On comparing the composition of this triad with that of the triad placed next to Helios in the opposite half of the pediment a curious a.n.a.logy of treatment may be observed. The so-called Theseus (D), like the reclining figure (M), seems to be quite unconscious of the great event which is being announced, and they are turned as by law of attraction to the groups of Day and Night which bound the scene on either side. The central figure on either triad seems only half aroused, while on either side the figure nearest the central action appears to have heard the news of the birth. If the triad near Selene are the Three Fates, as Visconti and many of his successors have supposed, their place would more naturally be in the central part of the composition, or at least they might be supposed to be more on the alert with respect to what was pa.s.sing. By others it has been argued that the place of this triad in immediate succession to Selene, and the direction in which the figure nearest to the angle (M) is turned, would point to some mythic connection between these three figures and the G.o.ddess of the Moon. Such a connection is suggested by the names given to the group by Welcker, who saw in them the three daughters of Cecrops, Aglauros, Herse, and Pandrosos, mythic impersonations of the Dew, who have a conspicuous place in Attic legend, though Pandrosos alone of the three seems to have been honoured with wors.h.i.+p at Athens.

The same desire to connect this triad with Selene has led Brunn (_Ber.

d. k. bayer. Akad. Phil. hist. Cl._, 1874, ii., p. 16) to see in them personifications of clouds.

Among the writers who have regarded K as separate from L and M, the most common opinion has been that K is Hestia; L and M have been called Aphrodite in the lap of Thala.s.sa (Ronchaud), or of Peitho (Petersen), or Thala.s.sa, the Sea, in the lap of Gaia, the Earth (Waldstein).

K. _Mus. Marbles_, VI., pl. 10; Michaelis, pl. 6, fig. 15; Murray, II., pl. 7; Mitch.e.l.l, _Selections_, pl. 6; _Stereoscopic_, No.

108.

L. M. _Mus. Marbles_, VI., pl. 11; Baumeister, _Denkmaeler_, p. 1184, fig. 1374; Michaelis, pl. 6, fig. 16; Overbeck, _Gr.

Plast._, 3rd ed., I., p. 308, fig. 63; Murray, II., pl. 7; _Stereoscopic_, No. 108; Waldstein, _Essays_, pl. 8; Mitch.e.l.l, _Selections_, pl. 6.

[Sidenote: =303 N.=]

Selene.--It has been already stated that the horse's head in the right-hand angle of the pediment belongs to the G.o.ddess of the Moon, who is represented by the torso cast in plaster (N) which stands next to it. The original of this torso, now at Athens, was discovered in 1840 on the east side of the Parthenon. The arms and head are wanting, the body is cut off below the waist, as only the upper part of the figure was shown on the pediment. The dress is a sleeveless chiton girt at the waist and fastened on each shoulder. The bosom is crossed diagonally by two bands which pa.s.s round to the back. Two large dowel holes in the girdle and two others on the shoulders mark where metallic ornaments have been attached. On the back is a remnant of drapery extending from shoulder to shoulder; this is probably part of a peplos, the ends of which may have fallen over the arms.

It has usually been a.s.sumed that Selene was driving a chariot, and this has been conclusively proved by Sauer, who found the heads of two horses still in position on the pediment, and indications of a fourth head now lost. A theory recently suggested that Selene rides a single horse is thereby rendered untenable.

Michaelis, pl. 6, figs. 17, 17a; _cf._ Wolters, pp. 256, 259; C.

Smith, _Journ. of h.e.l.len. Studies_, IX., p. 8; _Stereoscopic_, No.

109; Sauer, _Athenische Mittheilungen_, XVI., pl. 3, p. 84.

[Sidenote: =303 O.=]

Horse's Head.--The head was so placed in the pediment that the muzzle projected over the cornice; in order to adjust it securely in this position, a portion of the lower jaw was cut away. The inner side of the top of the head has also been cut away, in order to give room for the upper member of the pediment. This head presents, as might have been expected, a marked contrast in motive to the pair in the opposite angle. The heads of the horses of Helios are thrown up with fiery impatience as they spring from the waves; the downward inclination of the head here described indicates that the car of Selene is about to vanish below the horizon. In the whole range of ancient art there is, perhaps, no work in marble in which the sculptor has shown such complete mastery over his material. The nostrils "drink the air"; the fiery expression of the eye, the bold, sharply defined outlines of the bony structure so skilfully opposed to the sensitive flexibility of the nose, and the brawny tenseness of the arched neck, are so combined in this n.o.ble work that the praise bestowed on it by Goethe is not extravagant. "This work," he says, "whether created by the imagination of the artist or seen by him in nature, seems the revelation of a prototype; it combines real truth with the highest poetical conception." Behind the ears is a dowel hole; another is on the nose between the eyes and the mouth, and a third on the inner corner of the mouth. These show where a metal bridle was attached. On the crest of the hogged mane are eleven smaller holes, in which some metallic ornament must have been inserted. Two horses' heads still remain in the angle of the pediment. See above, 303 N.

_Mus. Marbles_, VI., pl. 12; Michaelis, pl. 6, figs. 18, 18_a_; Murray, II., pl. 6; _Stereoscopic_, No. 109.

WESTERN PEDIMENT OF THE PARTHENON.

[Sidenote: =304.=]

The subject of the western pediment of the Parthenon according to Pausanias (i., 24, 5) was the strife of Poseidon with Athene for the soil of Attica. This contest, according to tradition, took place on the Acropolis itself. Athene, on this occasion, showed her power by making the soil produce the olive-tree; Poseidon, striking the ground with his trident, produced a salt spring, or, according to another and later version, a horse. The victory in the contest was adjudged to Athene. The spot where this double miracle took place was marked in subsequent times by the joint temple of Erechtheus and Athene Polias; within the precincts of which were the sacred olive-tree produced by Athene, and the salt spring of Poseidon.

In the time of Carrey, the composition in this pediment was nearly perfect, and to understand the torsos which remain, reference should be made to Carrey's drawing (Plate v., fig. 2), or to the large model of the Parthenon. A few of the early writers on the Parthenon (Spon, Woods, Leake, Weber) mistook the western pediment for that which contained the representation of the birth of Athene. If we omit the archaeologists who were under this misapprehension, we find that, while there is much difference of opinion as to the identification of the single figures in the western pediment as drawn by Carrey, it is generally admitted that the s.p.a.ce bounded by the reclining figures in the angles represents the Acropolis between the two rivers of Athens, and that the figures to the left of Athene are Attic deities or heroes, who would sympathise actively with her in the contest which is the subject of the pediment, while those to the right of Poseidon are the subordinate marine deities who would naturally be present as the supporters of the Ruler of the sea. The most interesting dissentient theory is that of Brunn (_Ber. d. k. bayer. Akad. Phil. hist.

Cl._, 1874, ii., p. 23). By an ingenious but inconclusive series of arguments he has endeavoured to show that the west pediment contains a personified representation of the whole coast of Attica, from the borders of Megaris to Cape Sunium.

The great destruction of the western pediment since it was seen by Carrey may have been partly due to the explosion during the siege, but was chiefly the work of the Venetian General Morosini. After taking the Acropolis he tried to lower the horses of the car of Athene, but the tackle he used broke, and this matchless group fell to the ground.

If the fragments had been then collected and put together, much of this beautiful design might have been saved, but they remained on the spot where they fell till after the establishment of the Greek kingdom at Athens (1833), when such of them as were extant were gathered up and placed in a magazine on the Acropolis. They were subsequently moulded, and casts of them are now exhibited in the Elgin Room.

Between the time of Morosini and the middle of the last century, when Dalton drew the western pediment, the work of destruction had been carried much further. In the right wing of the composition the figures N, O, Q, S, T, and in the left wing only four figures, A, B, C, and F(?) are shown in position on the pediment in Dalton's Plate. In the intervening middle s.p.a.ce, two torsos are lying on the floor of the pediment. One of these is probably the Poseidon; the other may be the figure marked H. On the ground below the pediment lies the body of a draped figure, perhaps Athene, and a fragment which may belong to the Poseidon.

All that remained in position in the western pediment when Lord Elgin's agents came to Athens were the figures B and C in the north angle, and in the south angle the lower part of the reclining female figure W. The figures are still in position, and the west end of the Parthenon was therefore not touched by Lord Elgin. The River-G.o.d A and the torsos H, L, M, O were found under the north-west angle of the pediment, after taking down a Turkish house built against the columns.

The lower part of a female figure Q may also have been found on this spot.

After the Acropolis pa.s.sed into the possession of the Greek government, the ground round the Parthenon was partly cleared of its ruins, and this led to the discovery, in 1835, of the crouching male figure V and of many fragments, among which are remains of the horses lowered by Morosini. The sculptures removed by Lord Elgin are exhibited in combination with casts of the remains now at Athens. The description that follows begins from the left or northern angle of the pediment.

[Sidenote: =304 A.=]

Ilissos or Kephissos.--This figure, reclining in the angle of the pediment, is universally admitted to be a River-G.o.d, (cf. the description by Pausanias (v., 10, 7) of the pediment of the temple of Zeus at Olympia). The figure is popularly known as the Ilissos, but it may represent the Athenian Kephissos. According to Brunn's topographical scheme, it is a less familiar Kephissos, near Eleusis.

This figure appears not to have suffered much since Carrey drew it. It was still in the pediment in Stuart's time, but had been thrown down at the date of Lord Elgin's mission. The body, half reclined, rests on the left arm, over which is the end of an himation, which falls behind the back in undulating lines, and is drawn up to the right knee. As the head and most of the right arm are wanting, their action must be a matter of conjecture; the general motion of the figure seems to indicate the moment of sudden transition from repose to action, and would be consistent with the supposition that the head was turned towards the central group, watching the momentous issue of the contest, and that the River-G.o.d was in the act of rising. In that case his right hand may have been drawing forward the end of his himation over his right knee. This figure has been long and deservedly celebrated for the perfection of its anatomy. In the front of the body, the flexibility of the abdominal muscles is finely contrasted with the strong framework of the ribs. The supple elastic character of the skin is here rendered with the same mastery as in the horse's head of the eastern pediment. At the back some of the surface has retained its original polish. In the undulating lines of the drapery, the sculptor has succeeded in suggesting the idea of flowing water without having recourse to direct or conventional imitation. The ground on which the figure reclines is a rock. The left hand rested on the bed of the pediment. A drawing by Pars taken during his visit to Athens in 1765-66 (engraved Stuart, ii., chap. I., pl. 9), shows part of the right forearm not shown in Carrey's drawing, and the outline of the four fingers of the left hand overlapping the edge of the pediment. A small attribute, probably of marble, was attached to the floor of the pediment in front of the figure.

_Mus. Marbles_, VI., pls. 13, 14; Mansell, 700; Baumeister, _Denkmaeler_, p. 1181, fig. 1371; Michaelis, pl. 8, fig. 1; Overbeck, _Gr. Plast._, 3rd ed., I., p. 310, fig. 64; Murray, II., pl. 8; Mitch.e.l.l, _Selections_, pl. 4; Waldstein, _Essays_, pl. 3; _Stereoscopic_, No. 110; Sauer, _Athenische Mittheilungen_, XVI., p. 79.

[Sidenote: =304 A*.=]

Between A and the two next figures (B, C) a s.p.a.ce is shown in Dalton's drawing sufficient for a crouching figure, though no vestige of such a figure is indicated by Carrey. Traces also remain on the floor of the pediment (Sauer, _Athenische Mittheilungen_, xvi., p. 78). This gap may have been filled by a crouching Water Nymph, a.s.sociated with the River-G.o.d. Brunn suggests a tributary of the Eleusinian Kephissos.

[Sidenote: =304 B, C.=]

Cecrops and Pandrosos (cast).--This group still remains in the pediment at Athens, though much injured by exposure to the weather. It consists of a male figure, whose left thigh receives the main weight of his body, which leans a little to the right, resting on his left hand. With him is grouped a female figure, who has thrown herself in haste on both knees, with one arm round the neck of her companion. Her action expresses surprise at the event occurring in the centre of the pediment, towards which she has looked back. She wears a long chiton, and over it a diplodion which falls below the girdle, and which has slipped from the left shoulder, leaving the left breast and side exposed. Her left arm, now entirely wanting, was broken off a little below the shoulder at the date of Carrey's drawing. The male figure has a mantle cast over his lower limbs. His right arm, which was broken off below the elbow in the time of Stuart, is now reduced to a stump. The right leg and knee and part of the right thigh have also been lost since the time of Stuart. It appears from the statements of travellers (cf. Michaelis, p. 194) that these figures lost their heads in the years 1802 and 1803. The careful drawing of the group made by Pars, and preserved in the British Museum (Stuart, ii., chap. I., pl.

9; Michaelis, pl. 8, fig. 2), shows that the heads of both figures were turned towards the central group, the head of the female figure being, moreover, slightly inclined over the left shoulder. In this drawing the right arm of the male figure is bent at a right angle, the upper part being nearly horizontal. On the ground between the pair is a convex ma.s.s, which has been recognised to be part of the coil of a large serpent. The remainder of this serpent may be seen at the back of the group, pa.s.sing under the left hand of the male figure. In front of this hand the body of the serpent terminates in a joint with a rectangular sinking, into which a fragment from the Elgin Collection has been fitted. (_Mus. Marbles_, vi., pl. 8, fig. 2.)

This group has received various names. Spon and Wheler took it to represent Hadrian and Sabina, and their opinion was repeated by Payne Knight. The group has also been called Heracles and Hebe; Hephaestos and Aphrodite. The a.s.sociation of the serpent with the male figure has led Michaelis (p. 193) to recognise in him Asclepios, in which case the female figure would naturally be Hygieia, who is constantly a.s.sociated with the father of the healing art, and who was wors.h.i.+pped, conjointly with Asclepios, in a shrine at the southern foot of the Athenian Acropolis. The bearded head, too, of the male figure, as drawn by Pars, would well accord with the type of Asclepios. On the other hand, the serpent in connection with that deity is usually coiled round his staff, not winding along the ground, as on the pediment. The whole composition of this serpent in relation to the kneeling male figure rather suggests the type of the earth-born Cecrops, as has been maintained by a considerable number of archaeologists. If we adopt this attribution, then the female figure so intimately a.s.sociated with the bearded figure in this group would be one of the daughters of Cecrops, perhaps Pandrosos. For the topographical interpretations of Boetticher (Marathon and Salamis) and of Brunn (Kithaeron and Parnes) there is no evidence.

Michaelis, pl. 8, fig. 2; Murray, II., pl. 9; _Stereoscopic_, No. 111. A remarkably accurate copy of this group was recently discovered at Eleusis, and is now in the National Museum at Athens. In the copy the coils of the serpent are omitted ([Greek: Ephemeris], 1890, pl. 12).

[Sidenote: =304 D, E, F.=]