A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities Part 32

At the head of the procession on the north side we meet a troop of cows and sheep, led by an escort. Each cow is led by cords held by two youths, one on each side; each sheep is led by one boy. There are some grounds for the conjecture that the Athenian colonists contributed each a cow and two sheep to the festival, while the Athenians are not known to have sacrificed anything except cows. It is therefore presumed that the victims on this side of the frieze, on which alone sheep are represented, are some of the colonial offerings; and in that case the men by whom the victims are conducted would be the Theori sent by the Colonies.

[Rightnote: I.]

Slab i. (see Plate vii.) was complete in the time of Carrey, and partly extant in the time of Stuart. It contains the first cow, led by two youths, who are standing still, and the head and shoulders of the second cow.

[Rightnote: II.]

[Sidenote: 1, 2.]

[Sidenote: 3, 4.]

Nos. 1 and 2 walk on each side of the second cow, which is going quietly, as is shown by the way in which the youths are closely wrapped up in their himatia. The rope by which the beast is led was probably painted on the marble. The third cow is restive, and only restrained with difficulty by Nos. 3 and 4. Here also the rope was probably painted.

This slab was discovered in 1833, beneath its original position on the Parthenon.

[Rightnote: III.]

[Sidenote: 5, 6.]

Of slab iii. only fragments remain. As drawn by Carrey, it contains the figure of No. 4 (cf. Plate vii., and No. 345, _3_), vigorously holding back his cow, and a fourth cow, quietly led by two youths (Nos. 5, 6). For economy of s.p.a.ce this slab is compressed in the British Museum to about two-thirds of its proper length. A cast from a head, which, perhaps, is that of No. 4, is placed at the corner of the slab (Michaelis, plate 13, xxvii. C.).

The drapery seen on a fragment with the fore-legs of a cow belongs to No. 5, who leads the third cow. No. 6 is made up of six pieces, of which Michaelis had identified the feet of the figure, and part of the fore-legs of the cow. For its hind-legs, see his plate 13, xxvii. D. The originals of all these fragments are at Athens.

[Rightnote: IV.]

[Sidenote: 7-9.]

[Sidenote: 10.]

Slab iv. contains parts of three figures, Nos. 7-9, who conduct three horned sheep. Of the first figure (No. 7) a part of the mantle is now left, and perhaps also the head (cf. Plate vii., and No. 345, _4_). In Carrey's time the head and shoulders were still extant. At the joint between this slab and the next there is a marshal (No. 10), who turns to the division of the procession approaching. Slab iv. was discovered in 1840.

[Rightnote: V.]

[Sidenote: 11.]

When drawn by Carrey and Stuart, the next group in the procession consisted of three figures, of which one only (No. 11) is now extant. These figures carry on their shoulders oblong rectangular trays, not unlike a butcher's tray in form. These trays have been identified with the skaphae, or boat-shaped dishes which were carried in the Panathenaic procession, and which contained offerings of cakes. If we may trust Stuart's engraving, the tray of one of the two figures which have now disappeared contained fruits or cakes. These trays were made of silver or bronze.

Skaphae of bronze are mentioned in one of the inventories of the treasures, deposited in the Parthenon. The Metoiks, whose duty it was to carry these trays, were hence called Scaphephori. Their place in the procession would naturally be immediately after the victims led for sacrifice.

[Rightnote: VI.]

[Sidenote: 12-14.]

[Sidenote: 15.]

[Sidenote: 16.]

Slab vi. contains five male figures. Three (Nos. 12-14) carry vases on their shoulders; a fourth (No. 15) stoops to raise from the ground a similar vase, which is singularly misinterpreted in Carrey's drawing as a lamb. The vase resembles in form the three-handled water-pitcher, hydria or calpis, which was in use in the period of Pheidias, but two handles only are shown in the sculpture; the third handle, which was attached to the neck midway between the other two, is not seen, except, perhaps, on the vase of No. 15. Michaelis supposes that the vases here represented on the frieze contained the wine used in the Panathenaic sacrifice, and that these figures may be the Spondophori, who are mentioned by Pollux (i. 35). On the right of this slab are the arms, flute, and drapery of the first of the four flute-players drawn by Carrey. This slab was found in 1833, inside the peristyle of the Parthenon.

[Rightnote: VII.]

The persons bringing objects connected with the sacrifice are immediately followed by a band of musicians, consisting of four flute-players and four lyre-players, or citharists, all playing on their instruments. The musicians, as is usual, wear long chitons and ample mantles. Of slab vii. only two small fragments remain.

See Plates vii., viii., and Nos. 345, _5_ and _6_.

[Rightnote: VIII.]

[Sidenote: 17, 18.]

[Sidenote: 19.]

The next slab contains parts of the second pair of citharists and the foremost of a group of male figures, princ.i.p.ally on the two slabs immediately following.

[Rightnote: IX., X.]

[Sidenote: 19-30.]

The figures on these two slabs are bearded men (Nos. 19-30), all clad in the himation, and moving forward at a leisurely pace; Nos.

25 and 26 wear a band on their heads; No. 25 draws it over his hair; Nos. 28 and 30 wear long hair, plaited in the manner of the _krobylos_. The attire, elderly type, and general deportment of these figures corresponds with that of the Thallophori, by which name ancient authors designate elderly citizens who carried olive branches in the Panathenaic procession. The right hands of three of these figures are closed, as if they were holding a wand or branch.

Slab ix. was discovered in 1840, and is a fragment of the slab drawn by Carrey, which, when he saw it, contained nine figures similar to those on x. A recently-discovered fragment, from the left of slab ix., has not been inserted for want of s.p.a.ce (cf.

Plate viii., and No. 345, _8_).

Slab x. was found at the north-west angle of the Parthenon in 1835. A fragment which belongs to the left-hand lower corner of the slab, and completes Nos. 24, 25, has been adjusted since the publication of the work of Michaelis. This slab was not drawn by Carrey, who indicates a lacuna at this point. It is therefore probable that the slab had already fallen from its place. The last two complete figures on this slab are looking back, as if their attention is directed to the advancing chariots. Michaelis has not observed that between these figures and the marshal (No. 31) there has been another draped figure (No. 30*), of whom nothing remains but the shoulders and a little drapery, shown immediately in front of the marshal (No. 31), and his right foot on slab x., seen next to the right foot of No. 30, the left foot of No. 30 being lost.

This figure must have been the hindermost in the procession of Thallophori, and the entire number of these persons is therefore seventeen, not sixteen, as Michaelis makes it.

[Rightnote: XI.]

[Sidenote: 31.]

With slab xi. the chariot groups begin. This part of the frieze has greatly suffered from mutilation. The remains of the chariot groups still extant show that there were at least nine of these.

According to the calculation of Michaelis, that was the original number of chariots on this frieze. All these chariots are drawn by four horses, _harmata tethrippa_, or quadrigae; the charioteer stands in the chariot, and is accompanied by the apobates, who is armed with a helmet and Argolic buckler, and is represented in the act of stepping down from the chariot or standing behind it. Each quadriga is accompanied by a marshal, _pompeus_. The vigour and animation of the chariot groups form a marked contrast with the groups that immediately precede them. The transition from the rapid motion of the chariots to the quietude of the Thallophori is skilfully effected by a chariot seen in rapid motion but in the act of being suddenly checked by the marshal (No. 31), who is represented eagerly pressing back the plunging horses of the chariot which follows on the next slab. In the haste of his movement he has nearly thrown off his mantle, holding it from slipping further with his right hand on his right thigh. The original of this slab was found at Athens probably about 1834.

[Rightnote: XII.]

[Sidenote: 32.]

[Sidenote: 33.]

On the slab next on the right (xii.) is the hind quarter of one of the horses, cut off at the joint. At the side of the chariot is a marshal (No. 32), his face turned, and his right arm extended towards the procession following on the right. The charioteer (No.

33), who was mistaken for a Victory by Visconti and others, but whose figure is certainly not female, differs in costume from the others in this frieze. He wears a long chiton, over which is a diplodion reaching to the hips. The breast is crossed diagonally by two bands. As a part of the hair is on a fragment known to have been missing before the time of Stuart, his drawing of the figure is proved to be untrustworthy.

[Sidenote: 34.]

The warrior (No. 34) attached to the chariot was complete in the time of Carrey. The upper half was lost before the time of Stuart, and was only re-discovered in the latest excavations on the Acropolis in 1889. He is represented standing on the ground, and looking back to the next chariot. His s.h.i.+eld is raised as if to stop its course. The wheel of this chariot, as of some that succeed it, must have been, in part, wholly detached from the ground. The foot of the marshal is complete, but it is easy to trace where the wheel prevented the convenient working of the ground beneath it. (See Plate viii., and _Stereoscopic_, No. 19.)

[Rightnote: XIII.]

Of slab xiii., which Carrey places next, nothing has been identified with certainty, but Michaelis is probably right in a.s.signing to this group the fragment of four horses, of which a cast from the original at Athens is here inserted (cf. Plate viii., and No. 345, _9_). Above the back of the second horse is the _hestor_ (see below), and also what appears to be a small piece of the drapery of a marshal. This, however, cannot be the case if the fragment described (No. 345, _9_) contains the marshal belonging to this slab.

[Rightnote: XIV.]