DR.
J'S ILLUSTRATED LECTURES
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Dr.
J's Illustrated
Parthenon Marbles
East
Pediment Theme: The Birth of Athena
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It is
only because of Pausanias' description (1.24.25) that we know
the details of the central subject of the East Pediment, for
much of this sculpture was removed in the process of making
the Parthenon into a Christian church. But we can see the sun
god leading his horse-drawn chariot out of Oceanos (the band
of water that encloses the earth) into the sky across and over
the group of gods witnessing Athena's birth: the dawning of a
new day.
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  A
reclining god (the only pedimental figure to have kept his
head) looks on. He sits on an animal skin (look for the paw
hanging down), causing scholars to suggest either Dionysus or
Heracles as probable identifications. The exact identities of
the other figures in the sculpture group are debatable. |
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horse that adorns the right side of the pediment belongs
either to Selene (the Moon) or Nyx (Night) and he has run his
course. Compare the exhausted expression, flaring nostrils,
drooping head of this horse (the sole survivor of a pair) to
the rambunctiousness of the sun god's energetic steeds on the
left. |
West
Pediment Theme:
Contest Between Athena and Poseidon |
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The
pedimental sculpture of the Parthenon is unique in that both
ends feature the same divine figure and no human figures at
all: both tableaus concern Athena, the patron goddess of
Athens. Compare, for example, the Temple of Zeus at Olympia,
where the east pedimental sculpture features the patron god
Zeus but the west shows Apollo watching the Battle of the
Centaurs and the Lapiths.
The
West Pediment of the Parthenon tells the tale of the contest
for patronage of Athens between Athena and Poseidon while the
other gods look on. Just the torsos of most of the west
pediment figures survive. Athena's olive tree - the winning
gambit - stood between the two godly contestants, each of whom
was attended by a four-horse-drawn chariot and charioteer,
little of either of which survives. It is known that the
Venetian Morosini destroyed Athena's team of chariot horses in
a failed
attempt to remove the sculpture group in the 1680's. But much
can be reconstructed thanks to Jacques Carrey's detailed 1674
drawings. Athena was attended by Hermes and Poseidon by the
divine Iris (right). Other west pediment figures are thought
to have been legendary Athenian kings; the torso of Cecrops,
the snake-footed first king of Athens, can today be found in
the Acropolis Museum in Athens.
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 Filling
the pedimental space - the great triangle that graces each end of a
Doric-style temple - can be very challenging. A tableau must be created
by the artist that fills the peculiar space or emptiness will overpower
the figures that are present; balance is more important than busyness.
While the east pediment corners sport the horse-heralds of the rising
and setting sun, the Parthenon's west pediment fills the diminishing
space with flowing water gods. This reclining figure who seems to blend
into the rock in the left corner is probably the river god Illisos (much
like the personifications of the rivers Alpheios and Kladeios found on
the Temple of Zeus in Olympia).
 I
have taken photographs of the backs of some of these sculptures to show
their artists' great skill and pride in their work. Although the
sculptors knew that these marble figures were intended to be seen only
from afar and from a great height - and never as sculpture in the round
as they are now displayed, but only from the front - they nevertheless
partially finished areas of the statue that were designed never to be
seen. We are privileged to see the actual chisel marks of the sculptors
who created these magnificent monuments.
The
Parthenon Frieze
The
traditional interpretation of the Parthenon frieze is that it is a
re-enactment in stone of the Panathenaic Procession, the conclusion of
which is the draping of a new peplos (garment) over the cult statue of
Athena kept in the Erechtheum on the Acropolis. The procession begins in
Eleusis, eleven miles from Athens, and follows the Sacred Way into
Athens and up the Acropolis. The Parthenon frieze plays out its tale
across all four of its sides: preparations (west) and then a
double-pronged procession (north and south) towards the all-important
east side of the building (the entrance to the temple is here) where is
carved the family of Olympian gods. In the center of the east
frieze is a group of five mortals who appear to be delivering the peplos.
But
I like the interpretation that argues that the frieze is more than just
a glorification of the goddess; it is also a monument to memory of the
men who died at
Marathon. Just as each of the ten tribes is honored in the memorial on
site at Marathon, there are ten groups of horses and men on the
frieze. 192 Athenian soldiers died at Marathon and were buried in the
soros; 192 is the number of soldiers carved into the frieze, in the
procession that will deliver them to their final glory - union with the
Olympian gods. And the sculpture on the frieze is not the only artwork
on the Parthenon that can be interpreted as a monument to the triumphs
of man...
Metopes
Every one of the
92 metopes of the Parthenon was sculpted in high relief, one of the many
details that makes the Parthenon unique. On each side of the building is
depicted a different conflict, each of which is thought to allegorize
the recent Greek (mostly Athenian) defeat of the Persians: Gigantomachy,
or "Battle of the Giants" (east), Amazonomachy, or
"Battle of the Amazons" (west), Centauromachy, of "Battle
of the Centaurs" (South) and the Trojan War (north). The south
metopes (above) best survived both the 1687 explosion in the Parthenon
and the zealousness of earlier Christians in removing all trace of
paganism from their adopted temple.
The
British Museum Exhibit
These fabulous
marbles are presently housed in the British Museum in London because
they were purchased in 1816 from the Earl of Elgin (aka Lord Elgin, and
thus the common reference to these sculptures as the Elgin Marbles).
Elgin served as the British Ambassador to the Ottoman Court and
systematically removed sculpture, architectural fragments and
inscriptions from the Athenian acropolis while Athens was under Turkish
rule.
The
Parthenon Marbles
website showcases the complete set of Parthenon Marbles and provides
background concerning the disagreement about ownership of the marbles
between Greece and Britain.
Note:
Interpretation of art is a tricky thing. I have included herein those
interpretations particularly persuasive to me. B.F. Cook's The Elgin
Marbles (published by the British Museum, 1984) has served as one
source among many for writing this page, but recently Joan B. Connelly
put forth the intriguing interpretation that the frieze tells the story
of a traditional ceremony of child-sacrifice, a not uncommon method in
antiquity of ensuring continued prosperity for a city and perhaps the
origin of the cult of Athena in Athens. Read a summary
of Professor Connelly's provocative argument for yourself,
graciously made available by Reed College. |
